UFC blog: Demetrious Johnson beats Tim Elliott after early trouble at Palms

By Case Keefer (contact)

Published Saturday, Dec. 3, 2016 | 7 p.m.

Updated Saturday, Dec. 3, 2016 | 11:45 p.m.

Great UFC champions can rout challengers when everything is going their way, or gut out victories when the breaks go against them.

Demetrious “Mighty Mouse” Johnson had done plenty of the former in the four years since he captured the UFC flyweight title. He did the latter in “The Ultimate Fighter: Tournament of Champions” finale Saturday night at the Pearl at the Palms.

Johnson came back from nearly getting stopped in the first round by “TUF” champion Tim Elliott to win every other frame for a unanimous-decision victory (49-46, 49-46, 49-45).

“It was a tough first round,” Johnson said. “Tim Elliott is a blitzer.”

Elliott locked in a pair of d’arce chokes on Johnson in the first five minutes that looked deep enough to be on the verge of forcing the champion to tap out. Once Johnson fought his way out of the first submission attempt, Elliott also dropped him with a right hand.

Johnson did all the blitzing in the last 20 minutes, though. He repeatedly took Elliott down, working for his own submissions while neutralizing the attack that put him in trouble early.

The victory was Johnson’s ninth straight title defense, tying him with Georges St. Pierre for second-most in UFC history and one behind Anderson Silva’s all-time mark.

“He’s the best in the world,” Elliott said. “I’m just happy to be able to share the octagon with him.”

Many called Elliott’s loss the toughest fight Johnson faced since he first won the belt in a split decision against Joseph Benavidez, who may have earned another opportunity with the champion. Benavidez, the top-ranked challenger, beat the No. 2 ranked Henry Cejudo by split decision (30-26, 29-27, 27-29) in the co-main event for a sixth consecutive victory.

Like Johnson, Benavidez came back from a rough first round. Cejudo landed heavy shots, but nullified their effects on the scorecard by landing two low kicks on Benavidez that resulted in a point deduction.

Benavidez found his rhythm in the second and third rounds, compiling a striking advantage that the judges couldn’t ignore. Cejudo landed the more impactful shots, however, so the decision was a controversial one.

“He really brought it,” Benavidez said. “I am the type of fighter that I always know what I could’ve done better but I’m really happy with my performance and with the win.”

Brandon Moreno won the third featured flyweight bout, beating Ryan Benoit by split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28) in a bout that set the action-packed pace for the rest of the main card.

Light heavyweights Jared Cannonier and Ion Cutelaba won Fight of the Night in a hard-hitting battle. Cannonier came out on top with a unanimous-decision victory (29-28, 29-28, 29-28) by winning the final two rounds.

The two stoppage victories on the main card went to veterans Sara McMann and Jorge Masvidal. McMann, a bantamweight, choked out Alexis Davis at 2:52 of the second round, and called for a shot at the winner of the UFC 207 bout between Amanda Nunes and Ronda Rousey.

Masvidal got the nod in the strangest result of the night. He had already nearly earned the knockout twice, but then opponent Jake Ellenberger got his foot cut in a space between the mat and the fence.

Ellenberger stopped defending himself and reached for his foot, leading to the referee waving off the fight. It officially went down as a first-round TKO victory for Masvidal with a 4:05 finishing time.

Masvidal asked for a fight against Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone on a night where it seemed all the winners knew what they wanted next — all the winners except Johnson. The champion is comfortable with whoever comes next.

He’s confident he can win under any circumstances.

“(Elliott) has his own style and he made it a tough fight,” Johnson said. “It was like trying to fight a muskrat. When he got the choke, I didn’t worry too much. I knew I wasn’t going anywhere.”

The most stagnant division in the UFC could receive some shake-up tonight at the Pearl at the Palms.

The top three 125-pound fighters in the world enter the octagon in the headlining bouts of “The Ultimate Fighter: Tournament of Champions” finale with three other flyweights also on the main card. Champion Demetrious “Mighty Mouse” Johnson goes for a ninth straight title defense in the main event against Tim Elliott, who won a 16-man bracket on the latest season of “TUF” to get the opportunity.

A win would tie him with Georges St. Pierre for the second-most consecutive title defenses in UFC history, and only one behind Anderson Silva’s all-time record. Two of the opponents he’s beaten as part of the streak, Joseph Benavidez and Henry Cejudo, fight in direct support.

Cejudo was Johnson’s last victim, getting knocked out less than three minutes into their UFC 197 bout in April. Benavidez has fallen twice to Johnson, once by first-round knockout in 2013 and once by split decision in 2012, but is otherwise undefeated in the UFC.

Cejudo’s defeat to Johnson was also the lone setback of his mixed martial arts career after he took up the sport following an Olympic wrestling career. If Benavidez beats Cejudo, it would be his sixth consecutive victory.

He feels like it would be enough to earn a third shot against Johnson.

Two other flyweights hope to build their résumé towards an eventual championship bout in the opening fight on the main card, which airs on Fox Sports 1. They are Brandon Moreno, a contestant on the recent season of “TUF”, and Ryan Benoit, a veteran who’s alternated wins and losses in four previous UFC bouts.

Like Benavidez vs. Cejudo, Moreno vs. Benoit looks close to evenly matched. The same can’t be said for the main event.

But that’s a show of the separation Johnson has created between himself and the rest of the division. So desperate was the UFC for new opponents that it built the 24th season of “TUF” around the idea of unearthing someone.

Elliott was the No. 3 seed, and the most recognizable name, coming in after a two-year run in the UFC from 2012 to 2014. The betting odds don’t give him much of a chance, as he’s around a 7-to-1 underdog, but that’s true for almost anyone that goes up against Johnson.

Bridging the gap between the non-title flyweight bouts are a women’s bantamweight fight pitting Sara McMann and Alexis Davis, a light heavyweight contest with Ion Catelaba and Jared Cannonier and a welterweight clash pairing Jake Ellenberger with Jorge Masvidal.

Stay tuned to lasvegassun.com for live coverage of the main card of “The Ultimate Fighter: A Tournament of Champions” and check below for full results from the preliminaries.

• Ryan Hall beat Gray Maynard by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28) in a featherweight bout.

• Rob Font put Matt Schnell out cold with a flying-knee knockout at 3:47 of the first round in their bantamweight bout.

• Dong Hyun Kim, the lightweight, not the welterweight, beat Brendan O'Riley (29-28, 29-28, 29-28).

• Jamie Moyle defeated Kailin Curran by unanimous decision in a women's strawweight bout.

• Anthony Smith knocked out Elvis Mutapcic at 3:27 of the second round with an elbow in a middleweight bout.

• Light heavyweight Devin Clark defeated Josh Stansbury by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28) in a light heavyweight bout to open the card.

Case Keefer can be reached at 948-2790 or [email protected]. Follow Case on Twitter at twitter.com/casekeefer.