UFC on Fox 9 is official. All 22 fighters made weight for their bouts.
The main event features a championship rematch between UFC Flyweight Champion Demetrious Johnson and No. 1-ranked Joseph Benavidez.
Check back with B/R MMA for full coverage of Satu…
UFC on Fox 9 is official. All 22 fighters made weight for their bouts.
The main event features a championship rematch between UFC Flyweight Champion Demetrious Johnson and No. 1-ranked Joseph Benavidez.
Check back with B/R MMA for full coverage of Saturday’s event from Sacramento, California.
UFC on Fox 9 Weigh-In Results
UFC Flyweight Championship: Demetrious Johnson (125) vs. Joseph Benavidez (125)
It appears the UFC’s network television broadcasts on Fox have been designated as the official home of the flyweight championship.
Oh. Excuse me. You probably aren’t familiar with the term “flyweight,” since not a shred of Fox’s marketing efforts…
It appears the UFC’s network television broadcasts on Fox have been designated as the official home of the flyweight championship.
Oh. Excuse me. You probably aren’t familiar with the term “flyweight,” since not a shred of Fox’s marketing efforts towards Saturday night’s sublime tilt between Demetrious Johnson and Joseph Benavidez even mentions their own 125-pound championship belt. No kidding. You’ve seen the television commercials (likely 150 times or more), so you know that there’s nary a mention of the word flyweight. Johnson is simply the “world champion,” and viewers are left to wonder if perhaps Johnson is the heavyweight champion.
And I blame this entirely on Fox, by the way, because the UFC has zero trouble promoting the flyweight championship. Back before Jon Jones canceled Christmas and UFC 151 in one fell swoop, the original fight between Benavidez and Johnson was scheduled to headline UFC 152. It was to determine the first flyweight title, and the UFC had no problems billing it as such. But then Jones McGrinch canceled Christmas and his main event was moved to UFC 152, and the lighter-weight guys were moved a notch down the card.
Still, this is the third consecutive appearance on Fox for Johnson after defenses against John Dodson and John Moraga. Perhaps someday he’ll graduate back to pay-per-view.
Or perhaps not, because he’s facing the toughest test he can possibly face in the flyweight division.
As we tend to do during fight weeks, it’s time to take a look below the surface level for each of our four main card fights at UFC on Fox 9. This one is aimed at the degenerate gambler among you, but a word of warning: If the public odds (when translated to percentages) closely hew with my own, I tend to recommend that you stay away.
This will not please those of you who want to throw your money down on every fight, but it’s the smart way to do the whole sports betting thing. If you don’t care about being smart and just enjoy the thrill of putting your hard-earned money on the line, you can either go with my winner picks or take a look at my new “Just For Fun (And Five Dollars) Parlay” on the final slide.
At UFC on Fox 9, Demetrious Johnson will attempt to earn a third straight title defense on network television.
Having prevented John Dodson and John Moraga from stealing his strap, “Mighty Mouse” will now rematch Joseph Benavidez, whom he defeated…
At UFC on Fox 9, Demetrious Johnson will attempt to earn a third straight title defense on network television.
Having prevented John Dodson and John Moraga from stealing his strap, “Mighty Mouse” will now rematch Joseph Benavidez, whom he defeated in the inaugural flyweight championship matchup. Since losing to Johnson by split decision in their original meeting, Benavidez has picked up three straight victories.
In addition to the 125-pound main event, UFC on Fox 9 will feature a potential bantamweight title shot eliminator between Urijah Faber and Michael McDonald. Both men have had fairly recent shots at the 135-pound championship, but they have established themselves as the best in the division behind Dominick Cruz and interim champion RenanBarao.
The UFC on Fox 9 weigh-ins will be held Friday at 7 p.m. EST. At that time, live streaming video will be available on the above video player.
Below is the entire fight card for UFC on Fox 9, which will be hosted by Sacramento, Calif.
