Lavar Johnson is a powerful and dangerous striker, but his submission defense better improve if he wants to challenge the elite fighters. He narrowly escaped a weak Americana attempt from Pat Barry at UFC on Fox 3 on Saturday night.
Barry is not a great submission artist—OK, he is a terrible submission fighter. He has never won a fight by submission in his career. If he were better in that area, Johnson would have been submitted for the third time in his last four fights.
Despite his tremendous power, Johnson is in deep water when fights go to the ground.
He was submitted by Shane del Rosario in February and again by Shawn Jordan in September. Both of those fights took place while Johnson was still with Strikeforce, but the tape on him has been passed on to the UFC roster.
You can bet that every smart fighter—with an ounce of ground game—will be looking to expose Johnson in that area. His stamina is poor and he depends on brute strength over technique to defend himself on the mat.
That won’t cut it against the Shane Carwins, Frank Mirs and Junior dos Santoses of the world. These guys can trade, but they also aren’t completely lost if they fall victim to a takedown.
Johnson has the tools to be successful and his style is crowd pleasing. But he must show some dedication to working on his ground game. This victory over Barry will get him a shot at a heavyweight with more notoriety in his next bout.
Depending on his next opponent, he may need those ground skills sooner rather than later. A fighter like Mark Hunt, who has won three fights in a row, will gladly trade with Johnson. He also seems like a logical next opponent.
But a rematch with the undefeated Del Rosario, could lead to another submission loss.
As the competition becomes stiffer, Johnson needs some versatility. It’s only a matter of time before one-trick ponies are exposed in the world of MMA.
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