UFC on FOX 24's 10 memorable moments, with 'Mouse,' 'Thug' and 'Bobby Knuckles'

It was just another day at the office for UFC flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson. He clocked in, did what he needed to do, and clocked out, barely breaking a sweat.

Johnson’s time on the job at UFC on FOX 24 lasted just short of 15 minutes. During that time, the long-reigning titleholder was nearly perfect, barely getting touched by opponent Wilson Reis on his way to a record-tying 10th consecutive UFC title defense, a record Johnson shares with former UFC champion Anderson Silva.

In the co-main event, one-time strawweight title contender Rose Namajunas put her name back on that list with a second round submission win over Michele Waterson.

UFC on FOX 24 took place at Sprint Center in Kansas City, Mo.

Here are 10 memorable moments from the event.

1. Please don’t touch

Johnson’s record-tying 10th title defense was a reminder of just how dominant his run at flyweight has been. Johnson (26-2-1 MMA, 14-1-1 UFC) limited Reis’ (22-7 MMA, 6-3 UFC) offense to a paltry 16 significant strikes landed, while scoring with 108 of his own – and that was before Johnson handed Reis the first submission defeat of his career, ending the fight with a third-round armbar.

Johnson’s decisive victory put an exclamation point on a run that began when he captured the title with a split-decision win over Joseph Benavidez in 2012. In his 11 UFC title fights, Johnson has out-struck his opponents by a significant margin: 749 to 314.

Johnson might not draw casual MMA fans to his fights, but that doesn’t mean he’s untalented or unappreciated, something that was evident from the outpouring of accolades from fellow fighters after his win.

2. That one’s free

Moments after his win, Johnson gave the UFC the perfect promo for his next title defense, which will – if successful – make him the only fighter in UFC history to defend a UFC title 11 consecutive times.

“GSP (Georges St-Pierre) and Anderson Silva, they were great champions, but I’m the best champion to ever step in this octagon,” Johnson told UFC on FOX commentator Brian Stann.

Critics have opined that Johnson, despite his achievements, is a hard fighter to promote. With that quote, Johnson provided the UFC with a ready-made marketing plan for his next fight.

3. A different kind of gatekeeper

When a fighter gets tagged as a gatekeeper, it usually means he or she is the person to beat to make an entrance into the rankings. In the strawweight division, Namajunas is a gatekeeper of another sort: the fighter who lets other women know if they’re ready to fight for the strawweight title.

At UFC on FOX 24, Waterson got an answer to that question, and the answer was a resounding no.

Namajunas (6-3 MMA, 4-2 UFC) handed Waterson (14-5 MMA, 2-1 UFC) her first UFC loss, stopping her in the second round via rear-naked choke.

With her victory, Namajunas seems like she’ll be tapped to face the winner of the upcoming bout between champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk and Jessica Andrade.

“She thinks she’s ready for a title, and I agree with her after tonight’s performance,” UFC President Dana White said after the fight.

4. Well, that’s a fine mess

The number of middleweights vying for a shot at the UFC title didn’t change at UFC on FOX 24, but the names did, when Robert Whittaker used his speed and power to hand Ronaldo Souza his first knockout defeat since 2008.

With the upset win over 2.5-1 favorite Souza (23-5 MMA, 6-2 UFC), Whittaker (18-4 MMA, 9-2 UFC) remains unbeaten since moving up to 185 pounds in 2014. At just 26, he looks like he could be the future of a division that currently has a 38-year-old champion in Michael Bisping and 39-year-old Yoel Romero as a top contender.

Whittaker (aka “Bobby Knuckles”) joins Romero and 31-year-old Gegard Mousasi in the hunt for the next middleweight title shot.

5. He called it

Renato Moicano

During the video lead-in to his featherweight fight with Renato Moicano, Jeremy Stephens seemed to predict how the contest was going to play out.

“When you come forward and you get cracked by those first combinations, either your lights go out or you start backing up and changing your whole game plan,” Stephens said.

From the start of the fight, Moicano (11-0-1 MMA, 3-0 UFC) refused to provide Stephens (25-14 MMA, 12-13 UFC) an opportunity to land those combos. If Moicano wasn’t circling away from Stephens, he was either catching his opponent with jabs to the face or landing leg kicks.