UFC on Fox 9 Main Card (8 p.m. ET on Fox)
Demetrious Johnson vs. Joseph Benavidez
Urijah Faber vs. Michael McDonald
Chad Mendes vs. NikLentz
Joe Lauzon vs. Mac Danzig
UFC on Fox 9 Prelims (5 p.m ET on Fox Sports 1)
Court McGee vs. Ryan LaFlare
Danny Castillo vs. EdsonBarboza
Bobby Green vs. Pat Healy
Scott Jorgensen vs. Zach Makovsky
Sam Stout vs. Cody McKenzie
Abel Trujillo vs. Roger Bowling
UFC on Fox 9Online Prelims (4:30 p.m ET on UFC.com)
It’s hard for UFC flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson to stand out in a crowd. Challenger Joseph Benavidez, who will look to take Johnson’s title belt Saturday on Fox, has the same problem. Standing just a shade over 5 feet tall and weighing a m…
It’s hard for UFC flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson to stand out in a crowd. Challenger Joseph Benavidez, who will look to take Johnson’s title belt Saturday on Fox, has the same problem. Standing just a shade over 5 feet tall and weighing a mere 125 pounds, both are smaller than not just the average American man but the average woman, too.
Getting lost in the shuffle isn’t just a possibility. It’s a fact. The box office tells us so, and money, some say, never lies.
But why? Benavidez took a shot at answering what, for a pro fighter, can literally be a million-dollar question. Why haven’t UFC fans embraced smaller fighters, rewarding technique and style over brawn and brawling?
“The only issue is the names, the recognition and the popularity,” Benavidez said. “Because the division’s so new. There’s no lack of skill in the division at all. Our guys are just as good as any other division, they just aren’t as known. They haven’t been on TV as much. But there’s amazing talent at flyweight. It’s just time with these things, man.”
But is it?
That’s the question that lingers. Putting a finger on why smaller fighters—not just flyweights but bantamweights and featherweights as well—have failed to thrive is hard, especially because custom and courtesy demand delicate words. It takes an amazingly dumb comment to get right to the heart of the matter, one conveniently provided courtesy of a friend’s friend.
“Forget it,” he said, making plans for Saturday night that didn’t include the UFC. “I’m not watching guys who weigh less than my 13-year-old sister.”
Disrespectful? Of course. Backwards? Maybe.
But like many questionable statements, there’s an essential element of truth too, a boiling down of flowery words and deeds to the essential elements. As anyone who has ever watched a UFC show at a sports bar can tell you, some MMA fans divide the world into two distinct categories—people they can beat up and people they can’t. And, believe it or not, they view professional fighters on the same spectrum.
When they judge Benavidez and Johnson, they find them wanting because of their size.
It’s a ridiculous conundrum for these professional athletes who have raised cage fighting to an art form. But it’s a real problem nonetheless, one I wanted to get their thoughts on. Were the two best flyweights in the world aware they had been dismissed by a collection of men with TapouT T-shirts barely covering their ample midsection? And, if so, did it bother them?
“If some guy on the couch who’s twice as big as me thinks he could beat my butt, it doesn’t bother me,” Johnson said, though his words and tone suggested otherwise. “That’s fine. We can sign a waiver and make it totally legit. We can make it no rules or rules and figure it out. But I’m not out there to walk into Buffalo Wild Wings and let everybody know that I’m here and can kick everybody’s ass just because I’m flyweight champion. I try not to think like that.”
As anybody who has had the chance to work out with high-level flyweights can tell you, looks can be deceiving. Up close, Benavidez has legs like tree trunks, and when he gets top position on the ground, his 125 pounds can seem like an awfully heavy burden.
For a person with his level of skill, size just doesn’t matter. It would take a forklift to get him off. But not every fan is going to have the chance to put a UFC star to the test physically. Fans have to believe, in their hearts, that the toughest 125-pound fighter in the world could whoop them.
“When they’re watching a heavyweight, they absolutely know that guy would kill them. You know a heavyweight can beat you up,” Benavidez said. “But I think people think when they’re bigger than you, ‘Oh, I would beat him up.’ In the back of their mind they, think maybe they could take us. They don’t realize we beat up bigger people all the time in practice. How do they think we become so technical and tough?”
Beyond the meathead demographic, flyweight fights impose a burden even on fans who want to give them a chance. Watching Benavidez and Johnson fight can be demanding. You’re forced to pay attention to carefully watch the subtleties that not every fan can appreciate.
Because the fights are more likely to go to a decision as fighters get smaller, a flyweight bout at a high level is often going to require 25 minutes of a fan’s undivided attention. In the age of iPhones, that’s a lot to ask. Things are moving quickly—often faster than the naked eye can follow.
“That’s how I’ve always trained. To always anticipate what an opponent’s going to be doing and to anticipate the body’s natural reaction. When people talk about me taking angles, changing elevation and doing all this other stuff? I don’t even realize I’m doing that. To me, it’s just my fighting style,” Johnson said, crediting coach Matt Hume. “When I spar him, something is always happening. Even when it seems like nothing is happening, he’s setting up his next move.”
