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Pat Barry vs. Lavar Johnson Results: What We Learned About Johnson

Lavar Johnson is a destroyer and quite possibly the next breakout star in the UFC heavyweight division.At UFC on Fox 3, he overwhelmed Pat Barry in the first round to pick up his second consecutive knockout stoppage.”It just feels great. I’m on top of …

Lavar Johnson is a destroyer and quite possibly the next breakout star in the UFC heavyweight division.

At UFC on Fox 3, he overwhelmed Pat Barry in the first round to pick up his second consecutive knockout stoppage.

“It just feels great. I’m on top of the world right now,” Johnson told Ariel Helwani in his post-fight interview with MMAFighting.com. “Beating Pat Barry is an excellent achievement, probably the highest achievement of my career so far, and to be here in the UFC is just awesome.”

When it comes to hard-hitting heavyweights, it doesn’t get any better than Johnson. He has netted 15 knockouts in his professional career. None of his fights have ever gone the distance.

Along with his aggressive fighting style, Johnson has an intriguing story. He barely survived a shooting a few years back at a family gathering, and those battle wounds are displayed vividly on his torso today.

Johnson is a fighter through and through. He has overcome obstacles some us will never know. As a fan of the sport, it’s hard not to be drawn in by this kind of character.

Here are five things we learned about Johnson.

Looking for some more MMA news, and perhaps a couple of laughs? Follow me on Twitter @JordyMcElroy.

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UFC on Fox 3 Results: Where Does Jim Miller Go from Here?

This past Saturday, Jim Miller fell to Nate Diaz in a bout in which Miller was never really in it. Diaz tagged his bearded foe with several shots, pressed the action and kept the fight in his range. With the loss, Miller now finds himself 1-2 in his mo…

No fighter fits the definition of gatekeeper quite like Miller. He is a hard-nosed, battle-tested warrior who comes out on top more often than not. He has bested men who were otherwise undefeated, Ultimate Fighter winners and longtime UFC veterans alike. However, when put against elite fighters, Miller has faltered at every turn.

Notice the connection between the only four men to defeat Miller: Frankie Edgar, Gray Maynard, Benson Henderson, Nate Diaz. All are either champions or contenders in the UFC.

Where does he go from here? At one point, Miller had a seven-fight win streak inside the Octagon, which is only one shy of Maynard’s record. Not only that, but Miller was a top contender less than one year ago.

Miller is hardly irrelevant, nor is he the kind of fighter who will be discouraged by Saturday’s contest. If anything, he will use it as motivation to come back better than ever. I legitimately pity whomever Joe Silva puts across the Octagon from this New Jersey native.

Let’s take a look at some UFC lightweights who may find themselves in such dangerous waters.

Donald Cerrone vs. Jeremy Stephens loser

On May 15, Cerrone and Stephens square off at UFC on Fuel.

Last year, “Cowboy” Cerrone found success in his first four UFC appearances and attempted to win a fifth against Nate Diaz. Additionally, he has only lost to champions Benson Henderson and Jamie Varner.

Stephens has wins over Sam Stout, Cole Miller, Rafael dos Anjos and Marcus Davis. Barring a bad decision in a contest with Melvin Guillard, Stephens’ only loss in his last six fights came in a decision against Anthony Pettis.

George Sotiropoulos

G-Sot knows how Jim Miller feels. Sotiropoulos also won seven straight fights in the UFC, but was unable to secure a title shot despite wins over Joe Stevenson, Joe Lauzon and Kurt Pellegrino. In a fight that would likely crown him as a No. 1 contender, Sotiropoulos fell short against Dennis Siver and lost every ounce of his precious momentum.

A knockout loss to Rafael dos Anjos last summer sent the Aussie star spiraling off the contender’s ladder entirely. A bout with Miller would be a high-risk, high-reward situation for both stars.

Joe Lauzon

Another notable lightweight who would be well-suited to square off with Jim Miller is submission specialist Joe Lauzon. Coming off of a head-kick KO loss to Anthony Pettis, Lauzon is a dangerous competitor who is eager to get back on the right side of the win column.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

UFC on Fox 3 Video: Gracie Breakdown of Rousimar Palhares vs. Alan Belcher

Heading into this past weekend’s bout between heel-hook specialist Rousimar Palhares and Alan Belcher, many fans were expecting “Toquinho” to walk away with his fifth submission win of his UFC career. With a 13-4 record going into the bout an…

With a 13-4 record going into the bout and having 10 submission wins with six heel-hook victories, Palhares made the claim to being one of the more dangerous submission artists in the UFC. His short and stocky build was also a feature that added to the intimidation factor of his brutal submissions.

Being no stranger to making other black belts tap in the Octagon, Palhares was more than confident in his ability to catch Belcher, but “The Talent” had no intentions of getting caught in something he had been training to avoid throughout his entire camp.

The fight, which aired on the main card of UFC on Fox 3, started with Palhares securing the takedown and trying to lock in the submission. To many fans’ surprise, Belcher escaped and stayed in guard where he established his attack with some brutal ground and pound with elbows and punches.

After a long barrage of strikes landed, the referee jumped in to save Palhares from any more damage, but it was the submission defense of Belcher that impressed everyone.

In this video, Ryron Gracie and Rener Gracie breakdown the submission defense of Belcher, which helped guide him towards stopping Palhares.

