Demetrious Johnson looked like the epitome of the word dominant when he defeated Ali Bagautinov at UFC 174. Commentators Joe Rogan and Mike Goldberg spoke in awe of the champion’s speed, technique and skill as he controlled nearly every aspect of the f…
Demetrious Johnson looked like the epitome of the word dominant when he defeated Ali Bagautinov at UFC 174. Commentators Joe Rogan and Mike Goldberg spoke in awe of the champion’s speed, technique and skill as he controlled nearly every aspect of the fight.
The UFC has Johnson sitting as the fourth-best pound-for-pound fighter in the sport, but the question has come up whether or not he has what it takes to be considered the best in MMA.
“Mighty Mouse” has continued to look light-years ahead of every other man in the flyweight division. His victory over Ali gave him his four straight title defenses since capturing the belt in September 2012. Each time he wins, he’s demonstrated a level of improvement that others have yet to match. It’s this continued separation that makes Johnson’s reign as champion quite different from the other titleholders within the UFC.
Since becoming the UFC’s first flyweight champion, Johnson has flown under the radar. He was originally tucked away on the UFC’s free televised events on the Fox platform. It seemed that he was charged with leading a weight class that was struggling to catch the mainstream fan’s attention. Johnson answered the call by solidifying himself as one of the best titleholders in the organization.
In four title defenses, “Mighty Mouse” has shown continuous leaps toward becoming a complete fighter. According to Fight Metric, the flyweight champion has landed more significant strikes than any opponent he’s faced.
Yet, what is more interesting is the way he’s surpassed that point as champion. In his five title bouts, Demetrious has nearly doubled his opponents’ striking output. Many of these fights have gone into the fifth round, where Johnson looks like he’s as fresh as he was in the first.
Another area of interest when speaking about Johnson is his new determination to finish opponents. Leading up to his fight against Bagautinov, Johnson talked freely about stopping challengers.
“I did it with the best fighters in the world,” Johnson was quoted as saying by Brent Brookhouse of Bloody Elbow. “Joseph, he’d never been finished. I ended up knocking him out. John Moraga, he’d never been finished. I ended up submitting him.”
Many fans have complained that some champions begin to “fight safe” to protect the title rather than entertain. Johnson is going in the exact opposite direction. Against Moraga, he had the fight secured on the scorecards but still locked in the fifth-round armbar.
Bagautinov was in the same position, but that didn’t stop Demetrious from taking risks in an attempt to finish him. Johnson’s fighting style should be appreciated by the fans who dislike those that don’t throw caution to the wind.
The UFC has Johnson currently sitting in the fourth position in the promotion’s pound-for-pound rankings. While these opinions are merely just that, it’s interesting to see the development of arguments that will consider DJ the best in the sport. Demetrious Johnson may only be 5’3″ and fight at 125 pounds, but he’s setting himself apart as the potential pound-for-pound king of mixed martial arts.
UFC Fight Night 42 hits Albuquerque, New Mexico on Saturday night. The 11-fight event is capped off by a key matchup in the lightweight division.
No. 2-ranked contender Benson Henderson takes on No. 11-ranked challenger Rustam Khabilov in the main even…
UFC Fight Night 42 hits Albuquerque, New Mexico on Saturday night. The 11-fight event is capped off by a key matchup in the lightweight division.
No. 2-ranked contender Benson Henderson takes on No. 11-ranked challenger Rustam Khabilov in the main event.
Bleacher Report will have complete coverage of the event from start to finish.
