Flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson defeated John Dodson by unanimous decision for the second time at UFC 191, successfully defending his title for the seventh time. Once again, Mighty Mouse dominated Johnson with timely kicks and takedowns, making it look easy on Saturday.
The UFC’s official Twitter account confirmed who the unquestioned king of the division is:
Per ESPN.com’s Bret Okamoto, the judges scored the fight 50-45, 49-46 and 49-46, which shows just how comfortable the win was. Compared to their first meeting, there was little drama, with Johnson controlling the distance and landing far more punches than his opponent. According to FightMetric, Johnson landed 163 total strikes compared to Dodson’s 108.
He had some choice words for Dodson after the fight, per Okamoto: “John Dodson was saying I was garbage, but look at my face,” Johnson said. “I look as pretty as a motherf—-r. That’s what technique gets you right there.”
Fans hoping for a good, old-fashioned slugfest knew Saturday’s title fight would not be their kind of bout. Johnson showed plenty of patience while looking for the takedown, converting just four of 16, and Dodson focused more on defending the takedown than actually throwing punches.
In the clinch, DJ showed his supreme technique, and the only time he ever took some shots in the clinch came in the second round, when Dodson managed to throw him and force him into the fence.
Bleacher Report’s Jonathan Snowden was impressed with his performance:
Dodson was almost rocked by a clean punch in the fourth round but managed to keep his legs under him, but while he avoided taking major damage, he never looked likely to upset the champ. The only time Johnson actually appeared troubled was when he took an accidental kick to the groin in the first round.
While some fans jeered the two after the fight because there were few big shots and little explosive action, Yahoo’s Kevin Iole thinks it’s only natural Johnson doesn’t fight that way:
He’s the fastest fighter in the sport and among the two or three most technical. He does things other fighters can’t dream of doing.
He was brilliantly switching from an orthodox stance to southpaw and back on Saturday, befuddling Dodson and allowing him to land clean, hard shots without taking anything back.
Those days of giving one to take one don’t make sense when a guy can do that.
As reported by Sherdog’s Tristen Critchfield, UFC boss Dana White called those fans “drunk dummies” before calling Johnson “probably” the best pound-for-pound fighter in MMA in a post-fight interview with Fox Sports 2.
“This was the fight to make in this weight class and Dodson had the power, the speed, the experience and got destroyed; literally, he got shut down,” White said, per MMAJunkie’s Mike Bohn. “Mighty Mouse is probably the pound-for-pound greatest fighter in the sport. He looked fantastic.”
Bohn’s colleague Ben Fowlkes wonders whether it’s time for the 29-year-old to move up a weight class:
Johnson previously fought at bantamweight before moving down to flyweight after a loss against Dominick Cruz in 2011, and he’s been undefeated ever since. He’s cleaned out the division, and with the exception of Henry Cejudo, there simply is no one left for him to fight.
As shared by MMA History Today, he’s fought the top contenders twice already:
Cejudo will fight Jussier Da Silva in November, and like Johnson, the Olympic gold medal wrestler is a former bantamweight with impressive power. His work in the clinch stands out, and at this point, the 28-year-old is just about the only promising fighter left in the division whom Johnson hasn’t picked apart.
A win over Cejudo would close the book on the flyweight division for Mighty Mouse, at which point he could consider a superfight with someone like T.J. Dillashaw, the current bantamweight champion. Such a fight would be a huge draw for the UFC, and if Johnson is ready for a new―and actual―challenge, that’s where he should look next.
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