“Obviously, when I got in the sport, this was a hobby for me. And now I’m going for my seventh title defense,” said Johnson, the UFC’s current flyweight champion. “The record is held right now by Anderson Silva and it’s 10, so if I could break that, that would be an awesome thing.”
Johnson isn’t the first long-reigning UFC champion to turn his gaze towards Silva’s hallowed mark. Jon Jones often spoke openly about surpassing Silva before his light heavyweight title was stripped amid controversy, and even Benson Henderson fantasized about approaching double digits during his record-tying lightweight reign.
In many ways, Silva’s consecutive title defense record represents the zenith of the sport, a monument to sustained excellence similar to an all-time touchdown or home run record. For years, it looked as though either Jones or Georges St-Pierre would be the man to eclipse it. But with Jones stripped and St-Pierre now spending his days in retirement, Johnson represents the most serious threat the record has perhaps ever seen.
The flyweight champion is only 29 years old, just entering his athletic prime with a squeaky clean reputation to boot. Neither retirement nor controversy ever enters his field of vision, and in a span of just three years, he’s established the kind of stranglehold over his division that’s taken great fighters of the past twice as long to accomplish.
“To be able to have the most finishes as a flyweight, with knockouts, submissions, and TKOs, that’s another goal. And just being the most active flyweight,” Johnson said. “As a champion I’m a pretty active guy, and not having injuries, those are all goals that I have set for myself. Once I have done all of that stuff and things get better for myself, and when Dana White and those guys approach me about (moving up to) 135, then we’ll make it happen.”
That Johnson is in a place in his career where a conversation about bantamweight is even being entertained is telling. Silva set himself apart by not only cleaning out his division, but also moving up in weight three separate times just to test himself, and he ended up making a fool out of a former 205-pound champion in the process.
Johnson is nearing the same point where such ideas are legitimately intriguing. A champion vs. champion fight against T.J. Dillashaw would be a veritable symphony for those who appreciate the technical side of the game. But even though Johnson has already beaten five of flyweight’s top-seven contenders, Dodson included, he still sees other challenges out there before he would consider his work done at 125 pounds.
“There are still a lot of guys I haven’t fought,” Johnson said. “I haven’t fought Sergio Pettis. I haven’t fought Henry Cejudo. I haven’t fought Ryan Benoit. Those are all great athletes. Just because they’re not big star names like the other guys, and they haven’t worked their way up there and had the chance to test their skill set against guys like Dodson or (Joseph) Benavidez or even (Ian) McCall, it doesn’t mean they’re not a challenge or someone I’m looking forward to fighting.”
Of course, it’d be premature for Johnson to look past No. 7 on his quest towards Silva’s 10. His first meeting with Dodson still stands as the steepest challenge of Johnson’s tenure as champion, a back-and-forth firefight that saw Johnson survive two early knockdowns to narrowly retain his strap.
The rivalry between the two is one that exists in subtlety, as Johnson is loath to ever admit his disdain for the Jackson-Winkeljohn product. But Dodson knows it’s there — he heard it for years whenever Johnson would dismiss the prospect of a rematch, and he continued hearing it even after his title shot was widely assumed to be his.
“I think a lot of people misconstrue that, where everybody thinks they’re entitled to something in this sport,” Johnson said of his reluctance to name Dodson as an opponent before the UFC made it official.
“For a good example, Miesha Tate was guaranteed the next title shot, and then UFC came out and said nope, Ronda Rousey if fighting Holly Holm. Sorry. And then Miesha Tate got butt hurt. So when Dodson was saying that, ‘I’m next for a title shot,’ and I’m like, ‘UFC ain’t called me about nothing yet. I have never heard your name come out of UFC’s mouth at all.’ That’s where it came from.
“So that’s more in the line of people saying that they’re entitled to things. Nobody is entitled to s**t in this sport. When you get the call, that’s when you get the call.”
Even now, with their second meeting less than a week away, a curious dynamic exists between the two flyweights. While Dodson seems to relish his role as Johnson’s irritant, Johnson denies the acrimony as nothing more than the same tension he shares with the rest of his endless line of challengers.
“I wouldn’t call it bad blood or emotional. It’s almost like any other fight. Regardless if I win or lose, I keep it moving and go on to the next one,” Johnson said.
“I plan on being in the sport for a long time and I believe John Dodson will be in the sport for a long time as well. So I think our paths will cross again, just like I believe my path will cross again with Joseph Benavidez, whether I win this fight or not. We’re the top fighters in the world and we keep beating all the people who are below us, so I think our paths will cross again regardless of who is champ or not.”
