There was a weird vibe in Las Vegas as Demetrious Johnson (21–2–1), the UFC’s most dominant champion, made his way to the Octagon to defend his flyweight championship.
There is no fighter in the world with the same combination of crisp striking, stellar wrestling and dangerous submissions. When it comes to pure talent, Johnson sits on the very top of the mountain, side-by-side with fighters such as Jon Jones and Ronda Rousey.
And yet, as he walked to the cage for his fifth title defense, this one against Chris Cariaso, the crowd was heading the opposite direction, about a fifth of them streaming toward the exits and the rest of their night. The champ was in the building—but no one could be bothered to care. Andreas Hale shared what he saw as people were departing:
What’s wrong is not entirely clear. There were a lot of factors leading to this mass exodus. First, and perhaps foremost, there is Cariaso, so unknown that many MMA fans literally couldn’t pick him out of a lineup when challenged by my Bleacher Report colleague Chad Dundas.
But the blame can’t be laid entirely at his feet, even after Johnson steamrolled him, finishing the bout with a vicious Kimura arm lock in the second round.
Yes, Cariaso was a particularly weak challenger, never looking even remotely dangerous. But this wasn’t Johnson’s first box-office failure. His last headlining appearance at UFC 174 set a modern record for pay-per-view futility by drawing barely 100,000 buys, according to Jason Cruz of MMA Payout (via Thomas Myers of MMA Mania).
Before moving to pay-per-view in his last two bouts, Johnson had fought on network television on three consecutive occasions. He was exposed to millions of fans. It didn’t seem to make a difference in growing his miniscule fanbase.
His reputation as a headliner is so tarnished and the interest in his fights is so low, the UFC didn’t even include the champion on a Las Vegas billboard promoting the fight card he supposedly topped.
In the past you could point a finger at Johnson’s cautious style. Over a two-year period each of his fights went the distance. But even that criticism rings hollow these days. Johnson has finished three of his last four bouts, making even the best opponents look hopelessly outclassed. But the acclaim he probably deserves is slow coming.
“I think a lot of people can get discouraged watching us because they don’t understand. People get lost in what’s actually going on,” Johnson told me last year. “A lot of the skill sets flyweights bring to the UFC can be lost in translation. Everyone is so evenly matched, and we have a lot of skills that heavyweights or light heavyweights don’t get to use. There’s a lot more moving around, cardio and constant motion.”
It may be that fans just aren’t interested in determining who the toughest 125-pound man in the world is. Johnson stands just 5’3″. Physically he’s the furthest thing from intimidating. In a sport built on the promise of big-time violence, there just is no place for a little man to shine.
In a perfect world a win like this would be a another step on Johnson’s journey toward true stardom. Instead, it’s more compelling evidence for the prosecution in the case against him as a pay-per-view fighter.
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