Even the fighters can’t always keep up with the action, relying on instinct and rhythms carefully honed in training. Sometimes it’s action, sometimes reaction. For them, 25 minutes, when moving so quickly, can pass in the blink of an eye.
“When there’s a little bit of a lull in the action, you can analyze what’s going on,” Benavidez said. “You can think of a combo or a takedown you’re going to go for. When you get in an isolated position like a clinch, you can take a second to think.
“Other times? When they hit you or they shoot on you? After that, it’s pretty much instinct and everything you’ve trained. Sometimes things go so fast it’s just second nature. Especially in these fights. That was one fight where I looked back and think, ‘What the heck happened?'”
In their first fight, the two went back and forth at speeds impossible to follow with the human eye. Watching a fight like this closely, one with so much happening every few seconds, can be mentally exhausting for a fan unaccustomed to this style. The champion agrees that much of what happens in the cage may not come across to fan’s more comfortable with a Mark Hunt slobber-knocker.
“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 said. “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.”
The UFC doesn’t seem convinced fans are ready to support the little guy. In its ads for the show, the promotion never mentions the weight class at all, simply stating the two will fight for the “world championship.”
It’s as if the UFC is trying to keep the fact that these guys only weigh 125 pounds a secret. Like Dana White knows if he broadcasts it, people won’t watch.
Benavidez, for his part, doesn’t think much is likely to change. Either fans will get it, or they won’t. The sport, in the meantime, will continue to grow, with techniques and strategies implemented first by the little guys eventually finding their way to the big guys.
As fighters have gotten better and the sport has evolved, finishing rates have gone consistently down. You can’t be a fan of either technique or bludgeoning—increasingly, technique is winning that battle in the Octagon.
You’re on board, or you’re not.
“It’s always going to be the most technical division because everyone’s smaller,” Benavidez said. “If you don’t understand the sport, what can we do? You don’t understand the sport. Everyone can understand two guys standing there and throwing one punch at each other. But not every fan is going to understand the footwork and the movement and the combos and the scrambles. Even the takedowns and the ground work aren’t understood by most fans, in any division.
“They can’t necessarily see and appreciate everything that’s going on. But as the UFC becomes more popular, people are starting to understand more. And as that happens, they’re also going to appreciate the division more.”
For fans already drinking the flyweight Kool-Aid, the rematch between Benavidez and Johnson has long been circled on calendars. Much has changed in the two years since the first fight, Benavidez believes in his favor.
“It’s a different fight. Watch my last two fights. I’m a different fighter,” Benavidez said. “It’s easy to say ‘I’ve been working hard.’ But what are you doing differently? We actually flipped our system upside down. It’s not every day that somebody gets a whole new coach and 180-degree flip and revamp of their system like we have at Team Alpha Male. And I think you can tell and you’ve seen the improvements in the fights. It’s been an amazing year for the team. The fact that it’s all coming to a head, a culmination, here in Sacramento, it’s just the way it’s supposed to be, man.”
Johnson, of course, doesn’t intend to give Benavidez his storybook ending. All he’ll say is that the first fight, a split decision in his favor, makes it easier to step into the cage with Benavidezagain.
Benavidezwelcomes the challenge.
“The great thing about this sport is that you have to prove it,” he said. “There’s no lying out there. You can’t hide from anything. It’s all truth in there. I don’t just get to say I’ve gotten better. You get to prove you’ve gotten better and test yourself. He’s the best guy in the world. I think I’m better. It’s awesome because I get to prove it.”
Joseph Benavidez challenges Demetrious Johnson for the UFC’s flyweight title Saturday on Fox in his adopted hometown of Sacramento. Jonathan Snowden is Bleacher Report’s lead combat sports writer. Unless otherwise noted, all quotes were acquired firsthand.
The UFC returns to the Fox airwaves Saturday night, offering its ninth show on the big network. The flyweight title will be on the line as Demetrious Johnson defends against Joseph Benavidez for the second time in a little over a year, and Urijah Faber…
The UFC returns to the Fox airwaves Saturday night, offering its ninth show on the big network. The flyweight title will be on the line as Demetrious Johnson defends against Joseph Benavidez for the second time in a little over a year, and Urijah Faber will slug it out with Michael McDonald in the co-main event.
