Demetrious Johnson made history and he pulled off perhaps one of the greatest submissions while doing it.
Last night (Oct. 7), Johnson defended his Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) flyweight title against Ray Borg at UFC 216. While the challenger certainly didn’t lack effort, he was no match for the all-time great. After four dominant rounds, Johnson lifted Borg in a German Suplex position and transitioned to an armbar midair for the submission win.
With the victory, “Mighty Mouse” broke Anderson Silva’s record for most successful consecutive title defenses in UFC history. During the post-fight press conference, the future Hall of Famer talked about his historic win (via MMAFighting.com):
“I kneed him and then I shook his weight, I shifted his weight. And when he shifted, he went back and threw an elbow and was like, ‘Got you.’ And then that’s when I threw him up and then landed in the armbar. Yeah. F*ck yeah.”
Johnson gave Borg credit for his heart, but said the challenger simply didn’t have much to bring to the table.
“He’s a very tough, very tough dude. His game is scrambling — that’s what he likes to do. He was like, ‘Oh, I’m gonna out scramble DJ, I’m gonna get on top of him.’ And even when he took me down, I was like, ‘K, you took me down. Are you gonna pass guard?’ No. I elevated him and got back up. I was like, OK, you took me down. That was the best opportunity you had.”
