Miles Johns left UFC Vegas 109 with half his paycheck and a split decision loss on his record despite truly believing he deserved the nod in his fight against Jean Matsumoto.<\/p>\n
A heavy underdog going into the matchup, Johns outperformed what odds makers expected, especially after he set the tone early with a strong opening round. While Matsumoto eventually rebounded, Johns felt fully confident that he had done enough to secure the victory but when the judges\u2019 scorecards were revealed, he was floored by the result.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m feeling angry, I\u2019m not going to lie,\u201d Johns told MMA Fighting. \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of money on the line with these fights. I\u2019ve got four kids. I\u2019ve got mouths to feed. I feel like there\u2019s no room for incompetency from the judges. I\u2019m feeling angry but at the same time I\u2019m feeling hungry, I\u2019m feeling motivated. I am learning from it. There\u2019s still things that I could have done better in the fight. There\u2019s still things that I could have done to make it a more obvious win.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt the end of the day, you can\u2019t leave it in the hands of the judges. I\u2019m a mix of emotions but not getting your win bonus, it\u2019s just like a stab in the heart. I worked so hard for it. I feel like I truly deserve it and the judges just make a call and the UFC sits there like \u2018Jean won\u2019 and there\u2019s absolutely nothing you can do. You\u2019re just stuck with that.\u201d<\/p>\n
After returning home, Johns rewatched the fight just to see if there was something missing that he somehow didn\u2019t see previously but instead it only strengthened his believe that he deserved the win.<\/p>\n
While Johns gives Matsumoto credit for certain moments during the three-round affair, he still felt that he did more damage and checked more boxes when it comes to the scoring criteria.<\/p>\n
\u201cI went back and watched it and I definitely think we won the fight,\u201d Johns said. \u201cI think we won the first round decisively. I think it was a very clear round. On the second round, I think was close. At first I was like for sure give Jean the second round. I\u2019m still like if you want to play devil\u2019s advocate, give him the second round. But the third round, I think I definitely won that round, too.<\/p>\n
\u201cI guess they\u2019re looking for damage but that takedown and control, you can see in Jean\u2019s face when I took him down at the end of the third round, that is a quitting [look] like \u2018oh I\u2019m losing.\u2019 He tried to get back up, I brought him right back down. 90 seconds of control time. I looked in his eyes and he knew he had lost it at that point. We both knew.\u201d<\/p>\n
Johns also took umbrage with former UFC bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz and the way he called the fight at the UFC APEX.<\/p>\n
Listening back to the commentary, Johns felt like Cruz was calling the fight for Matsumoto even during the moments when he was clearly getting the better of the exchanges.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve always had a lot of respect for Dominick Cruz but it\u2019s almost like he had an agenda that night,\u201d Johns said. \u201cThat was his agenda and that\u2019s what he was going to see. He was talking over me doing combos and stuff, he\u2019s like \u2018Johns is all power, Johns needs to quit loading up.\u2019 At the same exact time that he said that, I threw a two down the pipe that landed clean on Jean\u2019s nose. He threw a right hand and I slipped it and landed another straight right. Like I wasn\u2019t just throwing power in there. I was purposefully just trying to touch him. I was working on the things that I had done in the past that I hadn\u2019t always done correctly.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo I understand if he\u2019s like at the beginning of the fight, [he says] this is what Johns needs to work on but don\u2019t just harp on the past while something is happening right in front of your eyes.\u201d<\/p>\n
Johns also called out Cruz for some of the remarks made during the fight, especially when it came to getting his facts straight.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s the guy that says he does all this research,\u201d Johns said. \u201cHe\u2019s called [Daniel] Cormier out and called all these people out for not doing enough research but at the beginning of the fight, I\u2019m winning the first round and he\u2019s like \u2018Jean Matsumoto does this though, when he fought Dan Argueta, he put this exact pace on him for two round and then in the third round, the pace is what broke Dan Argueta and he ended up winning the fight.\u2019 Guess what? Him and Dan Argueta didn\u2019t go to a third round.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat fight ended at the end of the second round. So for a guy who\u2019s called people out, personally called them out on the air for not doing their homework, I mean you better make sure you do your homework because they didn\u2019t go to a third round.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ultimately, Johns felt like Cruz was favoring Matsumoto repeatedly in his commentary and refusing to acknowledge the positive results he was producing during the fight.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust frustrating hearing him just ride, ride, ride Matsumoto,\u201d Johns said about Cruz. \u201cAlmost to the point to where he couldn\u2019t even see what I\u2019m doing. It\u2019s like somebody talking through a movie and you\u2019re like dude, would you be quiet and just watch the movie? Because you\u2019re missing the parts right here.<\/p>\n
\u201cI look forward to hearing that commentary and I\u2019m very extreme ownership, no excuses. I go back and hear that commentary and literally work on what they\u2019re telling me. Every time I\u2019m getting ready to fight, I\u2019m like I want to do this because I want the commentators to say \u2018he\u2019s improved.\u2019 I was doing that! D.C. was giving me credit and Din Thomas came in and gave me a ton of credit. So then they kind of switched the tune from there but then went right back [to Dominick Cruz]. It\u2019s frustrating.\u201d<\/p>\n
As disappointing as it was to hear Cruz\u2019s commentary, Johns admits his real ire only lies with the judges who he believes robbed him of a victory.<\/p>\n
UFC CEO Dana White always says never leave a fight in the hands of the judges but Johns wishes the officials in charge of scoring could at least be trusted in those moments when a finish just isn\u2019t possible. Now he sits on two losses in a row but worst of all, Johns left Las Vegas with half his pay and there\u2019s no amount of understanding when it comes to that.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou want to have some trust in them,\u201d Johns said about the judges. \u201cJust like the justice system. If you don\u2019t trust your justice system, there\u2019s no nation. You\u2019ve got to be able to trust the justice system. You don\u2019t want to leave it in their hands but you want to be able to trust them to know that they\u2019re going to at least do their job and do it with some form of professionalism and the understanding.<\/p>\n
\u201cI could handle the loss if it was just a decision, it\u2019s all good. The fact that I\u2019m getting half my check is just a stab in the heart. Immediately when you saw my emotions in the cage, it was immediate understand \u2018damn, we did not do it, damn we\u2019re only coming home with half our check. Damn, this changes my life for months until I fight again.\u2019 That\u2019s just a true stab in the heart and there\u2019s nothing you can do about it. I really wish that was changed.\u201d<\/p>\n