In a rematch of what had been the toughest fight of his long title reign, UFC flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson was machine-like in Las Vegas Saturday night, earning a one-sided unanimous decision over John Dodson in the main event of UFC 191. The UFC’s smallest champion once more made a strong argument that he is the sport’s best pound-for-pound fighter.
UFC veteran Kenny Florian summed up the performance on Twitter:
In the other main event fights, Paige VanZant showed great cardio and applied relentless pressure against Alex Chambers, beating her up for two rounds and then finishing her with an armbar at 1:01 of Round 3. It was a legitimately exciting performance by VanZant and thrilling enough to inspire a bit of hyperbole from former pro wrestling star Bill Goldberg, who exclaimed that the armbar was “Ronda Rousey like!”
Bleacher Report Analyst Patrick Wyman provided a bit of a more realistic perspective on Twitter:
After a competitive first round, Corey Anderson used a strong wrestling advantage to brutalize Jan Blachowicz for the remaining two rounds. Two of three judges scored the final two rounds 10-8 and the third scored one 10-8, as Anderson earned scores of 30-25 twice and 29-26 once.
This was a fight that was as one-sided as they come without ending in stoppage. The following tweet from Chael Sonnen highlights the surprising degree to which Anderson was able to bully his Polish opponent:
In his first trip to the Octagon since losing to Daniel Cormier last May in a fight for the vacant light heavyweight title, Anthony Johnson reverted to classic “Rumble” form, knocking Englishman Jimi Manuwa cold with a crushing right hook just 28 seconds into Round 2.
Don’t be surprised to see Johnson in a rematch with the champion sooner rather than later. And even though Cormier was able to finish him last time and would be a favorite in a return bout, a puncher such as Johnson can never be written off, as Jon Anik of Fox Sports 1 pointed out:
In the night’s co-main event, two former heavyweight champions clashed, with Andrei Arlovski earning a unanimous decision over Frank Mir by scores of 30-27 and 29-28 twice. It’s almost a surprise to remember that these two never fought a decade ago when they were both among the top big men in the sport.
At this point, the fight had something like the feel of an old-timers’ game at Yankee Stadium, a point made with a classic wisecrack tweet by Sonnen:
In the preliminary portion of the night, bantamweights John Lineker and Francisco Rivera stole the show, turning in what will likely be the most exciting two minutes of MMA that we see in 2015. According to FightMetric’s Michael Carroll, the two threw exactly 100 strikes in the first two minutes of the fight:
This tweet from Fox Sports gives an indication of the mayhem:
What started with an explosion ended in a tap, as Lineker was able to assert control on the ground and secure a guillotine choke 2:52 into the first round.
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