Stefan Struve makes Lavar Johnson submit at UFC 146: Junior Dos Santos vs. Frank Mir – UFC News
At Stefan Struve, the surging Dutch heavyweight, defied all odds and collected an impressive submission win over his Saturday night opponent, Lavar Johnson, and ended the 15-minute bout in just one minute and 5 seconds, while kicking off ‘UFC 146: Junior
Dos Santos vs. Frank Mir’ pay-per-view.
The octagon for the event was set up at MGM Grand Garden Arena situated in Las Vegas, Nevada, United States and the first ever complete heavyweight card was headlined by the championship bout between Junior Dos Santos and Frank Mir.
The showdown was co-headlined by the non-title three-round bout between Cain Velasquez and Antonio Silva. Stefan not only generated the only submission win of the night but at the end of the pay-per-view even received the ‘Submission of the Night’ award.
The Dutchman was entering in his 29th career bout and possessed a clear upper hand over his Saturday night opponent Johnson. The young lad has achieved much in a very short time and boasts 23 wins with a huge 15 via submission.
The Netherland proud is a submission specialist and boasts a very impressive resume as he has nailed names such as Dave Herman, Pat Barry and many others. His Saturday night opponent, Lavar, was entering in his 23rd career bout and boasted 17 wins.
Lavar, 34, possessed a totally opposite brawling stance and is well known as a knockout specialist. Johnson, also known as the ‘Big’, has collected 15 of his total wins by knocking the opponent out cold.
The clash was truly between the best submission specialist and the ace knockout pounder. Stefan also had a huge height advantage that helped him in throwing jabs and kicks easily while keeping his own self safe during the bout.
Also known as the ‘Skyscraper’, Stefan received an initial upper cut from Lavar that rattled him for a while but the young lad did not lose sight of his target and immediately moved in while capitalising Johnson’s mistake.
As Lavar was moving in to connect a huge punch, Stefan grabbed the arm from beneath and locked it into his lethal arm-bar submission move. Struve applied sheer force so much so that it seemed like Johnson has broken his arm.
Lavar was left with no choice and he eventually tapped at one minute and 50 seconds. After the impressive, clean, and swift win, Stefan shared his game plan and stated, “It feels really good. One minute and five seconds is always a good time to win a fight.
Everyone kept telling me I was going to get knocked out. I didn't want to give him a chance to do what he does best. They way he was holding me, I felt like I could get the armbar, so I went for it.”
The win has further elevated Stefan in UFC rankings and now boasts 24 wins in a total 29 bouts whereas Johnson has unfortunately collected his sixth career loss.
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