Capping off the UFC Vegas 79 preliminary card was a bantamweight bout featuring Miles Johns and TUF alum Dan Argueta.
Both men entered the fight off single wins, with Johns the more experienced of the two.
To begin the fight Johns looked to put on the forward pressure and landed himself a right hand, but Argueta soon after shot for a single leg takedown. From there, he pushed Johns to the cage and carried on looking for the takedown, but Johns’ back presented itself to Argueta who began climbing and locking in the body triangle. “The Determined” looked to then sink the arms under the chin of “Chapo” and did well to maintain the body triangle with Johns staying on his feet. The 29-year-old didn’t maintain the position on his feet for long though and Argueta got him to the ground whilst still on his back. Johns did terrifically to reverse the position though and shortly after was back on his feet. Argueta got back up and seemingly looked to be quite tired. Despite that he continued the forward pressure but found himself getting counter punched. “Chapo” soon after landed a takedown of his own but nothing culminated from it. The round finished with both having decent success throughout.
Argueta looked to have regained some composure as in round two he didn’t look to fatigued. Neither did Johns though who almost straightaway shot for a level change that landed successfully. The 30-year-old though looked to sink in a guillotine from the bottom position, but Johns’ defence held up. Johns decided it was time for him to try and score some damage and tried to reign down a flurry of strikes but nothing really came from it.
The two made it back to their feet and as they exited the clinch, Argueta landed a big knee up the middle. Johns looked wobbly but managed to land a counter right hand that seemed to wobble him back. The Jackson Wink product decided he wanted to flip the momentum of the fight by utilising his grappling advantage where he successfully landed another takedown. Again they made it to their feet but similarly it was followed by another Argueta level change attempt. For around 30 seconds he seemingly hung onto the legs of Johns as he couldn’t land the takedown. Once they made it back out to the centre of the cage, Johns seemed to land another few big shots to the chin of Argueta.
Somehow the fight made it to round three and again Argueta ate a few big punches in the early proceedings. Despite that, Argueta continued to try and move forward even though e was getting popped with counter shots throughout. The whole time, Argueta looked to make Johns uncomfortable with the pressure, but Johns continued to shine like a diamond with his counter striking. Argueta decided that just two minutes into the round he wanted to try and get it back to the ground, but he was unsuccessful and Johns continued to land huge shots.
Around three and a half minutes in Johns landed a huge uppercut which backed Argueta up. Johns then landed a takedown of his own and controlled on top for a large majority of the last minute. Argueta decided he wasn’t going out without a fight though and looked to sink in another guillotine. Nothing was doing for “The Determined,” but you can’t question his nickname after the 15 minute performance.
Official Result: Miles Johns def. Dan Argueta by Unanimous Decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
