Demetrious Johnson bores in to defeat John Dodson at UFC 191

At 125 pounds, Demetrious Johnson doesn’t throw thunderous punches that sell out arenas, and his businesslike personality doesn’t help on the charisma meter.

But Ultimate Fighting Championship’s flyweight champion has fast hands and is the best takedown artist in his division, and his work ethic is unmatched.

The result Saturday night was another victory, a unanimous-decision triumph over John Dodson at UFC 191 that was wider than his win in the fighters’ previous matchup, also decided by the judges in 2013.

This time, the scores favored Johnson 49-46, 49-46 and a clean-sweep 50-45, adding up to the champion’s seventh consecutive successful title defense.

“I’m boring . . . but look at my face. I’m pretty . . . and that’s what technique gets you,” Johnson said.

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His quickness and more complete skill set shined from the first round at MGM Grand. At one point Johnson (23-2-1) grabbed and held Dodson’s right leg while kicking the challenger in the head with his own right foot.

Dodson (18-7) also retreated and covered while being chased by the champion with closed fists.

The second round was closer, but Johnson appeared to have taken control in the third — until he was caught by surprise late in the round while soaring in for a punch, Dodson popping him with a punch that quickly dropped the champion. The talkative Dodson tried to milk the moment, raising his hand to the crowd.

Yet, Johnson responded in the fourth round with a punch that backed Dodson to the cage. A clean left followed along with another takedown, and a discouraged Dodson, bleeding on the side of the nose, humbly took his place on his stool.

Two more Johnson takedowns in the fifth complemented crisp punches, and the scoring was a formality.

“I took my time,” Johnson said. “I’m a hard worker. I love working for what I have.”

Earlier, former UFC heavyweight champion Andrei Arlovski, now ranked fourth, took a solid step toward recapturing the belt he owned 10 years ago.

Arlovski, 36, won his fourth straight fight since returning to UFC, a unanimous decision over another former champion, Frank Mir. The judges scored it 29-28, 29-28, 30-27 for Arlovski (25-10), who sealed the victory with a late third-round punch that cut Mir (18-10) badly by the right eye.

“I’m disappointed that fight went three rounds,” Arlovski said, explaining he anticipated an earlier stoppage of 2004 champion Mir.

Mir at times let Arlovski try, lowering his arms to let Arlovski throw punches that didn’t achieve full effect.

Arlovski likely will need one more victory to get a title shot against the winner of the coming Fabricio Werdum-Cain Velasquez rematch, which has yet to be scheduled by the UFC.

Also, top-ranked light-heavyweight Anthony Johnson impressively returned from his title loss to Daniel Cormier to KO seventh-ranked Jimi Manuwa 28 seconds into the second round.

And Paige VanZant, the eighth-ranked women’s straw-weight contender being marketed heavily by the UFC, improved to 3-0 in the octagon with a second-round armbar submission of Alex Chambers.

lance.pugmire@latimes.com

Twitter: @latimespugmire