Johnson taps Horiguchi with last-second armbar at UFC 186

Nissi Icasiano

This is AI generated summarization, which may have errors. For context, always refer to the full article.

Johnson taps Horiguchi with last-second armbar at UFC 186
'I wish I would have done it a lot sooner. The fight would have been over quicker,' says Demetrious Johnson

 

MANILA, Philippines – Demetrious Johnson successfully defended the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) flyweight title for the sixth time by submitting Japanese contender Kyoji Horiguchi in the UFC 186 headliner on Sunday, April 26 at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Canada.

The 28-year-old Johnson has set a record for the latest submission in UFC history and the latest finish in any UFC title tilt when he forced Horiguchi to tap at the 4:59 mark of the fifth round with an armbar.

“I wish I would have done it a lot sooner. The fight would have been over quicker, but it puts an exclamation point where I’m dominating the fight and I go ahead and finish it,” he stated in his post-fight interview.

Horiguchi found himself in a hopeless situation from the start as Johnson dragged his opponent down to the mat all throughout the bout, converting 14 of 22 takedown attempts and racking up more than 13 minutes of control time on the ground.

The Japanese fighter’s best moment came in the second round, where Horiguchi landed a solid knee on his counterpart’s chin as Johnson shot for another takedown.

A moment of aggressiveness also cost Johnson in the same period as he received a pair of heavy lefts from Horiguchi’s southpaw stance.

“He’s very fast, and he had a karate style I’d never faced before. I didn’t want to be stupid and get knocked out,” Johnson said of Horiguchi.

In the third frame, Horiguchi forfeited a takedown in the center of the Octagon after he came uncompromisingly forward with a left hook.

Johnson immediately transitioned to side control and kept Horiguchi’s back to the canvas for the remainder of the round.

“Mighty Mouse” chained together his grappling and striking seamlessly in the fourth stanza, grinding down Horiguchi with a crushing pace and busting his foe’s nose.

After securing his final takedown in the fifth round, Johnson advanced to the mounted crucifix, giving him the opening to rain down rapid-fire elbows and punches on Horiguchi’s exposed face before performing an armbar submission.

“I was being lazy. [My coach] Matt [Hume] was yelling, ‘Armbar, armbar,’ so I was like I better do what he says. I don’t want to get yelled at. So I went for it,” Johnson shared.

The previous record was set by Frankie Edgar this past November when he submitted Cub Swanson with four seconds left in a five-round featherweight match.

With the impressive triumph over Horiguchi, Johnson improves his prizefighting record to 22-2-1 and extends his winning streak to eight fights.

On the other hand, Horiguchi downgrades his professional standing to 15-2 and snaps his nine-fight victory march.

In the co-main event, former light heavyweight champion Quinton “Rampage” Jackson (36-11) made a dominant return to the UFC by outpointing Fabio Maldonado (22-8) via unanimous decision with the scores of 29-28, 30-27 and 30-27.

Meanwhile, Michael Bisping (26-7) moved into a tie with Chuck Liddell, Randy Couture and Gleison Tibau for fourth place on the all-time list with his 16th UFC victory as he claimed a unanimous decision from CB Dollaway (15-7) in their three-round middleweight showdown. – Rappler.com

Add a comment

Sort by

There are no comments yet. Add your comment to start the conversation.

Summarize this article with AI

How does this make you feel?

Loading
Download the Rappler App!