UFC 157 results: Brendan Schaub smothers Lavar Johnson long enough to take decision

It sure wasn't pretty, but Brendan Schaub got the job done. The common train of thought was that Schaub shouldn't spend much time striking with UFC 157 opponent Lavar Johnson, and he certainly did a good job of getting takedowns. He couldn't do much else though, and most of the 15 minutes passed without a whole lot going on. Nonetheless, Schaub picked up the unanimous decision victory with scores of 30-27 on every card.

Schaub quickly got a takedown after one strike attempt from Johnson in the first. After a bit of a scramble, Schaub locked up a guillotine, then anaconda from north south. Johnoson tried to punch his way out of it, and succeeded. Schaub continued to work from side control, but Johnson got up during a transition. And Johnson got a trip takedown. Schaub used a leg lock attempt to sweep. Johnson got up, but Schaub put him right back down and rode him until the horn.

They rushed into the clinch quickly in the second stanza. When Johnson finally threw a knee, Schaub took him down. After some dubious grappling, the referee stood them up. Schaub landed a couple of strikes and took him back down. He spent the rest of the round unsuccessfully trying to get out of half guard.

After a couple of misses by Johnson, Schaub went back to the takedown early in the third. Jason Herzog gave Johnson a charitable standup, but one missed punch and he was right back down. Schaub finally solved the mystery that is Lavar Johnson's guard and got to mount, but Johnson quickly got back to half. Schaub looked at an arm triangle but never really went for it. The whole rest of the round was Schaub riding it out on top.