UFC 174 saw the centre stage of mixed martial arts make its first apperance in Vancouver in 3 years, and what they witnessed was exaclty why I tell people that Demetrious Johnson may very well be the most under looked champion in the UFC, as his title defense against Ali Bagautinov certainly showed why he is the kingpin in the UFC's 125 pound flyweight division.
"Mighty Mouse" started out rather slow in the first round, but was able to effectively outstrike his opponent while evading the majoraty of the strikes thrown at him. This resulted the russian attempting to advert to his grappling skills which failed to see any success in the course of this fight.
The second round saw much as the same as Ali failed to take Johnson down at any point in the round which Johnson made him with an abundance of punches and kicks, particularly stuning Ali with a right hand.
In the third, we saw much of the same in the first two rounds with Johnson being light on his feet and showing his stellar takedown defense, even making good use of the clinch. Bagautinov finally managed to get a takedown but was unable to mount any kind of significant offense on the champion whatsoever.
Johnson was so good at slipping in and out but got a little too carried away and slipped himself, eating a big punch on his way back to his feet, but other than that nothing really stayed from this round other than a near fight ending choke near the end of the round. Mighty Mouse tried to take some big chances in the 5th round to get the finish, making good use of his speed and the thai clinch but was unable to finish Bagautinov as he scored 50-45 across the board on the judges scorecards in favor of the champion.
The win gives Johnson four straight title defenses and raises his official record to 20-2-1 with a UFC record of 8-1-1. He also is currently riding a 6 fight win streaks with previous wins over Ian McCall, Joseph Benavidez (x2), John Dodson, & John Moraga while his lone loss comes to former Bantamweight Champion Dominick Cruz.
Bagautinov suffers his first UFC defeat which sees his professional mma record drop to 13-3. Prior to making his way to the octagon he was riding an 8 fight win streak, and when arrived, defeated Marcos Vinicius, Tim Elliot, and John Lineker before facing to Johnson bringing his UFC record down to 3-1.
Rory MacDonald also put on a house cleaning performance against fellow top 5 ranked Tyron Woodley. MacDonald was able to use his reach and effective striking to dominate the former NCAA wrestling champion, putting on a performance similar to the one in which he did against BJ Penn two years ago. On top of which, Rory took Woodley down towards the end of the fight and managed to land some effective ground and pound before the end of the round sounded and the judges awarded Ares the unanimous decision victory with all their scorecards being 30-27.
Rory's record jumps to 17-2 with his last four wins all coming by way of judges' decision. His UFC record now sits at 8-2 with his list of fallen foes including; BJ Penn, Jake Ellenberger, Demian Maia, and Woodley while his only two losses come to top contenders Carlos Condit and Robbie Lawler.
As for Woodley, he falls to 13-3 with a UFC record of 3-2. His victories are all knockout/tko finishes over Jay Hieron, Josh Koscheck and Carlos Condit while his losses come to the hands of MacDonald and Jake Shields.
Other results include:
Ryan Bader def. Rafael Cavalcante via unanimous decision (30-27 x3)
Andrei Arlovski def. Brendan Schaub via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
Ovince St-Preux def. Ryan Jimmo via verbal submission at 2:10 of Rd. 2
Kiichi Kunimoto def. Daniel Safarian via submission at 2:52 of Rd. 1
Valérie Létourneau def. Elizabeth Phillips via split decision (28-29, 29-28, 29-28)
Yves Jabouin def. Mike Easton via unanimous decision (29-28 x3)
Tae Hyun Bang def. Kajan Johnson via KO at 2:10 of Rd. 3
Michihiro Tanaka def. Roland Delorme via unanimous decision (30-27 x3)
Jason Saggo def. Josh Shockley via TKO at 4:57 of Rd. 1
Author: Alex Cochrane
Cited sources: Brent Brookhouse (bloodyelbow.com)
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W00t! 2-0 for Team Headrush!
Big ups to Ovince St-Preux and Rory MacDonald!
"Mighty Mouse" started out rather slow in the first round, but was able to effectively outstrike his opponent while evading the majoraty of the strikes thrown at him. This resulted the russian attempting to advert to his grappling skills which failed to see any success in the course of this fight.
The second round saw much as the same as Ali failed to take Johnson down at any point in the round which Johnson made him with an abundance of punches and kicks, particularly stuning Ali with a right hand.
In the third, we saw much of the same in the first two rounds with Johnson being light on his feet and showing his stellar takedown defense, even making good use of the clinch. Bagautinov finally managed to get a takedown but was unable to mount any kind of significant offense on the champion whatsoever.
Johnson was so good at slipping in and out but got a little too carried away and slipped himself, eating a big punch on his way back to his feet, but other than that nothing really stayed from this round other than a near fight ending choke near the end of the round. Mighty Mouse tried to take some big chances in the 5th round to get the finish, making good use of his speed and the thai clinch but was unable to finish Bagautinov as he scored 50-45 across the board on the judges scorecards in favor of the champion.
The win gives Johnson four straight title defenses and raises his official record to 20-2-1 with a UFC record of 8-1-1. He also is currently riding a 6 fight win streaks with previous wins over Ian McCall, Joseph Benavidez (x2), John Dodson, & John Moraga while his lone loss comes to former Bantamweight Champion Dominick Cruz.
Bagautinov suffers his first UFC defeat which sees his professional mma record drop to 13-3. Prior to making his way to the octagon he was riding an 8 fight win streak, and when arrived, defeated Marcos Vinicius, Tim Elliot, and John Lineker before facing to Johnson bringing his UFC record down to 3-1.
Rory MacDonald also put on a house cleaning performance against fellow top 5 ranked Tyron Woodley. MacDonald was able to use his reach and effective striking to dominate the former NCAA wrestling champion, putting on a performance similar to the one in which he did against BJ Penn two years ago. On top of which, Rory took Woodley down towards the end of the fight and managed to land some effective ground and pound before the end of the round sounded and the judges awarded Ares the unanimous decision victory with all their scorecards being 30-27.
Rory's record jumps to 17-2 with his last four wins all coming by way of judges' decision. His UFC record now sits at 8-2 with his list of fallen foes including; BJ Penn, Jake Ellenberger, Demian Maia, and Woodley while his only two losses come to top contenders Carlos Condit and Robbie Lawler.
As for Woodley, he falls to 13-3 with a UFC record of 3-2. His victories are all knockout/tko finishes over Jay Hieron, Josh Koscheck and Carlos Condit while his losses come to the hands of MacDonald and Jake Shields.
Other results include:
Ryan Bader def. Rafael Cavalcante via unanimous decision (30-27 x3)
Andrei Arlovski def. Brendan Schaub via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
Ovince St-Preux def. Ryan Jimmo via verbal submission at 2:10 of Rd. 2
Kiichi Kunimoto def. Daniel Safarian via submission at 2:52 of Rd. 1
Valérie Létourneau def. Elizabeth Phillips via split decision (28-29, 29-28, 29-28)
Yves Jabouin def. Mike Easton via unanimous decision (29-28 x3)
Tae Hyun Bang def. Kajan Johnson via KO at 2:10 of Rd. 3
Michihiro Tanaka def. Roland Delorme via unanimous decision (30-27 x3)
Jason Saggo def. Josh Shockley via TKO at 4:57 of Rd. 1
Author: Alex Cochrane
Cited sources: Brent Brookhouse (bloodyelbow.com)
-----------------------------------------------------------
W00t! 2-0 for Team Headrush!
Big ups to Ovince St-Preux and Rory MacDonald!