Does anyone believe Chris Cariaso has a chance to beat Demetrious “Mighty Mouse” Johnson on Saturday night in the main event of UFC 178? If there are people on the Team Cariaso train, they are hiding. Every MMA publication and expert seems to be picking Johnson to successfully defend his UFC flyweight title.
The folks in charge at UFC have the responsibility to make Cariaso look as formidable as possible, but we’re not buying it.
Bleacher Report’s Scott Harris writes:
Johnson eats elite flyweights for breakfast. The speed, the head movement and footwork, the fully realized MMA game: It’s just going to be too much for Cariaso.
Underdog stories are great on paper, but in the real world they often have decidedly non-picturesque endings.
There may not be a more well-rounded and physically gifted fighter in the UFC—Jon “Bones” Jones included. Johnson’s speed and technique make him a defensive wizard. His grappling and surprising power (ask Joseph Benavidez about the latter) make him dangerous.
It’s hard to imagine how Cariaso can win this fight. Still, he seems confident, even if others take his chances of scoring a victory as a joke.
According to Tapology.com, Johnson is younger, more experienced, has longer arms and 99 percent of the site’s community thinks Johnson will win. Cariaso is a nice fighter, but the best win he has on his record is a unanimous-decision victory over Takeya Mizugaki (who coincidentally faces Dominick Cruz on the same night) back in 2012.
If this isn’t an open-and-shut main event, then the concept doesn’t exist. Johnson could feasibly win this fight in just about any way. He proved to Benavidez he has one-punch KO power. He went Ronda Rousey on John Moraga to win with an arm bar, and he’s proven he knows how to simply win rounds as well.
He out-worked John Dodson to earn a win on points.
On Saturday night, Johnson will pitch a five-round shutout against Cariaso en route to a lopsided unanimous-decision win.
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