LAS VEGAS – Being knocked down twice typically means a fighter’s outcome is sealed in a negative way. 

For California’s Pablo Rubio, getting dropped twice inspired motivation to produce something rarely seen: victory on the scorecards in an eight-round fight.

“I had it in my heart,” Rubio said in the ring after judges awarded him a unanimous-decision victory over previously unbeaten Adan Palma by scores of 77-73, 77-73, 76-74 at the Apex Sunday night in a Zuffa Boxing card.

“It might have been different if I had been seriously hurt. I was wobbled. But I was not really hurt.”

Rubio landed a flurry in the first to set the tempo, leaving Palma to open the second with a blistering attack met by an exchange.

The action livened the Apex crowd drawn by the main event pitting unbeaten cruiserweight champion Jai Opetaia of Australia versus Atlanta’s Brandon Glanton in the first fight for the Zuffa Boxing belt.

Palma, 14-1, surged again in the opening minute of the third and dropped Rubio, 15-0, with a power left that followed a heavy flurry, the punishment softening Rubio for a second knockdown in the round from a hard right hand.

Rubio’s despair seemed genuine at that moment, even as he urged on Palma after a stiff punch later in the third.

But then Rubio unleashed effective combinations on Palma in both the fourth and fifth to heighten the drama and the crowd’s enthusiasm.

Palma sought to dig in and plant inside punches on Rubio, who was determined not to fall again.

That sparked a toe-to-toe slugfest in the eighth as Palma worked to pummel Rubio on the ropes before Rubio got the better of action in the middle of the ring. 

“I had to do what I had to do … you have to stay focused, can’t let that get to you,” Rubio said. I had to get off the ground and keep fighting. We were both unbeaten and didn’t want to lose. That’s how you make great fights.”

Earlier, Vlad Panin posted a ninth-round stoppage of Shinard Brunch after a slew of unanswered punches at the 2:29 mark.

Panin, 24-2 (16 KOs), first battered Bunch, 22-4-1, with a fifth-round flurry, leaning on his activity and skill to win the bout.

Heavyweight Joshua Juarez improved to 15-0 with a unanimous-decision victory over Jardae Anderson by scores of 79-73, 78-74, 77-75.

Juarez landed some of his heaviest punches in the fifth round with Anderson, 11-2, flashing a sturdy chin. The pair stood in the ring’s center and exchanged until the final bell – Anderson smiling until the scores were read.

The undercard featured back-to-back majority draws. 

Texas-based featherweights Ethan Perez, of San Antonio, and Dallas’ Jaycob Ramos exchanged knockdowns in their undercard bout that was scored 56-56 twice and 57-55 for Ramos.

Southpaw Perez, 8-0-1, dropped Ramos, 4-1-1, in the second round with a power punch delivered right on the button, adding to the damage with a few more flush blows.

Ramos answered by decking Perez in the third on a right hand to the top of the head.

An earlier majority draw between lightweights Adrian Serrano, 6-0-2, of Mexico and Brady Ochoa, 9-0-1, happened when the judges scored it 58-56 for Ochoa with the two other cards at 57-57.

Las Vegas’ Ochoa, 18, suffered a cut on the left side of the head from a second-round punch by Serrano, but showed no ill effects as the pair engaged in several exchanges that failed to distinguish one as the winner.

Emiliano Alvarado opened the show with a second-round knockdown pacing him to a unanimous-decision victory over Erick Rosado by three 59-54 scores.

Alvarado, 11-0, of Coachella, California, is trained by two-time trainer of the year Robert Garcia.