“Obviously, when I got in the sport, this was a hobby for me. And now I’m going for my seventh title defense,” said Johnson, the UFC’s current flyweight champion. “The record is held right now by Anderson Silva and it’s 10, so if I could break that, that would be an awesome thing.”
Johnson isn’t the first long-reigning UFC champion to turn his gaze towards Silva’s hallowed mark. Jon Jones often spoke openly about surpassing Silva before his light heavyweight title was stripped amid controversy, and even Benson Henderson fantasized about approaching double digits during his record-tying lightweight reign.
In many ways, Silva’s consecutive title defense record represents the zenith of the sport, a monument to sustained excellence similar to an all-time touchdown or home run record. For years, it looked as though either Jones or Georges St-Pierre would be the man to eclipse it. But with Jones stripped and St-Pierre now spending his days in retirement, Johnson represents the most serious threat the record has perhaps ever seen.
The flyweight champion is only 29 years old, just entering his athletic prime with a squeaky clean reputation to boot. Neither retirement nor controversy ever enters his field of vision, and in a span of just three years, he’s established the kind of stranglehold over his division that’s taken great fighters of the past twice as long to accomplish.
“To be able to have the most finishes as a flyweight, with knockouts, submissions, and TKOs, that’s another goal. And just being the most active flyweight,” Johnson said. “As a champion I’m a pretty active guy, and not having injuries, those are all goals that I have set for myself. Once I have done all of that stuff and things get better for myself, and when Dana White and those guys approach me about (moving up to) 135, then we’ll make it happen.”
That Johnson is in a place in his career where a conversation about bantamweight is even being entertained is telling. Silva set himself apart by not only cleaning out his division, but also moving up in weight three separate times just to test himself, and he ended up making a fool out of a former 205-pound champion in the process.
Johnson is nearing the same point where such ideas are legitimately intriguing. A champion vs. champion fight against T.J. Dillashaw would be a veritable symphony for those who appreciate the technical side of the game. But even though Johnson has already beaten five of flyweight’s top-seven contenders, Dodson included, he still sees other challenges out there before he would consider his work done at 125 pounds.
“There are still a lot of guys I haven’t fought,” Johnson said. “I haven’t fought Sergio Pettis. I haven’t fought Henry Cejudo. I haven’t fought Ryan Benoit. Those are all great athletes. Just because they’re not big star names like the other guys, and they haven’t worked their way up there and had the chance to test their skill set against guys like Dodson or (Joseph) Benavidez or even (Ian) McCall, it doesn’t mean they’re not a challenge or someone I’m looking forward to fighting.”
Of course, it’d be premature for Johnson to look past No. 7 on his quest towards Silva’s 10. His first meeting with Dodson still stands as the steepest challenge of Johnson’s tenure as champion, a back-and-forth firefight that saw Johnson survive two early knockdowns to narrowly retain his strap.
The rivalry between the two is one that exists in subtlety, as Johnson is loath to ever admit his disdain for the Jackson-Winkeljohn product. But Dodson knows it’s there — he heard it for years whenever Johnson would dismiss the prospect of a rematch, and he continued hearing it even after his title shot was widely assumed to be his.
“I think a lot of people misconstrue that, where everybody thinks they’re entitled to something in this sport,” Johnson said of his reluctance to name Dodson as an opponent before the UFC made it official.
“For a good example, Miesha Tate was guaranteed the next title shot, and then UFC came out and said nope, Ronda Rousey if fighting Holly Holm. Sorry. And then Miesha Tate got butt hurt. So when Dodson was saying that, ‘I’m next for a title shot,’ and I’m like, ‘UFC ain’t called me about nothing yet. I have never heard your name come out of UFC’s mouth at all.’ That’s where it came from.
“So that’s more in the line of people saying that they’re entitled to things. Nobody is entitled to s**t in this sport. When you get the call, that’s when you get the call.”
Even now, with their second meeting less than a week away, a curious dynamic exists between the two flyweights. While Dodson seems to relish his role as Johnson’s irritant, Johnson denies the acrimony as nothing more than the same tension he shares with the rest of his endless line of challengers.
“I wouldn’t call it bad blood or emotional. It’s almost like any other fight. Regardless if I win or lose, I keep it moving and go on to the next one,” Johnson said.
“I plan on being in the sport for a long time and I believe John Dodson will be in the sport for a long time as well. So I think our paths will cross again, just like I believe my path will cross again with Joseph Benavidez, whether I win this fight or not. We’re the top fighters in the world and we keep beating all the people who are below us, so I think our paths will cross again regardless of who is champ or not.”
