UFC bantamweight Miles Johns had never experienced back-to-back losses until now.
There were only a few decisions on the action-packed UFC Vegas 109 event from the crowdless UFC Apex on Saturday night.
Middleweights Anthony Hernandez and Roman Dolidze headlined a 12-fight card, full of finishes, from one-punch knockouts at the center of the Octagon to Elijah Smith’s ‘Rampage’ Jackson style slam KO.
A main card bout ended in controversy after UFC veteran Miles ‘Chapo’ Johns did not get his hand raised in a competitive fight.
Johns wasn’t happy with the result at all.
Miles Johns ‘was in tears’ after controversial split decision loss
Johns fell to 15-4 with a split decision loss to Jean Matsumoto (29-28, 28-29, 29-28).
Johns was outstruck by Matsumoto by 20 strikes, but scored five takedowns across three rounds with over three minutes of control time, with some fans believing he had done enough to secure the victory.
Johns apparently thought so too, going to his knees and holding his head in disbelief.
“Miles Johns was in tears walking out of the cage to the back,” Alex Behunin reported on X.
That makes two straight decision defeats for Johns after falling to Felipe Lima at UFC Tampa in December.
“UFC what are we looking at???? Miles Johns gets robbed,” one fan disagreed with the split decision from the judges.
“That’s a Miles Johns win right there, outside of leg kicks.. what did Matsumoto do?!” another fan wrote on X.
Jean Matsumoto calls out Rob Font, who just beat him months ago
The 17-1 Jean Matsumoto is eager to avenge his only pro loss.
The Brazilian suffered his first setback in the Octagon at UFC Seattle back in February, when he was on the opposite end of a split decision against perennial bantamweight contender Rob Font.
Font squeaked out the win after three rounds, defeating Matsumoto in a close contest.
Months removed from the fight and back in the win column, Matsumoto called out Font for a rematch at UFC Rio on Oct. 11 in his post-fight interview.