UFC 227: Henry Cejudo Ends Demetrious Johnson’s Historic Reign

Henry Cejudo avenged his 2016 loss to Demetrious Johnson tonight at UFC 227, and in doing so, he ended the latter’s historic reign as flyweight champ.

Not long into the bout, Cejudo appeared to roll his left ankle, and for several moments, he had trouble putting weight on it. Johnson fired off a steady stream of kicks for the remainder of the round, and blitzed in with the odd flurry. Before the opening frame closed, Cejudo briefly took Johnson down and also appeared to land a hard left.

Round two saw more of the same from Johnson, however, Cejudo appeared more stable on his left leg and he winged big punches in return. Late in the round, Cejudo scored a nicely timed takedown.

Cejudo pressured for much of round three, but Johnson punished the challenger with kicks to legs and body. The challenger also scored a couple more takedowns, but Johnson countered with beautifully timed rollouts and scrambles.

In round four, Johnson continued to fire in kicks to the legs and body, and they also exchange some big punches as well. But, later in the frame, Cejudo scored a takedown and controlled the top position until the end of the round.

Round five saw Johnson outscore Cejudo from the outside, until the latter clinched up later in the frame. Cejudo was able to take Johnson down, but the champ quickly got back to his feet. In the final moments of the bout, both men tossed big shots, in search of a fight cinching strike.

After the very competitive and exciting fight, it was announced that Cejudo had ended Johnson’s historic reign via split decision. Johnson had defended the 125 title a record, 11 times.

Here are the results thus far for UFC 227.

Henry Cejudo def. Demetrious Johnson via split decision cejudo(48-47, 47-48, 48-47)

Renato Moicano def. Cub Swanson via submission (rear-naked-choke) R1, 4:15

J.J. Aldrich def. Polyana Viana via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-27)

Thiago “Marreta” Santos def. Kevin Holland via unanimous decision (29-27, 29-27, 29-26)

Pedro Munhoz def. Brett Johns via unanimous decision (30-26, 29-28, 29-27)

Ricky Simon def. Montel Jackson via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)

Ricardo Ramos def. Kyung Ho Kang via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)

Sheymon Moraes def. Matt Sayles via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)

Alex Perez def. Jose Torres via TKO (punches) R1, 3:36

Weili Zhang def. Danielle Taylor via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)

Marlon Vera def. Wuliji Buren via TKO (strikes) R2, 4:53