UFC flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson believes Paige VanZant “could be” the next great female fighter, but he also says she would “absolutely not” beat women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey.
Johnson provided TMZ (transcribed by the author of this article) with some quick answers during a recent interview. In it, he suggested VanZant has “got a lot of stuff to work on” after her victory over Felice Herrig at UFC on Fox 15.
The 21-year-old remains a strawweight competitor at the beginning of her MMA journey, so with that in mind, Johnson believes the heavier, more experienced Rousey would grab the win. Few are going to argue with this assertion, particularly as Rousey remains one of the sport’s most dominant stars right now.
VanZant moved her UFC record to 2-0 on Saturday with a relentless performance against Herrig. The wily American suffocated her opponent with boundless energy, working hard on the mat to pummel Herrig with vicious ground-and-pound.
It was a mightily impressive performance—one that proved she’s legit—but Johnson believes VanZant must focus on potential opponents in her own weight class before getting carried away with comparisons to Rousey.
Johnson’s currently sifting through a packed media schedule ahead of his UFC 186 battle with Kyoji Horiguchi on Saturday night. He isn’t one of the organisation’s more serious guys and recently poked fun at Conor McGregor’s suggestion that he “would kill” Floyd Mayweather Jr. “in less than 30 seconds,” reported by Chris Jones of Esquire.
As noted during his recent Fox Sports interview, Johnson’s tongue-in-cheek response suggests he could eliminate Mayweather in half this time:
Incidentally, Johnson ended his first professional fight against Brandon Fieds with a 17-second knockout in 2007, per ESPN. His quickest UFC victory remains the first-round rematch win over Joseph Benavidez in 2013, which ended after two minutes and eight seconds.
Although Johnson believes the education of an MMA fighter far outweighs that of a boxer, it’s obvious he’s not taking McGregor’s claims too seriously in the Fox interview.
Horiguchi is unbeaten in nine fights, per ESPN, and has dominated each of his four UFC battles to receive a shot at Johnson. Mighty Mouse is expected to retain his belt, gaining an eighth straight win in the process.
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