Tag: UFC 174

Demetrious Johnson Makes a Claim for Top UFC Pound-for-Pound Spot

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. 

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UFC 174: Matches to Make for the Entire Fight Card

At UFC 174, Demetrious Johnson retained his championship with a clear decision win over Ali Bagautinov.
With four consecutive UFC title defenses, Mighty Mouse has matched Chuck Liddell, Pat Miletich and Frank Shamrock. Another win would tie him with Ma…

At UFC 174, Demetrious Johnson retained his championship with a clear decision win over Ali Bagautinov.

With four consecutive UFC title defenses, Mighty Mouse has matched Chuck Liddell, Pat Miletich and Frank Shamrock. Another win would tie him with Matt Hughes and Tito Ortiz.

Although his popularity has been slow to grow, Johnson is on his way toward becoming an MMA legend. Considering he’s already beaten the five most highly ranked contenders in the 125-pound division, Mighty Mouse could hang onto his belt for a long time.

Here are the fights that should be next for Johnson and the rest of the UFC 174 competitors.

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Demetrious Johnson: The FOX to PPV Road Could Be off to a Bumpy Start

It was a nice little theory we had there. Real nice.
Anyone with a rooting interest in MMA was kind of looking at it the same way: If the UFC gives away the fights of a guy who’s pretty good on Fox, they’ll be able to monetize him on pay-per-view once …

It was a nice little theory we had there. Real nice.

Anyone with a rooting interest in MMA was kind of looking at it the same way: If the UFC gives away the fights of a guy who’s pretty good on Fox, they’ll be able to monetize him on pay-per-view once people are hooked.

Definitely sound reasoning on paper. 

Think of all the free samples you get in the mail, or the fact that you can go to Costco on a Saturday afternoon and end up with a full meal from the bite-sized samplers at the end of every aisle.

Giving people a taste for free often works when the endgame is getting them to buy that thing later on down the line.

This time, though, there has to be reason for concern.

Why? According to reports within the arena, people at UFC 174 were leaving before the main event was even over, indicating that the free samples hadn’t done much of a job over the past year or so.

Headliner Demetrious Johnson, infallible flyweight champion and, for the purposes of this comparison, the sample you got in the mail or at the end of the aisle, was still plying his trade when the fans decided they’d had enough.

His one-sided trouncing of Ali Bagautinov, another technical master class for Mike Goldberg and Joe Rogan to tell you all about, wasn’t interesting enough to keep the fans in their seats.

Battling an early rush for cabs in the Vancouver rain was more appealing than watching what you’d paid (handsomely) to watch.

Now sure, that in and of itself isn’t the end of the world. It’s bad, but it could have happened to anyone, and just as easily could have happened on one of the Fox shows, as opposed to with Johnson headlining his first pay-per-view.

However, the question here is not necessarily about people leaving the venue early, but rather what that action represents for UFC in the greater scheme of things.

The UFC has put considerable time and effort into making Johnson a known commodity. Millions upon millions of people have now seen him bouncing around the Octagon at breakneck pace, peppering challengers with all manners of physical demolition.

Going into Saturday, he’d had spectacular finishes in his last two bouts and hadn’t been in a truly bad fight for as long as he’d been in the UFC.

What did all that get him? 14,000 people who paid to watch him couldn’t be bothered to see it through. If that was the attitude of the people who were already in the door, what’s to be expected of people in their living rooms as they decided whether or not to part with their $60?

There’s no way to say for sure, but no one could believe it to be positive without a little hand-wringing and collar-tugging.

It’s weird how that happens in sports. How a guy doesn’t resonate no matter how badly the powers that be want to make him a star. It’s that much worse in MMA, the ultimate singles sport, one where you live and die solely by your own performances and personality. 

And when those powers that be give those performances and that personality away for nothing, expecting it to pay off in the long run? Well buddy, it better. If not, there’s no telling how long the losses will be felt or how deep they’ll run.

 

Follow me on Twitter @matthewjryder!

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Demetrious Johnson vs. Ali Bagautinov: Analyzing Mighty Mouse’s UFC 174 Win

Demetrious Johnson confirmed his flyweight division dominance at UFC 174’s main event, defeating Ali Bagautinov by unanimous decision on Saturday.
Mighty Mouse is definitely among the best pound-for-pound MMA fighters on the planet, and he showed a div…

Demetrious Johnson confirmed his flyweight division dominance at UFC 174‘s main event, defeating Ali Bagautinov by unanimous decision on Saturday.

