Thiago Moises picked up the biggest win of his career on Saturday when he defeated Michael Johnson in a stunning turnaround at UFC on ESPN+ 29.
In the beginning of the fight it seemed the version of Johnson (19-16 MMA, 11-12 UFC) who owns victories over the likes of Tony Ferguson and Dustin Poirier had arrived. He stopped Moises’ (13-4 MMA, 2-2 UFC) takedowns and got his striking off in the first round of the lightweight bout, which took place at VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Fla.
Then the second round came, and Moises was a different fighter. He rushed Johnson immediately and pulled guard when he was met with resistance. From there, he fell back and locked in a tight heel hook that forced Johnson to tap out at the 0:25 mark of Round 2.
The defeat put Johnson on a three-fight skid and dropped him to 3-8 in his past 11 UFC appearances. He appeared to suffer damage to his knee during the finish, too.
Moises, for his part, completed his UFC contract with a big finish. He made it clear he wants to stick around with a new contract, and called out former lightweight champ Anthony Pettis, who said after his UFC 249 win over Donald Cerrone that he was making a return to 155 pounds.
