UFC Fight Night 66 results: Kajan Johnson outworks Lipeng Zhang for first UFC win (original) (raw)

PASAY, Philippines – Kajan Johnson’s relentless offense might not have been enough to put Lipeng Zhang away, but it was enough to keep him from mounting much of an attack of his own.

In the end, that was enough to convince the judges to hand Johnson (20-11-1 MMA, 1-1 UFC) the unanimous decision victory (30-27, 29-28, 29-28) over a game Zhang (9-9-1 MMA, 2-2 UFC).

The lightweight bout was part of the preliminary card of today’s UFC Fight Night 66 event at SM Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay, Philippines. It aired on FOX Sports 1 following additional prelims on UFC Fight Pass and ahead of a main card on FOX Sports 1.

Johnson put Zhang on the defensive early with a suffocating grappling game that transitioned smoothly from takedowns to leglock attempts. Even when Zhang managed to explode out of bad positions and gain top position, he found himself too busy fighting off submission attempts from Johnson to put his own offense to work.

As the fight wore on Zhang became gradually more effective at keeping the fight in his range, but Johnson was relentless. Even when Zhang managed to thwart his initial takedown attempts, Johnson kept after them until he hauled Zhang to the floor, immediately threatening him with a non-stop grappling attack.

Though Zhang did a fine job of fighting off the finish, he never managed to put Johnson at any real risk, or even stop his forward movement long enough to go on the attack. In the end, that was enough for the judges, all three of whom scored the fight for Johnson.

“My game plan was to utilize angles to stay away from his power right hand and power right kick,” Johnson said. “I was creating angles, but I wasn’t capitalizing on them enough. I just started using this style about a year ago, and I’m still working toward perfecting it.”

For Johnson, the victory gets him back in the win column after a knockout loss at UFC 174 last June. Zhang has now lost two straight.

Up-to-the-minute UFC Fight Night 66 results include:

For complete coverage of UFC Fight Night 66, check out the UFC Events section of the site.

(MMAjunkie’s John Morgan contributed to this report on site in the Philippines.)

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