Last Time in Seattle

Our last trip to Seattle featured Demetrius Johnson, who was defending his flyweight title against John Moraga. The Parkland product did exactly that, taking John Moraga down a staggering 12 times. Moraga, an experienced wrestler himself, did not have any answers for the pressure of Johnson.

“Mighty Mouse” became one of two active fighters to record 10 takedowns in two fights, the other being Georges St-Pierre. With more than nine minutes of control time for the champion, Johnson showed Moraga there are levels to wrestling at the top of the game.

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Aside from the takedowns, Johnson was attacking a kimura the entire fight, but in the latter half of the fourth round, Moraga had a moment with an overhand punch that stung the champ, bloodying him in the process. It was no surprise that in the fifth round, Johnson took Moraga down quickly, and the finishing sequence saw Johnson threaten the kimura before he transitioned to an armbar to retain gold.

At the time, this was the latest stoppage in UFC championship history with only 1:17 seconds left in the fifth round.

Robbie Lawler Shows How Ruthless He Is

“That is as good as we have ever seen Robbie Lawler”

Robbie Lawler took on Bobby “Vicious” Voelker, and it became a quick night for Lawler.

“Ruthless” Robbie was “Flawless” Robbie as he walked forward with aggressive determination from the start, leading to a flashy head kick KO just 24 seconds into the 2nd round.

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Lawler mixed it up with knees, elbows, and even a takedown that set him up perfectly from start to finish. The knees were the biggest difference maker at least for the first minutes of the fight, but the ongoing forward step that Lawler implemented was putting Voelker into quicksand. Within two minutes, Lawler sent a knee to Voelker that opened the latter up while Lawler had him up against the cage.

Lawler landed almost three times the amount of significant strikes Voelker landed, and this proved to be a little too much for Voelker as Lawler earned the 18th KO of his career.

Jorge Masvidal and Michael Chiesa Go To War

 To say Jorge Masvidal walked into a difficult environment may be an understatement: from hearing boos when his name was announced, to facing an undefeated Michael Chiesa who won The Ultimate Fighter 15, Masvidal dug deep and found a way to win.

Chiesa ended up dropping Masvidal with an elbow and a flurry of punches less than two minutes into the round. After failing to secure a choke, Chiesa was then put on the backfoot with Masvidal’s flurry of kicks and punches. Masvidal started to find out the timing of Chiesa, stuffing his takedowns or getting up with regularity. Masvidal also invested in some body shots, as well as some significant shots to the head. This was the turning point of the fight, and from the end of round one, it was all Masvidal.

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“Gamebred” sensed blood and went for the finish as he locked up a submission in the final second of the second round to send Chiesa his first loss. The Seattle crowd continued their boos from earlier towards Masvidal as he took out their favorite son, but the Miami native drank it all in after getting his hand raised.