Record-breaking night at UFC 2016
Johnson beats Borg by submission to notch 11th defence of flyweight title in Vegas
LAS VEGAS — Demetrious Johnson successfully defended his flyweight title for a UFC record-breaking 11th time, stopping Ray Borg by armbar submission at 3:15 of fifth round Saturday night.
The card was the first major sporting event in Las Vegas since the mass shooting that killed 58 people this week. A moment of silence kicked off the pay-per-view portion of the event, then a handful of survivors and first responders were brought into the octagon and recognized as Everlast performed “America the Beautiful.” The UFC has pledged to donate $1 million to help victims and their families.
The 31-year-old Johnson (27-2-1) broke the defence record he shared with longtime middleweight champion Anderson Silva.
“Shout out to Las Vegas,” Johnson said. “Thank you so much to all the first responders.” Borg dropped to 11-3. “Ray Borg was running his mouth,” Johnson said. “I got the suplex and the armour, I knew I got it.”
Johnson landed a heavy body kick in the first round and was able to gain top control, working from half-guard for most of the round while neutralizing any offence from Borg.
In the second round, Borg was able to press forward and secure a short takedown before briefly taking Johnson’s back. Johnson offered a quick reversal and was once again on top of Borg in dominant position.
The third round found Borg looking to secure another single-leg takedown early, only to be reversed once again with Johnson on top. Johnson’s ever-active smothering grappling rendered Borg ineffective for most of the first three rounds.
Most of Borg’s energy was spent simply trying to escape his disadvantaged position, while fighting off submission attempts. Johnson was able to mount Borg shortly toward the end of a dominating round.
Borg pressed early in the fourth and took Johnson down with an impressive takedown. Johnson, true to form, wasted little time in scrambling back to top position and controlled from there for much of the remainder of the round. The final round was much of the same, with Johnson securing multiple takedowns while keeping Borg on the defence. Late in the round, Johnson secured Borg’s back, executed a slam and transitioned to an armbar in mid-air. Johnson locked in the submission and forced Borg to tap.
In the co-main event, Tony Ferguson retained the interim lightweight title, stopping challenger Kevin Lee in the third round by triangle choke submission.
ON THE HORIZON
During Friday afternoon’s weighins, the UFC rolled out six fighters who will be squaring off in early November for the mammoth UFC 217 card in New York City.
It was a list of fighters that included middleweight champion Michael Bisping and Canadian fight legend Georges St. Pierre, and it basically went exactly as expected.
St. Pierre tried to stay humble and position himself as the underdog, while Bisping basically said whatever trash-talk he could think of.
It’s nothing we haven’t seen before from the two of them, but after three years in which every UFC star has tried to position themself as the second-coming of McGregor and the baddest trash-talker on the planet, it all rang a little bit hollow.
The matchup between St. Pierre and Bisping doesn’t need bad blood to sell, and it’s hard not to wonder if the UFC would be better off selling the fight as a matchup between two longtime stars instead of trying to manufacture a rivalry that doesn’t seem to really exist.
AROUND THE OCTAGON
Apparently Anthony Johnson and Daniel Cormier are badmouthing each other about some sort of nonsense. That’s cool, but Johnson’s retired and has been beaten twice by the light-heavyweight champion, so this story is not a story. It’s nothing.