It was close, it was competitive, fast and in your face for the entire 25 minutes. Demetrious Johnson defended his crown for the first time tonight on center stage against John Dodson, the charismatic power-puncher who had his moments, even staggering the champ but it wasn’t enough.
Dodson tested the chin of the 125-pound champ early and was able to find the spot and land a series of good punches but ultimately the cardiovascular fitness of the champ proved to be too much. Dodson wasn’t on the ground sucking wind and gasping by any means but he couldn’t keep the pace that Johnson set.
The Matt Hume product didn’t slow a bit as he was consistently landing strikes and avoiding danger while setting up some beautiful takedowns on Dodson who is predominately hard to get off his feet. The champ finished the last frame strong, leaving no questions in anyone’s mind who won with a round that bordered on a 10-8.
When the scores came in we had a split decision with two seeing for the champ and one for the challenger.
