It was business as usual for Demetrious Johnson at UFC 186. The flyweight champion added Kyoji Horiguchi to his ever-expanding list of victims via fifth-round submission in the main event at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec.
Mike Bohn of MMA Junkie passed along the particulars of the record-setting win:
Many expected Horiguchi to be totally out-classed by the champion, but that wasn’t necessarily the case in the early going. Johnson took the first round with his usual seamless transitions, but Horiguchi was able to land some clean blows thanks to his unorthodox rhythm. Fox Sports recapped the opening round:
The end of the second round saw Johnson assert himself as the aggressor. After a hot start, Horiguchi faded a bit to end the round, while Johnson was able to go to his wrestling and plant Horiguchi on the mat, as noted by Brett Okamoto of ESPN:
That grappling disparity was even more apparent in the third round. Johnson was not only able to take Horiguchi down, but also able to keep him there for extended amounts of time. Much of the round was spent with Johnson in side control looking to land ground-and-pound.
By the fourth round a general pattern had formed. Any time Horiguchi would land anything remotely dangerous it was sure to be followed by Johnson controlling the fight in the clinch or on the ground for at least the next minute as he continued to wear down the challenger.
The opening minute of the fifth round provided some brief intrigue. Horiguchi had the beginnings of a triangle from the bottom, but Johnson was eventually able to pull himself out and went back to looking for submissions of his own. Horiguchi appeared like he was going to survive the fight until Johnson quickly locked in an arm bar right before the final bell rang.
The win for Johnson gives him six consecutive title defenses as the original champion of the division. That’s just two fewer than Jon Jones. who currently holds the longest title defense streak and four behind Anderson Silva. who holds the all-time record with 10.
Regardless of weight class, that’s true dominance.
Horiguchi, for his part, should just be proud of earning this shot so early in his career. With just four fights in the UFC, the step up in competition proved to be too much to overcome. His four previous opponents had a combined two UFC wins among them.
In short, this loss is far from the end of his career.
But the win just goes to show that we are still living in the Mighty Mouse era of the flyweight division. The champion’s technical prowess is simply unmatched at this weight and the true challenges remaining are few and far between.
Johnson isn’t necessarily focused on his legacy, though. Despite a reason to argue his place among the pound-for-pound greats, what makes him such a great champion is his ability to continue working on his game despite all his success, per Duane Finley of UFC.com.
It’s nice to get recognized as one of the greatest fighters in the sport alongside guys like Jon Jones, Jose Aldo and Chris Weidman. Those things are always nice, but I only focus on what I can do. Those labels don’t mean much inside the cage, so I put all of my energy and focus into putting on a great performance on fight night. All the other stuff about the pound-for-pound rankings are for the fans and media to dictate and I try to not pay too much attention to it.
Looking ahead, Johnson’s words are a microcosm for what his career has come to represent.
He will never be the most flashy fighter, or one to get into a pre-fight war of words or sell out an arena. He will not become a superstar.
Instead, he’s a man focused on his craft. And there are few in this sport that ply their trade with the type of efficiency and precision that he can.
That was on full display Saturday night.
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