It wasn’t pretty to watch, but Timothy Johnson did manage to grind his way to a decision victory from the clinch against Marcelo Golm tonight at UFC Fight Night 125.
Round One:
Golm feels out with the jab as Johnson circles on the outside to start. Leg kick for Golm. Left hand breaks through Golm’s guard.
Into the clinch and Golm lands a knee and then Johnson slugs him with a few punches to the midsection in response. They remain in teh clinch and Johnson eventually works his opponent to the cage.
Johnson looking to wear on him there, but Golm manages to move away from the cage. This lengthy engagement in the clinch continues though as they move back towards the center of the Octagon. A few punches exchanged and then they finally do separate.
Kicks from Golm. A couple of left hands land for Johnson. Back into the clinch they go in the center of the cage. Johnson’s able to push Golm up against the cage.
He’s stalling from this position. Golm manages to reverse the position and at that stage it becomes noticeable that Jonson now has a cut to his right eye. Maybe from a clash of heads?
Johnson looks for punches, but comes up short. Leg kick for Golm gets Johnson’s attention and he soon returns back to the clinch and works back to the cage.
A few right hooks from Johnson in the clinch end the round.
Round Two:
Johnson wades forward with left and right hooks. Big kick from Golm and then a punch that finds the mark and Johnson tries to slug it out with him.
They move into the clinch and get a breather, but then go back to striking range. Golm pumps out the jab. Leg kick for him. Johnson back to the clinch and as he walks his opponent to the cage, Golm nicely reverses and presses Johnson to the cage.
However, Johnson soon reverses, but when he tries to reach for a single leg, Golm spins away. It’s not long before they are back jockeying for position against the cage again.
Big lulls in the action here as Johnson wears on Golm against the cage, landing the occasional knee to the legs and punch to the body to keep the referee from separating them.
Golm reverses again and then lands a good elbow to the head as he separates. He doesn’t have space for long though as, yep, you guessed it, Johnson goes back to the clinch. He lands a knee in there.
Back to striking and Johnson tries a spinning elbow that misses. Now he’s trying a spinning kick that doesn’t connect either and that’s the end of the round.
Round Three:
Johnson lands a left hand to start the third. Body kick for Golm. Now an inside leg kick and Johnson visibly winces at that and resets.
Johnson clinches in the center of the Octagon. Doesn’t last long though. Johnson with a brief flurry of punches. Golm with a kick.
Heavy uppercut from Johnson and may have troubled Golm a bit there and follows up with a few more strikes against the cage. Then it’s back to the clinch for Johnson.
Half the round to go and Golm needs to work with some urgency here, but for now he’s stuck against the cage.
Golm looks to work punches, but Johnson is straight back to the clinch. Not much happening here and the ref decides to break them up.
Golm lands a big knee to the head and Johnson stops in his tracks for a moment, but then collects himself and starts marching forward again and goes back to the grinding clinch position against the cage.
Final 30 seconds of the fight and Johnson tries to go for a takedown and doesn’t quite get it. Golm with another hard knee upstairs that Johnson takes well. They look to exchange strikes in the final seconds of the fight.
