Cruz keeps UFC bantamweight title

But it didn’t stop Cruz from winning his ninth straight fight and successfully defending his belt for the fourth consecutive time.

The champion just altered his approach and scored a unanimous decision over Demetrious Johnson by taking the challenger down time after time in the main event of an Ultimate Fighting Championship card Saturday in Washington, D.C.

“You have to be able to switch everything up. You can’t fight everybody the same,” said Cruz, who usually outpoints opponents by using his slick movement to create odd angles in the striking game. “I wanted to show off my grappling a little bit.”

After two rounds of mostly back-and-forth, fast-paced stand-up action, Cruz called upon his seldom-used wrestling skills to keep the belt he first won in World Extreme Cagefighting and defended for the second time in the UFC.

“Dominick showed why he was the champ tonight,” Johnson said.

Cruz took Johnson’s back early in the third round and threw him to the ground with a suplex before flattening Johnson out and nearly securing a choke. It was more of the same in the fourth and fifth rounds, as Cruz continually took down Johnson and held him against the cage.

“It was tough. The kid’s got a sick pace, so I had to out-wrestle him,” Cruz said. “He didn’t surprise me. I was ready for a wicked grind and a wicked pace. I knew I just had to slow him down by using my strength and size.”

Also, Stefan Struve submitted Pat Barry in the second round of a heavyweight bout, and Anthony Johnson knocked out Charlie Brenneman with a head kick in the first round of a welterweight fight.

Barry tried to slam Struve to break his grip on a triangle choke, but Struve maintained the position and Barry was forced to tap seconds later.

Matt Wiman defeated Mac Danzig by unanimous decision in a lightweight bout.