The UFC president has shot down a potential champion vs. champion fight.
The UFC tried their best to set up a super-fight between the flyweight and bantamweight champions, but it did not come to pass. A battle between Demetrious Johnson and T.J. Dillashaw has been talked about for months, and it seemed that Johnson had become more open to it. Ultimately though, UFC president Dana White spoke to the LA Times and scuttled the idea:
“It was never made. Plus, D.J. is hurt and out for a while.”
He did state that they were looking for someone else for Dillashaw to defend his title against.
The injury he’s speaking of is apparently a shoulder surgery that Mighty Mouse underwent in January. At the time, Johnson said he would need six weeks to recover and then “get strong”, and hoped to make the fight with Dillashaw.
While Dana did reference the injury, money almost certainly played a part in the fact that this fight couldn’t be made. Johnson had previously asked for a two million dollar payday for a super-fight with then-champion Dominick Cruz, which White scoffed at. DJ was given PPV points in his last contract, but as a fighter that hasn’t been a smash hit at the PPV box office despite his dominance, White has been clear that he’s not going to give big money to fighters that don’t bring in big money.
So, we’re back to square one. We still do have one super-fight in the summer though – heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic will fight light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier at UFC 226 in July.