Demetrious Johnson submits challenger with one second left at UFC 186
Demetrious Johnson was cruising to his sixth consecutive flyweight title defense in the main event of UFC 186 on Saturday in Montreal.
But winning the fight just wasn’t enough.
Johnson locked in an armbar and forced Kyoji Horiguchi to submit with one second left in the fifth and final round.
“Going for the finish at the end, I was being lazy,” Johnson said. “(My coach) Matt Hume was yelling, ‘Armbar, armbar,’ so I thought, ‘Oh, (expletive), I guess I should just go for it.’ ”
Johnson executed his typical game plan, using quick movement to set up precision strikes and takedowns while keeping constant pressure on his opponent. He had won the first four rounds on the scorecards and was well on his way to winning the fifth.
Former light heavyweight champion Quinton “Rampage” Jackson made a triumphant return to the Ultimate Fighting Championship with a unanimous decision over Fabio Maldonado.
Jackson had been gone for more than two years after signing a free-agent deal with Bellator MMA. A legal battle between the two organizations left Jackson unsure of whether he would be able to compete until Tuesday.
“I’m back,” said Jackson, who was 3-0 in Bellator but had lost his last three UFC bouts.“You guys don’t know how stressed I was. I had to fight to get here because some haters were trying to keep me from coming back to the UFC.”
The bout was contested at a catchweight of 215 pounds because of the uncertainty of whether Jackson would be allowed to compete.
Veteran middleweight Michael Bisping rallied after losing the first round to win the final two and take a unanimous decision over CB Dollaway.
“He proved to be a lot tougher than I expected. He was good on his feet and had some power in those punches,” Bisping said. “I was able to stuff his takedowns pretty easy, but there is a reason he’s a top-10 fighter. My ego is a little bruised that I didn’t get a finish and didn’t put on my best performance, but I’m happy with the win.”
Bisping has now alternated wins and losses in his past nine fights.
Bantamweight Thomas Almeida was undaunted by what was the biggest fight of his career, as he opened the main card with a first-round knockout of Yves Jabouin.
Almeida used surgical precision with his strikes to remain undefeated, eventually finishing Jabouin with a barrage of punches to the head and body as Jabouin was backed against the cage.
“I train really hard every day and felt very prepared for this fight. My game plan was to hurt him and just continue landing strikes until it became too much to handle,” Almeida said. “I’m still very young, but if I continue training in all disciplines, I know I can be one of the top fighters in the division.”
The 23-year-old improved to 19-0 with 14 knockouts.
John Makdessi spoiled the UFC debut of Shane Campbell with a first-round knockout in what was contested as a catchweight bout at 160 pounds after Campbell took the fight on short notice.
The preliminary card featured Alexis Davis defeating Sarah Kaufman in her third chance.
Davis was knocked out by Kaufman in her mixed martial arts debut in 2007, then dropped a majority decision on a Strikeforce card in 2012. Davis, who lost to women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey in July, was happy not only to get back in the win column but also to finally get over the hump against Kaufman.
“I was really surprised by Sarah. She showed a whole bunch of new tools I hadn’t seen in our first two meetings,” Davis said. “The 135-pound division is wide open right now, and I can definitely make another run back to the top. Obviously, I would love another shot at Ronda, and this was a big step in that direction.”
Valerie Letourneau and Randa Markos won decisions in women’s strawweight bouts.
Nordine Taleb, Patrick Cote and Chad Laprise won decisions on the preliminary card.
Olivier Aubin-Mercier submitted David Michaud in the third round of a lightweight bout.
Contact reporter Adam Hill at ahill@reviewjournal.com or 702-224-5509. Follow him on Twitter: @adamhilllvrj.