With that in mind, here are five reasons to tune in for a little pre-holiday mayhem this weekend.
On the next UFC card, flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson and challenger Joseph Benavidez will meet for a second time to contest the title of finest 125-pound fighter on the planet. The problem for both men is that despite excelling in their field, a…
On the next UFC card, flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson and challenger Joseph Benavidez will meet for a second time to contest the title of finest 125-pound fighter on the planet. The problem for both men is that despite excelling in their field, a very small portion of people care.
It’s not a secret—nobody is pretending that anything (spare Jose Aldo) south of 155 pounds is a draw. Think of every major pay-per-view you can remember. The ones which did well were headlined by welterweights and up. Outside of the superstars—the Anderson Silvas and the Georges St-Pierres—no one moves tickets in the fight world like big men who are going to swing at each other.
It is true in MMA and it was true in kickboxing, and it was true in boxing for a hundred years before that. Little guys are on the undercard, and big guys sell the tickets. Yet Demetrious Johnson is easily more technically skilled and well-rounded as a fighter than almost anyone in any division. Why is it that fans don’t care about the little man?
Why is it that 380,000 fans will pay through the nose to watch Cain Velasquez beat up a hopelessly overmatched Antonio Silva for a second time on pay-per-view, but Jose Aldo can fight truly elite competition in Chad Mendes, Chan Sung Jung and Frankie Edgar and draw only half that number of buys in some of his appearances?
Absoluteness of the Heavyweight Crown
Half of the issue is psychology.
It is easy for those who follow the sport fanatically to say that Demetrious Johnson could outfight the average 180-pound guy in the gym or the guy off the street. But the guy off the street doesn’t know that. He’s programmed to think that he could “have a good go at” beating up Demetrious Johnson because he has 40-plus pounds on Johnson.
Ask any man who knows anything about Cain Velasquez whether he could beat Velasquez in a fight, and all but the most arrogant and delusional will realize they would be in the fetal position or playing dead within moments. Size matters, not just consciously, but also subconsciously.
The heavyweight championship is the greatest absolute. It was that way in boxing, and it is that way now in MMA. With no upper weight limit (in effect, though the UFC does force its fighters to weigh in under 265 pounds), the heavyweight champion has proven that he can beat the biggest guys around. Anyone in the world can earn a fight against the heavyweight champion; there are very few men who can’t cut to 265 pounds.
Every other belt is seen by many on a subconscious level as almost a consolation prize—something which is qualified by weight. As if to say, “Hey, you may not be the absolute champion, but you sure do well against other guys of your weight.”
You may contend that people don’t think like that. Unfortunately, they do and always have. To give a classic example, I will refer back to the early days of professional boxing when weight classes and gloves were relatively young. George “Little Chocolate” Dixon, a bantamweight, and Joe Gans, a lightweight, were the first black fighters to win world titles. They defeated white fighters for the titles in 1890 and 1902, respectively.
Both men were enormously respected for their skill and accomplishments. But when Jack Johnson was finally allowed to compete for the heavyweight title and won it in 1908, all hell broke loose. The hunt for the “Great White Hope” began, and for years, rhetoric was repeated in the papers about returning the highest prize in pugilism to the white race. Whether you like it or not, the heavyweight title is a lot more important to people than the belts in other weight classes.
There’s a reason that fans love to throw around the ridiculous moniker “The Baddest man on the Planet” whenever someone wins or defends the heavyweight title.
In truth, one of the few ways in which lighter fighters can offset this ridiculous obsession with the “take on all comers” aspect of the heavyweight division is to fight up in weight, as Manny Pacquiao has throughout his career. In the MMA world, B.J. Penn was, of course, famous for his competing outside of his natural lightweight class, as was now-bantamweight Norifumi “Kid” Yamamoto, who competed for most of his career as a successful lightweight.
Beyond the subconscious understanding that size matters, however, there are also noticeable trends in the dynamic of fights which cause fans to be more attracted to heavyweight ones and to care less about flyweight ones.
The Love of the Finish
While the heavyweight division is absolute, it also provides the most of what fans love: finishes. Casual fans watch MMA because knockouts are more frequent than in boxing, and the possibility of a submission from top or bottom if the striking is going south adds an element of come-from-behind excitement.
We may all be giddy from the brilliant showdown between Mark Hunt and Antonio Silva, but heavyweight fights by and large aren’t great. The level of technical proficiency in each area of the game really isn’t as high as in other divisions, the cardio of most heavyweights is atrocious, and the fights which go to a decision tend to be appalling affairs.