Mighty Mouse is definitely among the best pound-for-pound MMA fighters on the planet, and he showed a diverse arsenal with no discernible weaknesses against an outmatched Bagautinov. With more challengers at his weight bound to eagerly step forward, Johnson figures to have plenty of takers to further prove himself in his current weight class.

“I’m the king,” said Johnson after the bout, per MMA Junkie’s Steven Marrocco. “I’ll stay the king as long as I can, and I’ll keep knocking them down.”

This fight was so one-sided—Johnson won each of the five rounds on all three judges’ cards—that fans at Rogers Arena in Vancouver, Canada, even headed for the exits early. Fans didn’t want to even see Johnson cap off an outcome that was well in hand from the beginning.

MMA Show News’ David Kano shared a similar sentiment with regard to flyweights as the headliner:

MMA analyst Robin Black couldn’t get enough of Johnson’s virtuosic display, though:

There is also still room for Johnson to improve, as devastating as he’s been. Sometimes his footwork isn’t the best, not quite matching up with his splendid speed. He also has enough force on his strikes to not even need devastating punch combinations.

Bagautinov simply played into Johnson’s hands, not requiring him to adjust his game plan. UFC on Fox noted how Bagautinov‘s best strategy didn’t work even in the first round, which was a bad sign of things to come:

Backpedaling frequently toward the edges of the Octagon, the Puncher King didn’t quite live up to his moniker. Johnson capitalized by pummeling him against the cage and giving Bagautinov little opportunity to counter. According to FightMetric, Johnson landed 61 percent of his significant strikes compared to Bagautinov‘s meager 29 percent.

Considering that Bagautinov had won with relative ease in his previous 11 fights before facing Johnson, there aren’t many more candidates capable of even giving Johnson a stiff test.

But the fact that fans left early suggests Johnson isn’t quite the main event draw that UFC president Dana White was looking for.

Now that Johnson has successfully defended the UFC Flyweight Championship for the fourth time, he should disprove any of his doubters that he has the ability to step into the bantamweight threshold. Perhaps fighting at a heavier weight will help Johnson’s profile.

Johnson seems to be on a different level in improving his MMA record to 20-2-1. With how much of a world-class fighter Bagautinov is reputed to be, anyone keen on tangling with Johnson next should be at least slightly fearful. One strike could change everything, yet Johnson appears too fast to allow a knockout blow to come his way.

The UFC’s official flyweight rankings have John Dodson as the best option to square off with Johnson next, but he lost to Mighty Mouse by unanimous decision in January 2013. Although Dodson is a compelling personality, even a career performance may not be enough to knock off Johnson.

There is almost nowhere for Johnson to go but down, or to stay stagnant, barring a move to bantamweight. However, dominating at the highest level of a sport can’t be getting old just yet. Johnson figures to make good on his post-fight testimony and be crowned as the perpetual UFC flyweight champion.

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Johnson vs. Bagautinov: Mighty Mouse Must Consider Bantamweight After Easy Win

Demetrious Johnson has been absolutely impressive since joining the flyweight ranks.
He quickly became the UFC’s first champion in the new division and has simply dominated since acquiring the title.
After outlasting John Dodson in five rounds, submitt…

Demetrious Johnson has been absolutely impressive since joining the flyweight ranks.

He quickly became the UFC’s first champion in the new division and has simply dominated since acquiring the title.

After outlasting John Dodson in five rounds, submitting John Moraga, knocking out Joseph Benavidez quickly and picking apart Ali Bagautinov through five rounds on Saturday, Mighty Mouse appears to have officially cleaned out the division.

Brian Stann pretty much summed up Johnson’s most recent fight with this tweet:

With lightning-fast footwork, blazing speed, pinpoint accuracy and superior endurance, Johnson is easily the most well-rounded fighter in the flyweight division—and perhaps in the upper echelons of the UFC as a whole.

TJ Grant sure had some high praise for Johnson against Bagautinov:

Nick Newell and Abel Trujillo chimed in as well:

In Johnson’s current weight class, a lack of worthy competition looms large going forward.