UFC Fight Night 42 Fight Card
Benson Henderson (155.5) vs. Rustam Khabilov (156)
Diego Sanchez defeats Ross Pearson by split decision (30-27, 27-30, 29-28)
John Dodson defeats John Moraga by TKO (doctor stoppage) at 5:00 of the second round
Rafael dos Anjos defeats Jason High by TKO at 3:36 of the second round
Piotr Hallmann defeats Yves Edwards via submission (rear-naked choke) at 2:31 of the third round
Bryan Caraway defeats Erik Perez via submission (rear-naked choke) at 1:52 of the second round
Sergio Pettis defeats Yaotzin Meza by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
Lance Benoist defeats Bobby Voelker by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27)
Scott Jorgensen defeats Danny Martinez by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27)
Jon Tuck defeats Jake Lindsey by TKO (verbal tapout) at 2:47 of the third round
Patrick Cummins defeats Roger Narvaez by TKO at 2:28 of the second round
As you listen to UFC flyweight John “The Magician” Dodson speak, you can’t help but tune in, offering your full attention to every word pouring off the 125-pound spark plug’s frenetic tongue.
He’s excitable and engaging, traversing a slate of top…
As you listen to UFC flyweight John “The Magician” Dodson speak, you can’t help but tune in, offering your full attention to every word pouring off the 125-pound spark plug’s frenetic tongue.
He’s excitable and engaging, traversing a slate of topics from video games to fighting to salsa dancing to the zombie apocalypse with ease, somehow avoiding confusion in the process. With Dodson, the energy is tangible, and every word—off the wall as it may seem—makes sense in the heat of conversation.
Seconds after talking about how he’s an opportunist in life, seizing every chance with his full heart and desire, he’s now talking about how he wants to die.
And with Dodson, you know there are going to be fireworks for such an occasion.
“When somebody asks, ‘How’d you go out?’ Well, I got shot, and then all of a sudden I was fighting them with this Desert Eagle, and then all of a sudden this snake came out of nowhere, and I thought it was just a regular snake, but it was an anaconda!” Dodson told Bleacher Report. “And they’d be like, ‘What the hell?! That’s an amazing story. Did the anaconda kill you?’ No. It was a bus that hit me.”
It’s 100 percent random, and it’s 100 percent fitting coming from the ball of excitement that is John Dodson.
If you watch Dodson compete as a professional mixed martial artist in the UFC’s flyweight division, this passion and electricity are obvious. He hits harder than anyone in the division, and he’s volatile and explosive, ready and willing to deliver the fight-ending knockout blow at any time.
While Dodson failed in his championship bid against Demetrious “Mighty Mouse” Johnson at UFC on Fox 6 in January 2013, The Magician stands as the only man to knock the champ down with strikes, and he fully intends to stick to what he knows in his upcoming UFC Fight Night 42 tilt with John Moraga Saturday evening in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
“I’m going to hit him as hard as I can. I know that sounds like the worst game plan, but it’s the most honest one I can give you,” Dodson said. “I just go out there and swing. I tell everyone exactly what my game plan is: I’m going to go out there and hit you with my left hand, and it’s your choice to either try to stand it or fall down from it. I just got that magical touch.”
To date, seven opponents have slipped into unconsciousness courtesy of Dodson’s hands, including current UFC bantamweight champion TJ Dillashaw at The Ultimate Fighter 14 Finale. While it may seem that Dodson is just a haymaker-tossing slugger looking for the early knockout, that’s far from the truth. He’s technical and refined in his stand-up attack, and he throws with purpose, always keeping his eyes on the target.
“I don’t swing with my eyes closed. I like to see what I’m hitting, because I like to see their facial expressions (laughs),” Dodson said.
Johnson remains the only man to defeat Dodson inside the Octagon, and it’s in talking about this loss that Dodson’s fun-loving attitude slips away for a moment. He doesn’t like to lose. He hates it. After rocking the champ at UFC on Fox 6, Dodson knows he was just moments away from capturing a UFC title and cementing his status as the best flyweight in the world, and the fact that he went home empty-handed gnaws at him on a daily basis.
He’s ready to change that and put his burdens behind him.
“Somebody already came up with a game plan (to beat me). Demetrious Johnson stopped it,” Dodson said. “If that’s the game plan they need to beat me, that’s perfectly fine. But I gotta learn my lesson and just start going for the kill and start killing everybody. I gotta have that murderous instinct.”
