The last free fight of the evening featured a bantamweight bout between former champion Miguel Torres and Demetrious Johnson.
Johnson, despite a 10″ disadvantage in reach, landed the first strikes of the match, then took the former champion to the mat.
Torres, using is superior size, was able to sweep Johnson quickly, and secured side control. After a scramble, Torres went for a failed D’arce choke. From the bottom, Johnson landed a few strikes before Torres was able to get side control again.
Then Johnson was able to sweep, before getting caught in a leg lock by Torres. After escaping, Johnson took the back of Torres for a moment before Torres was able to roll to his back.
Johnson was not able to mount any offense, as Torres showed a very active guard for the remainder of the round.
As the second round started, Johnson charged forward with some punches before taking Torres down to the mat. Torres was able to use a triangle choke to work his way back to his feet, only to be taken down again by Johnson.
From his back, Torres looked to secure an inverted triangle choke, but Johnson was able to work his way out of it. Johnson, for the better part, was unable to mount any offense, as he was spending most of his time trying to control the very active guard of Torres.
Towards the end of the round, they were able to exchange leg lock attempts before the horn went off.
The third and final round began with Johnson scoring another takedown. Torres again displayed an active guard, going for multiple submission attempts, and nullifying any offense from Johnson.
After much jousting on the ground, Torres was able to sweep Johnson and secure the mount. However, he was unable to do anything with it, as Johnson was able to scramble and go for a leg lock before Torres was able to secure top position again.
With 30 seconds left in the round, Torres rolled for a guillotine choke, but Johnson was able to break free. After another exchange on their feet, and another guillotine attempt by Torres, the horn sounded to end this epic ground battle.
After 15 minutes of ground war, the judges awarded Demetrious Johnson with the decision victory (29-28, 29-28, 29-28).