But heavyweight fights don’t go to decision. The majority of the time, the two participants swing and one gets knocked out. Or they get tired, then one fails to see a punch coming because he’s wheezing and gets knocked out.
Bantamweights and flyweights do not tend to gas out nearly so often as heavyweights. But because of their limited size, they lack the natural power of the heavyweights. If you’re 250 pounds or more and you flail like Lavar Johnson, you can still floor a man with a sloppy connection.
The fact of the matter is that finishes just aren’t as common in the lighter weight classes. Smaller fighters struggle to generate the power that larger ones do, even when utilizing their body weight fully.
If a lighter fighter can finish fights, he will have a far better chance of drawing attention than he would normally. In the boxing world, Prince NaseemHamed was a divisive character, but his incredible punching power and flair brought interest to the lighter weight classes from casual fans who normally wouldn’t care.
The same is true in MMA. Featherweight finishing artist Jose Aldo has far greater drawing power than Dominick Cruz or Demetrious Johnson. Were Cruz a featherweight and Aldo a bantamweight, I think this would still be the case. Aldo has successfully broken out from the image of the lighter weight divisions.
If John Dodson were the flyweight champion, or if Urijah Faber had remained undefeated into his UFC tenure, how much more interest do you feel there would have been in their title defences?
Pace is a Killer
A final point worth considering is that the pace of bantamweight and flyweight fights is downright alienating to even the most passionate fans.
In a light heavyweight fight, the fighters will engage a handful of times per round on the feet or enter a grappling exchange, and you can see exactly what is going on. That is not the case in the vast majority of flyweight fights.
Contrast any heavyweight or light heavyweight fight that you can think of with Demetrious Johnson vs. Joseph Benavidez. The first meeting between Johnson and Benavidez had everything you could want to see in a mixed martial arts bout. All manner of strikes on the feet, ringcraft, pivoting with counterstrikes, takedowns, switches, reversals, body work and guard pulls. Where else can you see a takedown into a jumping butterfly guard pass and a rolling leg-lock attempt in the same round? You name it, it was in that fight.
But it all happened at such a pace, and in such a relentless fashion, that fans struggled to keep up. It’s my job to analyse fights, and I had trouble keeping up with what was going on in any exchange.
The pace of the fight is not helped by the fact that the Octagon absolutely dwarfs flyweights. Benavidez was repeatedly told to cut off the cage by his corner, but much of the fight was the two men running around the Octagon, nowhere near to the fence.
The hectic pace of lighter-weight fights, combined with the number of exchanges, is really what alienates viewers the most. The fact that very few flyweights pack one-punch power simply adds to the frustration which many viewers can feel when watching these fights. In a heavyweight bout, there are a handful of engagements per round and you are on edge when they happen. Anyone could get knocked out at any time. In the vast majority of flyweight and bantamweight bouts, there just isn’t that same sense of tension.
Conclusions
I don’t think we will ever reach a point where the casual fan will prefer to watch a bantamweight or flyweight title fight to watching a heavyweight or light heavyweight title fight.
Of the 20 top-selling UFC pay-per-views, just one was headlined by anyone below welterweight. That was B. J. Penn vs. Kenny Florian, and Anderson Silva was fighting on the same card. That being said, B. J. Penn is an excellent example of how to draw attention to lighter weight classes. In Penn’s best days, the UFC had only recently reinstated the lightweight division, now it is arguably the most exciting and deep division in the company roster.
Penn’s finishing ability and character, combined with his attention-grabbing fights at other weights, brought the spotlight to the lightweight division. Jose Aldo, through his finishing ability and undefeated streak, is in the middle of doing much the same for the featherweight division.
It is easy to point to Demetrious Johnson’s and Dominick Cruz’s lack of finishes and say that their inability to finish fights is stopping them from becoming major draws, but Jose Aldo and RenanBarao have been finishing world-class opposition for years and still only bring in pedestrian pay-per-view buyrates.
The truth of it is that the smaller fighters are always going to be overshadowed by the heavyweights. There will be individuals who draw more attention than the rest. Flyweight and bantamweight MMA will have their Prince Naseem or B. J. Penn, but for the most part, they will suffer smaller purses and less attention than the big men, and there is little that can change that.
Pick up Jack’s eBooksAdvanced Striking and Elementary Striking from his blog, Fights Gone By.