They also breakdown the main event, which saw Nate Diaz be the first fighter to finish Jim Miller. After knocking down his opponent in the first round, Diaz was able to take over the fight quickly before submitting Miller in the second round with a guillotine choke.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

Mayweather vs. Cotto Against UFC on FOX 3: Boxing Still King, but Not for Long

Fans of combat sports were treated to a memorable evening on Saturday night as Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Miguel Cotto battled it out on pay-per-view following an entertaining fight card put on by the UFC on FOX.The ratings aren’t in quite yet for these …

The ratings aren’t in quite yet for these events, but judging by trends on both Google and Twitter, it’s safe to assume that the Mayweather-Cotto event profited a huge number while UFC likely lagged behind the results that it pulled in from the first two events on FOX.

The night proved that while the UFC may be the fastest growing, boxing is still the king of combat all sports…

For now.

There is absolutely no denying that Floyd Mayweather is the biggest draw in fighting today. His pay-per-view buy numbers are astounding. His rival, Manny Pacquiao, trails behind him but is still by far and away the second-biggest draw.

But after that, it’s anyone’s guess.

It has been nearly eight years since the last time that a pay-per-view event headlined by someone other than Floyd Mayweather or Manny Pacquiao reached a million buys, when Oscar De La Hoya battled Bernard Hopkins.

Pacquiao and Mayweather crack the one million buy mark with ease in every fight they have, but aside from those two marquee fighters, the sport of boxing and its influence on the mainstream sports world is on life support.

If you take Pacquiao and Mayweather out of the equation, boxing only had two events in 2011 which reached even 100,000 pay-per-view buys. In contrast, the UFC easily surpassed 100,000 buys for every event they put on in 2011.

As Mayweather and Pacquiao near the end of their careers, the UFC must be salivating at the possibility of finally being the pinnacle of combat sports. Who knows exactly how long boxing’s stars will stick around, but with no one waiting in the wings to take their place, boxing could be in for some serious dark days as the UFC pulls ahead, perhaps for the long haul.

While the UFC did lose its own biggest pay-per-view buy generator in Brock Lesnar, the growth in the popularity of stars such as Jon Jones and Junior dos Santos could help make up for that. However, the biggest reason for the company’s success on pay-per-view has been its business model.

Unlike boxing, the UFC brands itself, not the fighters.

Sure, they create stars in the process, but the focus is always on the UFC brand itself. If a main event fight gets canceled, the card isn’t scrapped—they just replace it with another fight and fans eat it up. We simply can’t get enough. That cannot and does not happen in the boxing world.

If the sport of boxing doesn’t drastically change its model, we could be talking about it in the past tense. As in, “remember when we used to watch boxing?”

We might already be past the point of no return…and the UFC is ready to fill the void.

For more MMA news, fighter interviews and opinions, follow Nick Caron: @NicholasCaron.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

UFC on FOX 3 Medical Suspensions: Nate Diaz and Jim Miller Escape Suspension

On Saturday, March 5, 24 fighters stepped into the Octagon during the course of the UFC on FOX 3 fight card. Of those 24 fighters, 14 left the Izod Center with medical suspensions. Of the 12 fights on the card, only two saw both fighters escape any sus…

On Saturday, March 5, 24 fighters stepped into the Octagon during the course of the UFC on FOX 3 fight card. Of those 24 fighters, 14 left the Izod Center with medical suspensions.

Of the 12 fights on the card, only two saw both fighters escape any suspension time, the first fight on the card, Karlos Vemola and Mike Massenzio, and the main event fighters, Nate Diaz and Jim Miller.

The suspensions ranged from 30-day precautionary suspensions to indefinite suspensions pending CT scan results or X-ray results.

Below is the full list of suspensions, provided by the New Jersey Athletic Control Board to Bleacher Report MMA via email:

Josh Koscheck suspended indefinitely pending CT scan of facial bones

Johny Hendricks suspended indefinitely pending examination of right eye

Rousamir Palhares suspended 30 days

Alan Belcher suspended indefinitely pending X-ray of right hand

Pat Barry suspended 30 days

Lavar Johnson suspended indefinitely pending X-ray of left hand

Tony Ferguson suspended indefinitely pending X-ray of left forearm, with a 30-day minimum suspension

John Dodson suspended indefinitely pending X-rays of left hand

Pascal Krauss suspended indefinitely pending X-ray of right foot

Louis Gaudinot suspended indefinitely pending X-rays of both hands, with a 30-day minimum suspension

John Lineker suspended 30 days

Danny Castillo suspended indefinitely pending X-ray of right hand

Dennis Bermudez suspended 60 days to allow for facial laceration healing

Nick Denis suspended indefinitely pending CT scans to his orbital bones and head

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

UFC on FOX 3 Results: 5 Fights We Would Like to See Lavar Johnson in Next

When Strikeforce began to import their heavyweights into the UFC, Lavar Johnson was riding a two-fight losing streak. In both bouts, he was submitted on a Challengers event, and in neither did he make it out of the second round. Last night, h…

When Strikeforce began to import their heavyweights into the UFC, Lavar Johnson was riding a two-fight losing streak. In both bouts, he was submitted on a Challengers event, and in neither did he make it out of the second round.

Last night, however, Johnson made us forget all about his Strikeforce troubles, as he improved his UFC record to 2-0, when he dispatched of kickboxer Pat Barry in less than one round.

Although Johnson has heavy hands and a solid chin, the striking game of Barry was expected to be too much for the 34-year-old fighter out of AKA. Now that Johnson has shown fans around the world that he can compete with the best strikers that the division can offer, here is a look at some fights that we would like to see “Big” take next.

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