Dodson’s hatred of losing extends beyond the cage. When he first started training with Greg Jackson and company in New Mexico some 12 years ago, he was an athletic wrestler with little formal training in the art of grappling.
And he tapped out…a lot. Like the loss to Johnson, this fact tore Dodson apart, and he took drastic measures in seeking payback against his grappling superiors.
“I got tapped left and right. Everybody was catching me with ankle locks, I got choked, I got arm-barred, and I was like, ‘What the hell is this?'” Dodson said. “I thought it was like WWE; I was going to come in and just slam everybody and take them out. I was so mad. I got home and started writing a hit list…I have a list of people I have to finish before I can move on. I’ve never finished that list, so that’s why I haven’t left the place.”
Unfortunately for Dodson, many of the combatants on the hit list have taken on other responsibilities in life, duties away from combat, and he will never see his plan for revenge fully hatch.
“They’ve all retired (the remaining members of the list),” Dodson said. “They got families now…Me and Keith (Jardine, former UFC light heavyweight, longtime member of Jackson-Winkeljohn MMA), if we go at it, I think he’ll still beat me up. That’s a long jump (to catch him). I’ll tickle him first into submission.”
And like that, Dodson is back to his smiling, gigging ways. Three seconds ago, a hint of ferocity flashed across his face, and now it’s gone, replaced by the visage of a bubbly flyweight who captured the MMA world’s full attention some three years ago when he won Season 14 of The Ultimate Fighter.
Now, Dodson has a rematch with Moraga in his New Mexico hometown of Albuquerque at UFC Fight Night 42, and there’s a bit of bad blood between the two 125-pound stars to settle.
In their first fight at a Nemesis Fighting event in the Dominican Republic back in 2010, Dodson took home a unanimous-decision victory, but Moraga’s team feels that its fighter won two of the three rounds of combat, something that Dodson has not forgotten.
The Greg Jackson product will take care of that business later, though. Right now, he’s somehow locked me into a detailed explanation of his zombie-apocalypse survival plan.
Now, I’m cruising with Dodson and UFC middleweight Tim Kennedy down a dusty road, fighting off the undead, conquering abandoned Costcos and Sam’s Clubs and riding zip lines, not questioning for a second how I ended up here.
Speed is often the determining factor between getting your hand raised or collecting your wits.
It’s an innate ability to outpace and outpoint your opponents wherever the fight may go.
From jabs to takedowns, head movement to footwork, speed is one of …
Speed is often the determining factor between getting your hand raised or collecting your wits.
It’s an innate ability to outpace and outpoint your opponents wherever the fight may go.
From jabs to takedowns, head movement to footwork, speed is one of the most important attributes any fighter can possess.
With that said, based on perennial success and barrier-breaking fight styles, here are the five quickest athletes in the UFC today.
UFC Fight Night 42 on Saturday features a prime-time matchup in the flyweight division. Former title contenders John Dodson and John Moraga meet in an important battle that will see the winner move back into title contention.
Dodson is currently ranked…
UFC Fight Night 42 on Saturday features a prime-time matchup in the flyweight division. Former title contenders John Dodson and John Moraga meet in an important battle that will see the winner move back into title contention.
Dodson is currently ranked as the No. 1 contender in the division, and Moraga sits at No. 5.
Of the two, Dodson came closest to dethroning champion Demetrious Johnson. His hand speed and power gave the champion fits early in the bout, but he faded and allowed the champion to dictate the later rounds.
The stakes are high for this amazing flyweight bout, and it will not even be the co-main event in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Let’s take a look at the head-to-toe matchup between the elite flyweights.
As you listen to UFC flyweight John “The Magician” Dodson speak, you can’t help but tune in, offering your full attention to every word pouring off the 125-pound spark plug’s frenetic tongue.