Moicano’s game plan paid dividends, giving him the split-decision win and putting his name in the player column in the 145-pound division.

6. A good start

Expectations were high for the UFC debut of Tom Duquesnoy, and why wouldn’t they be? He was a two-division champion with BAMMA before signing with the UFC.

Duquesnoy looked a little shaky in the first round of his bantamweight fight against Patrick Williams. However, as the fight wore on, Duquesnoy (15-1 MMA, 1-0 UFC), remaining calm in the face of Williams’ (8-5 MMA, 1-2 UFC) high-paced attack, took control, eventually stopping his opponent with second-round strikes.

It’s hard to get a full read on Duquesnoy from this fight since Williams faded badly. But from what we did see, Duquesnoy looks like a fighter who could develop into something special.

7. New rules, old rules, it’s all confusing

During the second round of his fight with lightweight Bobby Green, Rashid Magomedov landed a left hand to the right eye of his opponent. After the punch landed, Green paused and told referee Mario Yamasaki that he had been poked in the eye. Three seconds after the punch landed, Yamasaki granted Green (23-8 MMA, 4-3 UFC) his requested timeout. Yamasaki also issued a warning to Magomedov (20-2 MMA, 4-1 UFC) about the alleged eye-poke, which replays clearly showed was a punch.

Stann and his fellow UFC on FOX commentator, Jon Anik, did not give Yamasaki a free pass on his actions.

“I’m just surprised by that call because you (Yamasaki) didn’t see it,”
Stann said. “The fighter stopped it, and then you’re going to give a warning where you’re going to take a point off an eye-poke you didn’t even see.”

Stann, between rounds, informed Yamasaki that he made the wrong call. According to the broadcast, Yamasaki’s response was that the warning was for leading with extended fingers, which was also an error, since the Missouri commission has not yet adopted the updated Unified Rules of MMA that make that a foul.

Had Yamasaki taken a point from Magomedov, the fight could have ended as a majority draw, costing Magomedov a victory and the win portion of his fight purse.

8. Someone’s a little tough on himself

Tim Elliott described his last fight, a unanimous-decision loss to flyweight champ Johnson, as “a turd of a fight.” His clean sweep of Louis Smolka was far from that.

Elliott (14-7-1 MMA, 3-5 UFC) and Smolka (11-4 MMA, 5-4 UFC) put on a grappling clinic during their fast-paced matchup, which took home “Fight of the Night” bonus honors. Elliott controlled most of the fight, taking Smolka down 12 times on 14 attempts and racking up an enormous amount of ground control time.

Despite his win, Elliott was critical of his performance.

“In my opinion, this was a B-level performance,” he said. “I’m capable of a lot more.”

9. Living up to his nickname

Andrew Sanchez was on a roll heading into his middleweight fight against Anthony Smith, putting together two consecutive dominant wins in the UFC and four straight overall. Heading into the third round, it looked like Sanchez was going to move to 3-0 in the UFC, but as the third stanza wore on, Sanchez (9-3 MMA, 2-1 UFC) ran low on fuel. That was the opening Smith (27-12 MMA, 3-2 UFC) needed.

With less than 90 seconds remaining in the fight, the man nicknamed “Lionheart” unloaded a knee to the head of Sanchez that dropped him to the mat. Smith then ended the fight with ground strikes. The brutal finish left Sanchez unable to get to his feet by the time the referee raised Smith’s hand in victory.

Twitter highlights: https://twitter.com/ufc/status/853354352886521856

10. The man has a point

Zak Cummings has been with the UFC since 2013, winning far more than he’s lost, yet he usually toils on the prelims. He didn’t even get a spot on the televised portion of UFC on FOX 24 despite fighting in his hometown of Kansas City.

So, you could forgive Cummings if he entered his welterweight fight against Nathan Coy with a little bit of a chip on his shoulder, and when Cummings (21-5 MMA, 6-2 UFC) ended the contest by sleeping Coy (15-7 MMA, 1-2 UFC) with a guillotine choke in the first round he, let everyone know how he felt.

“Give me my respect,” Cummings told the crowd after the fight “I’ve been flying under the radar for so long. I deserve more respect – top 15, top 10. I don’t care what it is – $50,000 bonus. That was a shutout. Give it to me.”

Cummings was not granted a bonus.

For complete coverage of UFC on FOX 24, check out the UFC Events section of the site.