Johnson defended the belt for the 11th consecutive time (Photo: Reproduction/Facebook UFC)
There are no longer any doubts about who is the greatest champion in the history of Ultimate. In the early hours of this Sunday (08), in Las Vegas (USA), in the second most important fight of UFC 216, the flyweight Demetrious Johnson, with yet another magnificent performance, definitively carved his name into the history of MMA by submitting Ray Borg at 3:15 of the fifth round, a feat that earned him the 11th consecutive title defense in the under-56kg division, surpassing the legend Anderson Silva, who held the middleweight title (up to 84kg) for ten fights in a row.
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“I'm not here to take a beating, I want to show that I can put on a show, and that's what I did”, declared the champion, in the post-fight interview.
The first and only UFC flyweight champion, Johnson reached the top in 2012, when he defeated Joseph Benavidez by split decision. Since then, he has lined up names like John Dodson (twice), Kyoji Horiguchi, Henry Cejudo e Wilson reis, all in a dominant way. At 31 years old, he has 27 wins, two losses and one draw on his professional record, maintaining an unbeaten run that has lasted six years (14 fights). Borg, in turn, lost his third in eight fights in the franchise.
The fight
As usual, Johnson started the fight moving a lot, confusing his opponent with high and low kicks. Borg, however, tried to put pressure on his rival and sought a takedown, but ended up being unsuccessful. Quickly, Demetrious turned and went to the challenger's back, who pulled him into half guard. On top, the champion continued to have positional control of the fight until the bell sounded.
Borg returned more active for the second stage, taking the fight to the ground after a few moments of insistence. Johnson tried to get up and gave way to his back, however, the champion, beautifully, quickly freed himself from the position and fell on top. Demetrious tried to lasso Borg's arm, who defended himself correctly and managed to get back on his feet. The challenger tried to land a guillotine choke on his rival, but ended up falling underneath. Johnson continued to control until the end of the round.
Without wasting time, Borg went for Johnson's legs, who defended himself and got on top. Working from the top in half guard, the champion continued to dominate the actions, without letting the challenger get up. DJ swept, went to mount and quickly got on his rival's back, but couldn't work. In the final seconds, Borg managed to get up and tried to land a guillotine choke, without success.
Aware of the disadvantage, Borg returned, landing a good takedown on Johnson, who quickly got up, spun around and fell on top of the challenger, with his 'arm' on his rival's neck. Borg, once again, managed to get up, but was pressed against the fence, being dominated by the champion, who fell again and dominated on the ground until the end of the round.
Despite the advantage, Johnson returned to the decisive stage, taking the initiative, taking the fight to the ground. Borg managed to get up and tried, again, to land a guillotine choke, but DJ defended himself and fell on top. In spectacular fashion, Johnson put Borg in a beautiful armbar, who even tried to resist, but had no option but to give three taps and give up.
UFC 216
MAIN CARD
Lightweight: Tony Ferguson derrotou Kevin Lee by submission (triangle) at 4m02s of R3
Fly weight: Demetrious Johnson defeated Ray Borg by submission (armbar) at 3:15 of R5
Heavyweight: Fabricio Werdum derrotou Walt Harris by submission (armbar) at 1m05 of R1
Fly weight: Mara Romero Borella defeated Kalindra Faria via submission (thronehold) at 2m52s of R1
Lightweight: Beneil Dariush tied with Evan dunham in the majority decision of the judges (29×27, 28×28, 28×28)
PRELIMINARY CARD
Bantamweight: cody stmann defeated Tom Duquesnoy via split decision (29×28, 28×29, 30×27)
Lightweight: Lando Vannatta drew with Bobby Green in the judges' decision (29×27, 27×29, 28×28)
Straw weight: Poliana Botelho defeated Pear Gonzales by unanimous decision of the judges (30×27, 30×27, 30×27)
Fly weight: Matt schnell defeated Marco Beltrán by unanimous decision of the judges (30×27, 29×28, 30×27)
Flyweight: John Moraga defeated Magomed Bibulatov by TKO at 1:38 of R1
Average weight: Brad Tavares derrotou Thales leites by unanimous decision of the judges (30×26, 30×26, 30×27)
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