He’s become a fan favorite due to his quick, exciting and well-versed style of fighting, but he needs to be challenged.

That challenge must come from the bantamweight ranks.

There’s been plenty of movement atop the 135-pound rankings, as Dominick Cruz, Renan Barao and TJ Dillashaw have each held the title within the past six months.

Johnson wouldn’t necessarily have to go right to the top against Dillashaw for a superfight—although that would be extremely entertaining—because of the vast amount of talent residing in the bantamweight division.

Back in December, Johnson was interviewed on the Sherdog Radio Network’s Cheap Seats about his thoughts on a bantamweight superfight:

I appreciate it and I appreciate all the love fans give me, but there’s a lot of work that needs to be done at 125. I need to dominate and clean out the entire division and then I can start thinking about going up to 135. Like I said, I’m happy to be at 125. I love training hard. I love the weight cut and I love fighting guys that are five-three and five-four.

Well, according to those comments, it’s about time for a move.

After all, Johnson is certainly up to the task, according to another comment from his interview: “I think if Dana White was to approach me with a superfight and said, ‘Hey, you and Dom or Barao—whoever the champion at 135 is—we’ll make a lot of money if you guys do this fight,’ [I’d say], ‘Sounds good, let’s make it happen.'”

Let’s make it happen, indeed.

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UFC 174: We All Jumped on the Tyron Woodley Hype Train a Little Too Early

Something came to the forefront during Rory MacDonald’s drubbing of Tyron Woodley at UFC 174 Saturday.
A realization, thudding heavily into the laps and minds of MMA fans all over the globe: In this, a high-stakes contenders bout that easily could prod…

Something came to the forefront during Rory MacDonald’s drubbing of Tyron Woodley at UFC 174 Saturday.

A realization, thudding heavily into the laps and minds of MMA fans all over the globe: In this, a high-stakes contenders bout that easily could produce the next title challenger should something go awry between Robbie Lawler and Matt Brown, there isn’t even a contest going on.

MacDonald is doing whatever he wants, whenever he wants, and Woodley is some combination of too tired, too broken and too overmatched to do anything about it.

The follow-up realization? We all jumped on the Woodley hype train a little too early.

There’s good reason for that, too. He looks like you’d find him on the pages of a comic book, chiseled and powerful with the type of high-impact athleticism that coaches dream of for their proteges.

He held wins over Carlos Condit and Josh Koscheck in the UFC and Tarec Saffiedine and Paul Daley outside of it.

He was out there talking the talk, texting Dana White so often that White had to give him some big fights or get a phone solely for Woodley‘s communications.

There was a lot to like.

Then, watching him struggle against MacDonald in the biggest fight of his life, some other elements of Woodley‘s career came flooding back.

The oft-repeated reality that big muscles burn big energy, and sometimes he tires as a result of that.

The fact that the Condit win was an injury TKO and the Koscheck win came when Koscheck had one foot out the door of the sport.

Remembering that those Saffiedine and Daley wins came years ago and are easily erased by the memorable knockout loss he suffered to Nate Marquardt and the forgettable decision loss he suffered to Jake Shields.

Suddenly, it was easy to see that you may have been duped. Perhaps this streaking contender, ranked No. 3 in the world by the UFC going into Saturday, was a little bit of a mirage.

This is a guy who started late in the sport and has made tremendous gains in a short time but who also could have used some more seasoning. He could have used more fights in the upper-mid tier between knocking out Koscheck and his bout with Condit—and perhaps even after the Condit win.

The proof of that was shown against MacDonald, who’s much more experienced against high-level competition even with a comparable number of fights and at eight years his junior.

The loss will likely serve as a hard reset for Woodley, whom White labeled as a choke artist after the event, as per MMA Fighting’s Ariel Helwani (h/t Dave Doyle). He’s probably looking at a bout against one of those mid-range, top-10 guys as the promotion looks to confirm just what they have in him.

Still, we’re all a little at fault for the domination he suffered in Vancouver.

He begged for a fast rise, and we all bought in when he did. When it was proven to be too fast and he paid for it with a beating, it was clear that everyone involved should have been a little more reserved all along.

 

Follow me on Twitter @matthewjryder!

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