The UFC returns to pay-per-view on Saturday with a UFC 191 card that offers some appeal to its hardcore fans but substantially less to the general audience. In the main event, longtime flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson makes the seventh defense of …
The UFC returns to pay-per-view on Saturday with a UFC 191 card that offers some appeal to its hardcore fans but substantially less to the general audience. In the main event, longtime flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson makes the seventh defense of his title. He takes on John Dodson, who gave him the toughest fight of his tenure at the top of the mountain back in January 2013. The rematch looks to be the most competitive and interesting fight that can be made in the relatively thin flyweight division.
The rest of the card is uneven in quality and relevance. Andrei Arlovski and Frank Mir have made unexpected returns to their early form after years of futility, and the winner of their fight could well be the next challenger for the heavyweight title.
The light heavyweight matchup of Jimi Manuwa vs. Anthony Johnson promises serious violence, and rising star Paige VanZant gets a softball fight against Alex Chambers. The preliminary card offers two outstanding fights—a lightweight matchup between Ross Pearson and Paul Felder and an epic barnburner featuring Francisco Rivera and John Lineker. After that, there is nothing of interest to anyone but the most dedicated fans.
Demetrious Johnson is an enigma to opponents and fans alike. Inside the Octagon, he is the Swiss army knife of fighters, stumping opponents with quintessential abilities. But on the outside, he is the face of culpability surrounding an oft-ignored flyw…
Demetrious Johnson is an enigma to opponents and fans alike. Inside the Octagon, he is the Swiss army knife of fighters, stumping opponents with quintessential abilities. But on the outside, he is the face of culpability surrounding an oft-ignored flyweight division.
Striking, wrestling, submissions, clinch work, chin, conditioning—Johnson has it all. The guy can do it all, and he’s only getting better. He has finished four of his last five opponents by submission or knockout.
And no one gives a damn.
I can remember sitting in a restaurant watching as Johnson wrenched Chris Cariaso’s arm into submission when a drunken fan behind me shouted, “I hate watching Mickey Mouse’s boring fights.”
We had just witnessed dominance displayed at the highest level, and it was like this guy refused to accept what was happening. He refused to care because he didn’t buy into the persona of “Mighty Mouse.” He wasn’t buying into the clean-cut, good-guy image, even if the fighter was one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the world.
“When I knocked out Joseph Benavidez, one of the comments that made me laugh so hard was, ‘Yeah man, I sat there and watched Joseph Benavidez get knocked out by Demetrious Johnson and I just shrugged my shoulders and went out and bought a burrito.’ Okay,” he said. “That’s good.”
Far less talented fighters have a better chance at capturing attention by throwing on a cheap suit and spinning a fictitious story.
Fighting isn’t enough for combat sports fans. They need to be amused with characters and “real-life” drama. Showmanship coupled with a natural talent for fighting brings the entertainment side full circle.
From the perspective of most fans, Johnson is an incomplete champion. As complete as his fighting abilities are inside the cage, he is a blank slate on the outside. Johnson is the admirable employee who always shows up on time, does his job and punches his card when it’s closing time.
And the fighting world treats him as such—simply another man on the assembly line.
However, it won’t always be this way. Someday fans will appreciate Johnson’s greatness. There is no way to know if that day will come sooner or later.
Anderson Silva, whom many consider the greatest fighter in MMA history, wasn’t that popular until ChaelSonnen came along. The same thing could be said about UFC featherweight champion Jose Aldo, whose stock has risen significantly since the arrival of ConorMcGregor.
Perhaps Johnson holds on to the title long enough for a suitable antagonist to arrive onto the scene. Maybe it never happens.
As Johnson’s career collects dust, history will tell the story of one of the greatest all-around talents ever in MMA. People will watch vintage tapes and talk about how he was underappreciated and overlooked. In hindsight, the superfluous infatuation with drama and spectacle will appear as distant as a star in the sky.
Johnson will be remembered for his accomplishments, not the amount of pay-per-view buys he generated. In that very moment—when appreciation of talent surpasses spectacle—Demetrious “Mighty Mouse” Johnson will be missed.
UFC 191 plays host to the flyweight title match we have all been waiting to see. Demetrious Johnson defends the 125-pound title belt for the seventh time this weekend in Las Vegas against the man whom he beat in his first title defense—John Dodso…
UFC 191 plays host to the flyweight title match we have all been waiting to see. Demetrious Johnson defends the 125-pound title belt for the seventh time this weekend in Las Vegas against the man whom he beat in his first title defense—John Dodson.
Injuries have kept this rematch off the table for some time, but Dodson is healthy again and riding a three-fight win streak. After nearly a year away from the cage, Dodson returned in May to defeat the ever-tough Zach Makovsky in a grueling three-round fight.
Johnson, on the other hand, has been very active and very dominant. Since the 2013 fight against Dodson, Johnson has defended the crown five times with four finishes. John Moraga, Joseph Benavidez, Ali Bagautinov, Chris Cariaso and Kyoji Horiguchi have all come up on the losing end against “Mighty Mouse.”
The Johnson-Dodson is almost surefire fireworks.
Who holds the edge? Who walks out the champion? Let’s take a look at the head-to-toe breakdown for the Saturday, Sept. 5 championship bout.
