UFC 174 – scheduled for June 14th at Rogers Arena in Vancouver, BC – finally has a main event, and it’s a title fight to boot. Demetrious Johnson will be defending his UFC Flyweight Title against Ali Bagautinov at the top of the promotion’s June pay-per-view event.
The news was announced earlier today by CTV Sportsnet presenter and UFC Central host “Showdown” Joe Ferraro, and later confirmed by the UFC.
Demetrious “Mighty Mouse” Johnson (19-2-1) is the UFC’s first and only flyweight champion, winning it in a bout with Joseph Benavidez at UFC 152 before going on to successfully defend it 3 times. The Washington State-based “Mighty Mouse” has been criticized in the past for not being a finisher, but has silenced the majority of his detractors as of late by notching consecutive finishes in his last two bouts – submitting John Moraga at UFC on FOX 8 and knocking out Benavidez in their rematch at UFC on FOX 9. Will Johnson be able to make it 4 straight successful title defenses with a win against the heavy-handed Bagautinov?
Ali “Puncher King” Bagautinov (13-2) is one of the current crop of Dagestani Samboists wreaking havoc in MMA. A well-rounded athlete with a World Combat Sambo gold medal – as well numerous Master and International Master of Sports titles from the Russian government – Bagautinov is currently on a 11 fight win streak, including victories over John Lineker and Tim Elliot in the UFC. Will he be able to get a 12th consecutive victory and be the man to dethrone Johnson as the flyweight kingpin?
UFC 174 goes down on June 14th at Rogers Arena in Vancouver, BC. The main event is a UFC Flyweight Title bout pitting champion Demetrious Johnson against hard-hitting Russian samboist Ali Bagautinov. Stay tuned to MMASucka for more on this and other events.
