Welshman, Brett Johns submitted Tony Gravely in the 3rd round via rear naked choke at UFC Raleigh in North Carolina.
Brett Johns returned to the Octagon after an 18-month absence after a tough knee injury and back to back losses against Pedro Munhoz and Aljamain sterling. Whereas his opponent, Tony Gravely returned on the back of a 7-fight win streak.
The fight started off at a frantic pace as both men looked to move up the rankings. Johns began pressing the action early and looked to get Gravely to the ground with his aggressive yet impressive wrestling game.
However, the Swansea born fighter didn’t have it all his own way as Gravely forced a back and forth contest in rounds one and two.
As the fight entered the third and final round of this energetic bantamweight showdown it was Johns who looked the fresher fighter.
Johns took Gravely down with a single leg take down with just 3:50 left of the final round. He then continued to stretch his opponent out and mounted a flurry of hard strikes which had the fight close to a stoppage.
Gravely was forced to cover his face to defend the stoppage but as he focused too hard on the shots that we’re reigning down on him, Johns slipped his arm under his neck to force a stoppage in the 3rd round via rear naked choke.
The victory earnt Johns the fight of the night and therefore a $50,000 (£38,000) bonus. The Welshman also improved his record to 16 wins and 2 losses.
After the fight Brett ‘the pikey’ Johns caught up with former heavyweight and light heavyweight champion, Daniel Cormier.
“It’s been a very tough road, yano it’s been about 720 odd days since my last win, but I’m not counting”
“I went back to the drawing board after Mr Sterling beat me, there was some stuff to work on Dan, I worked on it and now I’m back”
When asked about who he wants next, Johns said “oh, it’s the anyone can get it tour 2020. anyone can get it Dan. Line them up and I’ll knock them down, god bless you all”
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