Dominick Cruz (photo: Maggie Krol)

UFC bantamweight king Dominick Cruz is becoming one of those champions who are so good they make the rest of their division look silly.

Cruz was tested Saturday at the Verizon Center in Washington by Demetrious Johnson, who nevertheless became Cruz’s next victim via unanimous decision at UFC Live on Versus 6.

The other three fights on the main card were worthy of a $65,ooo bonus.  The promotion’s final event on Versus started with the fight of the night, which earned Matt Wiman a win bonus, and he and opponent Mac Danzig another chink of change.  Then Anthony Johnson delivered the knockout of the night when he kicked Charlie Brenneman in the face at 2:49 of the first round.  In the co-main event, the taller Stefan Struve submitted a game Pat Barry with a triangle choke at 3:22 of the second round in a fight that featured the largest height discrepancy in UFC history.

While the dough belonged to the others, the show belonged to Cruz, who is now 19-1 with an avenged loss.  Johnson said in the post-fight press conference that it does not look like Cruz is going to lose for a long time.  Johnson should know, since he fared better than most of Cruz’s previous opponents, despite he constant submission attacks by Cruz.

It’s becoming the same case each time, where observers can be impressed with the way the contender fares, save for the contender being rendered wholly unable to win the fight.  It’s what Georges St-Pierre and Anderson Silva have done so many times, to make their opponents looks like novices.

Because Johnson actually won a round on judge Cardo Urso’s scorecard, he gets extra recognition, but not a win or more money.

Barry, for his efforts, does not appear ready to get his walking papers.  Instead of being cut, he might want to think about cutting down to middleweight, where he might actually enjoy a size advantage.

After a tentative first round, Struve found his game in the second.  When he got Barry down into submission position, Barry was able to slam him.  Instead of breaking him away, it just made the outcome worse for Barry, and even more quickly was the 6’10″ Struve able to celebrate.

“The mutual kickboxing backgrounds helped me figure out his style and develop my gameplan from there,” Struve said.  ”We had really good back and forth with our striking and he was doing a good job managing the distance. He kept me at bay with his kicks because those were landing hard and will definitely leave bruises tomorrow. I was eventually able to get him in the guillotine and once I locked it in I wasn’t letting it go. When he slammed me, I was able to put my arm down to catch myself and sink the submission in deeper.”

The pair posed together for pictures in the Octagon after the fight.

“This was one big chess match with as much striking and counterstriking that you could possibly have in one fight,” Barry said.  ”He was trying to bait me in and I just wasn’t going to go in and give him what he wanted.  I felt like my kicks were doing some damage, but clearly not enough. When he got his legs around me, I felt them get really tight very quickly and the slam was a last-ditch effort to get him to let go. I should have done it much sooner, but I just wasn’t able to get to my feet quick enough.”

Johnson moved his feet quickly enough to get the finish on Brenneman after just 2:49.  Brenneman went for the takedown right off the bat and stayed kneeling nearly the entire time, trying to complete the move.  Johnson controlled from the top and began to blast away with knees to the ribs.

When Brenneman finally got up, Johnson glanced him with a head kick.  Brenneman scrambled, was able to get up again, but could not block the next kick that was coming, a left right into his face.

Mario Yamasaki called the fight immediately, even though Brenneman fell onto his back and in position to defend himself.

“He was the first guy that made me nervous before a fight,” Johnson said.  ”His wrestling was the complete package, so I was preparing for it non-stop leading up to the fight.  I prepared for everything coming into this fight and I wanted the win.  I hit him hard quite a few times in a row and he didn’t look like he was all there.  I landed that head kick and put him on the canvas. He looked done to me, but if that kick hadn’t of done it, the punches that would have come afterwards would have.”

Wiman and Danzig were battling it out for the second time, they left little doubt that their initial match in Vancouver was too controversial a stoppage.  Wiman won again, but this time it was air-tight, with Wiman taking it 29-28 in all three judges’ eyes.

“I pushed the pace and did more damage than him,” said Wiman.  ”I was also way more aggressive.  Mac did fantastic tonight and has nothing to be ashamed of because I’ve been on that side of things too, but I can’t deny that it feels good to be on this side of things.  You really never know what the judges are going think and  I’m just happy it fell to me this time.”

“I thought my shots that stumbled him would have been enough in the judges’ eyes for the victory” Danzig said.  ”But I guess he landed more and his rally in the third when he was on top secured it for him.  He was just more active than me throughout the fight.  I can’t complain about the decision … it’s my job to finish the fight.”

The main card was televised on Versus, and was the last show in the contract between the UFC and the network.  The prelims were streamed live on Facebook.

On the undercard, Yves Edwards earned a second-round TKO of Rafaello Oliveira, Paul Sass finished Michael Johnson in 90 seconds with a heel hook, local sensation Mike Easton pounded out Byron Bloodworth late in the second, T.J. Grant scored a verbal submission win over Shane Roller in the third round, Josh Neer closed out Keith Wisniewski after two rounds due to a doctor’s stoppage, and Walel Watson stuck down  Joseph Sandoval via strikes in 77 seconds.