Frankie Perez def. Sam Stout by TKO via punches at of Round 1
Felipe Arantes def. Yves Jabouin by submission via armbar at 4:21 of Round 1
Nikita Krylov def. Marcos Rogerio de Lima by submission via rear-naked choke at 2:29 of Round 1
Chris Kelades def. Chris Beal by split decision (29-28, 27-30, 29-28)
Preliminary Card (UFC Fight Pass)
Shane Campbell def. Elias Silverio by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
Misha Cirkunov def. Daniel Jolly by TKO at 4:45 of Round 1
Next up? UFC 191.
This is a sneaky-good card featuring a wealth of talent in both the smallest and the biggest UFC weight classes. Topped by the flyweight title rematch between Demetrious Johnson and John Dodson, and backed up with major fights at both heavyweight and light heavyweight, it’s a card that will likely bring both technical brilliance and good ol’ fashioned face-punching.
So what should you look out for heading into next week?
UFC 190 and UFC 191 are polar opposites.
UFC 190 was big on names, but short on actual title relevance. Old favorites and struggling vets were fighting for little more than pride. Even the most diehard Brazilian fans knew that the card was going to be …
UFC 190 and UFC 191 are polar opposites.
UFC 190 was big on names, but short on actual title relevance. Old favorites and struggling vets were fighting for little more than pride. Even the most diehard Brazilian fans knew that the card was going to be a fleeting experience, devoid of any long-term repercussions.
UFC 191, though? Well, just take a look at the fights announced thus far:
That’s a very strong foundation to a card, but add in the rumored Andrei Arlovski vs. Frank Mir heavyweight bout and you have a deceptively great event in the works.
There’s a lot to look forward to up there, so why not take a look forward to the biggest fights on the card? Keep reading to check out our early previews and predictions.
LAS VEGAS — There was a time when Demetrious Johnson, the UFC’s reigning flyweight champion, mostly kept his mouth shut.
He garnered a reputation as a quiet and humble fighter who never rocked the boat. He said the right things at the right time….
LAS VEGAS — There was a time when Demetrious Johnson, the UFC’s reigning flyweight champion, mostly kept his mouth shut.
He garnered a reputation as a quiet and humble fighter who never rocked the boat. He said the right things at the right time. He was a nice guy who used nice language and was perhaps the kind of fighter you could use as an example for your friends who don’t watch mixed martial arts, as if to say: Hey, look at this guy. Not every fighter is a meat head. Look how nice he is!
Those days appear to be over. Don’t get me wrong; Johnson is still a very nice man. He is still someone you can hold up as a perfect example of how regular people exist in the zany world of mixed martial arts.
But Johnson had a conversation with Dave Sholler, the UFC vice president of public relations, who told him to stop editing himself and the things he says. He told him to lose the filter, to say what’s on his mind and to use the language he uses in his everyday life.
Johnson needed to be himself.
Johnson also looked around the UFC landscape and came to a realization. He saw other UFC stars facing legal troubles, and nothing happened to them. Most of them kept their jobs. If he started talking the way he does in his everyday life, sprinkling curse words in his answers, what’s the worst that could happen?
“That’s why I’m not editing myself any more. What’s [UFC President] Dana [White] going to do? He can call me and say I need to watch it,” Johnson says. “But hey, I’m not doing f—–g cocaine. I’m not out here smoking weed. I’m at home taking care of my wife and my kids. I’m not breaking the law. I’m just giving interviews.”
Johnson has long been lambasted for having what fans perceive as a boring personality. In a world where bombastic characters like ConorMcGregor draw massive numbers on television and pay-per-view, Johnson has mostly been quiet, preferring to let his work in the Octagon do the talking for him.
He doesn’t really participate in the act of selling fights, and the results show: His pay-per-view numbers are among the lowest for any UFC champion.
Still, Johnson refuses to change. He believes he is the best fighter in the world and that being the best fighter in the world should be enough to entice fans to watch. Anyone who watches him and makes the assumption that he has a boring personality is dead wrong, he says.
“That’s because you don’t f—–g know me. You’re not my friend. Nobody here knows me like my best friend at home. We might not even know the real ConorMcGregor. He might be shy. Someone said RenanBarao is very shy. I would never figure him being shy,” he says. “But you would never know that, because you don’t truly know that person. Just because a person has the personality to sell a fight, that’s not his personality. That’s just him doing his job to make more money.”
The funny part about Johnson dropping the Mr. Nice Guy facade he’s carried for years? He’s far more likely to connect with fans. They may have a bias against smaller fighters, and they might consider him boring in the Octagon.
But mixed martial arts fans have always gravitated to those who speak their mind and who don’t try to filter their words or present themselves as somebody they are not. It’s how Dana White became one of the biggest stars in the history of the sport, despite never once fighting in the cage.
It is funny how things can work. Johnson, a phenom in the cage, hasn’t been all that interesting outside of it. But this new version of Mighty Mouse, where he answers questions without hesitation and without regard for consequences?
He’s intriguing. He’ll connect with fans more than ever before.
And all it took was deciding to be himself, because the real Johnson is far more interesting than anything he could ever pretend to be.
