Henry Cejudo has ended Demetrious Johnson's nearly six-year reign as flyweight champion, earning a split-decision victory in a stunning upset at UFC 227 in Los Angeles.
Cejudo (13-2) is an Olympic gold medal wrestler who only started training in mixed martial arts five years ago, but he used five takedowns and relentless offense to earn the decision at Staples Center over one of the most dominant champions in UFC history.
Cejudo won 28-27 on two of the three judges' scorecards to beat Johnson (27-3-1), who had won 13 consecutive fights since 2012 and had defended his 125-pound belt a UFC-record 11 straight times.
"This is a dream come true, from Olympic gold medallist to UFC champion," Cejudo said. "I was born right here in Los Angeles, in a two bedroom apartment. So from the bottom of my heart, thank you to these fans in California for their support."
Johnson, who didn't appear to be upset with the judges' call, was the only flyweight champion in UFC history. Although successful in striking, Johnson didn't have his usual resourceful performance in his return from a career-long layoff of 10 months.
In the main event moments later, T.J. Dillashaw successfully defended his bantamweight title with a vicious first-round stoppage of former champion Cody Garbrandt, beating his friend-turned-rival for the second time in nine months.
Dillashaw (17-3) exchanged furious strikes with Garbrandt (11-2) from the opening minute and finished it by stunning Garbrandt with a series of strikes, dropping the challenger and then battering him against the cage until referee Herb Dean stopped it with 50 seconds left in the first round.
Dillashaw and Garbrandt trained together in Sacramento until 2014, when Dillashaw left in a messy breakup with the Team Alpha Male gym.
Dillashaw held the 135-pound title belt before losing it to Dominick Cruz, but Garbrandt then took it from Cruz less than two years after he entered the UFC. Dillashaw and Garbrandt met for the first time last November, and Dillashaw stopped him in the second round.
The show was the UFC's first in three years in downtown Los Angeles, and the first since local entertainment conglomerate Endeavor bought the promotion for $US4 billion in 2016.
The luminaries at cageside included Matt Damon, Chris Pratt, Miles Teller, Mickey Rourke and Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
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