Demetrious Johnson deserves to be recognized as one of the sport's best. | Photo: Dave Mandel/Sherdog.com
If you haven’t already, it is past time to embrace the greatness of Demetrious Johnson. After drawing plenty of criticism for not finishing fights during his rise to flyweight champion, “Mighty Mouse” delivered the most emphatic ending of his title reign, submitting John Moraga with an armbar in the fifth round of the UFC on Fox 8 headliner on Saturday night. It was Johnson’s second successful title defense on network television, and the Washington native was rarely threatened before the fight’s conclusion, as he took Moraga down at will and befuddled his opponent with superior speed and technique.
23:43: Time spent in the Octagon in Saturday’s main event before Johnson submitted Moraga with an armbar in the fifth round, the latest finish in UFC history. The previous record came at UFC 117, when Anderson Silva stopped Chael Sonnen 3:10 into round five.
4: Fights in UFC history that have been stopped in the fifth round: Johnson-Moraga, Silva-Sonnen, Randy Couture-Ricco Rodriguez (UFC 39) and B.J. Penn-Diego Sanchez (UFC 107).
12: Takedowns landed in 12 attempts by Johnson, the most of his Zuffa tenure. His previous best of 10 takedowns landed came against Norifumi Yamamoto at UFC 126.
67: Significant strikes landed by Johnson in 95 attempts, a 71 percent success rate. By comparison, Moraga landed 32 of 76 significant strikes, a 42 percent clip.
3: Submissions attempted by Johnson. Johnson’s only other submission attempt of his 11-fight Zuffa tenure came at WEC 52, when defeated Damacio Page with a guillotine choke in the third round.
Photo: D. Mandel/Sherdog.com
MacDonald kept Ellenberger on the end of his jab.
6-5: Record for Ellenberger in bouts that go the distance. The Nebraskan is 23-2 in all other fights.
11: Consecutive knockout victories for Robbie Lawler, who finished Bobby Voelker with a head kick and punches 24 seconds into the second round. Lawler’s last non-knockout triumph came in 2005, when he armbarred Jeremy Brown at KOTC “Extreme Edge.”
100: Total strikes by which Liz Carmouche outlanded Jessica Andrade in their bantamweight clash. Carmouche held a whopping 79 to 3 edge in round two before the fight was called 3:57 into the stanza.
1,499: Days since Jorge Masvidal’s last -- and previously only -- submission victory, a rear-naked choke of Eric Reynolds in the third round at Bellator 12. “Gamebred” earned his second tapout win via brabo choke against Michael Chiesa on Saturday.
2: Fights in UFC history that have ended by submission at the 4:59 mark of round two, including Masvidal’s win over Chiesa. Chan Sung Jung used the twister to defeat Leonard Garcia with one second remaining in the second frame at UFC Fight Night 24.
12: Takedowns, in 16 attempts, allowed by Tim Means in his last two UFC appearances, both of which were unanimous decision defeats. Danny Castillo landed six of eight takedowns against “The Dirty Bird” on Saturday, while Masvidal landed six of eight attempts against Means in April.
67: Total strikes by which Means outlanded Castillo. The FIT-NHB product outlanded his foe 73 to 30 in round one, 25 to 17 in round two and 28 to 12 in round three. Means also held a 38 to 25 edge in significant strikes landed.
7: Knockout victories by Melvin Guillard in the Octagon after finishing Mac Danzig in the second round. That total moves “The Young Assassin” past B.J. Penn for most knockouts among UFC lightweights.
13: Knockdowns landed by Guillard in his UFC career, No. 3 all-time in UFC history behind Chuck Liddell (14) and Anderson Silva (17). The Grudge Training Center product floored Danzig in the second round before finishing the bout with hammerfists 2:47 into the frame.
3: The largest significant striking advantage in any of the three rounds in the lightweight clash between Daron Cruickshank and Yves Edwards. Edwards outlanded Cruickshank 17 to 14 in round one and 13 to 12 in round three. Both fighters landed 18 significant strikes in round two.
160: Combined significant strikes landed by Ed Herman and Trevor Smith in their middleweight clash, which Herman won via split decision. Smith actually outlanded Herman in significant strikes 87 to 73, although “Short Fuse” held a 127 to 112 edge in total strikes.
22: Significant strikes by which Germaine de Randamie outlanded Julie Kedzie in their bantamweight bout. Kedzie landed two of nine takedown attempts against the muay Thai practitioner, but wasn’t able to mount enough offense from top position in losing a split decision.
17: Split decisions in UFC history in which the loser received a 30-27 scorecard. Prior to UFC on Fox 8, which had two such fights (Herman vs. Smith and Cruickshank vs. Edwards), no card had more than one bout where the loser received a 30-27 tally.
16: Age, in years, of Aaron Riley when he made his professional debut at HooknShoot “When Worlds Collide” on July 18, 1997. Riley lost a split decision to Justin Salas in the UFC on Fox 8 preliminary bout, his 45th professional fight.
5: Consecutive losses via submission for John Albert, dating back to a guillotine choke defeat at the hands of Roy Bradshaw before he appeared on the “Ultimate Fighter 14.” Yaotzin Meza tapped the Washingtonian with a rear-naked choke in round two on Saturday, the first of those setbacks that has lasted past a round.