NASHVILLE – In the waning seconds of a slow, and mostly one-sided heavyweight fight, Timothy Johnson seemingly found himself within one or two clean punches of knocking Jared Rosholt out to complete a violent comeback effort.

Instead, Rosholt (13-2 MMA, 5-1 UFC) survived the late blitz by Johnson (9-2 MMA, 1-1 UFC) to win a unanimous decision victory by scores of 29-28 across the board.

The heavyweight bout was part of the main card of today’s UFC Fight Night 73 event at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville. It aired on FOX Sports 1 following prelims on FOX Sports 2 and UFC Fight Pass.

The first two and a half rounds of this fight saw Rosholt following a predictable, and not terribly exciting game plan. Over and over again he forced Johnson into the fence, initiating the clinch in search of a takedown, and in the process removing Johnson’s penchant for dangerously successful brawls from the equation.

Johnson proved capable of stymying some of Rosholt’s takedowns, but as the fight wore on he found himself on his back more and more, barely surviving an Americana armlock in the second round.

In the third, both men were visibly weary, though Rosholt seemed to fade faster than Johnson in the second half of the round. This proved to be Johnson’s best chance, and he pounced on it with looping hooks and hammering right hands that wobbled Rosholt in the final minute. Instead of continuing that assault, however, Johnson settled for a takedown. From there, Rosholt managed to hold on until the final horn, knowing he likely already had the fight in the bag thanks to the judges’ scores.

The victory makes it two in a row for Rosholt, who hasn’t lost since his defeat by knockout at the hands of Alexey Oleinik last November. Johnson loses for the first time since March of 2011.

Up-to-the-minute UFC Fight Night 73 results include:

• Jared Rosholt def. Timothy Johnson via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
• Amanda Nunes def. Sara McMann via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 1, 2:53
• Ray Borg def. Geane Herrera via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
• Uriah Hall def. Oluwale Bamgbose via TKO (punches) – Round 1, 2:32
• Chris Camozzi def. Tom Watson via unanimous decision (29-27, 30-26, 29-27)
• Dustin Ortiz def. Willie Gates via TKO (punches) – Round 3, 2:58
• Frankie Saenz def. Sirwan Kakai via split decision (29-28, 27-30, 30-27)
• Jonathan Wilson def. Chris Dempsey via knockout (punches) – Round 1, 0:50
• Marlon Vera def. Roman Salazar via submission (triangle choke) – Round 2, 2:15
• Scott Holtzman def. Anthony Christodoulou via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 3, 2:40

For complete coverage of UFC Fight Night 73, check out the UFC Events section of the site.

(MMAjunkie’s Matt Erickson contributed to this report on site in Nashville.)