“Look at my face,” flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson demanded of UFC announcer Joe Rogan after his five-round dismantling of challenger John Dodson on Saturday night at UFC 191. “I look prettier than a motherf–ker. And that’s what technique gets y…
“Look at my face,” flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson demanded of UFC announcer Joe Rogan after his five-round dismantling of challenger John Dodson on Saturday night at UFC 191. “I look prettier than a motherf–ker. And that’s what technique gets you right there.”
It was a telling statement, one that quite cogently divided the battle lines in the MMA world’s constant war between sport and spectacle.
Johnson, without question, is one of the most skilled fighters in UFC history. His style is a dizzying combination of technical perfection and flawless tactics—the cerebral and the physical thrown together in a way few fighters can manage.
But, it turns out, many UFC fans aren’t really interested in whether the sport’s champions can emerge from a five-round fight looking “pretty.” In fact, that’s the polar opposite of their desires.
Johnson isn’t for those fans. He can’t be.
The problem?
They are legion.
Johnson’s box-office fate matters, because it’s a referendum on the sport itself, not just Johnson as an individual. Johnson represents MMAs future. Most fans, it seems, would rather stay in the present.
While the title fight did its best to rescue what was an incredibly dull main card, the UFC’s continued expansion reflected in a collection of monotonous and uninspiring bouts. Looking at the card as a whole, we’ll choose the five best and worst moments—the handful of things worth talking about on Twitter in the event’s aftermath.
Want to extend the bout from five rounds into infinity? That’s what the comments section is for. Make your voice heard.
Even Andrei Arlovski knew there was no cause for celebration.
Moments after the judges confirmed his unanimous-decision win over Frank Mir on Saturday in the co-main event of UFC 191, Arlovski stood in the middle of the cage, shaking his head and apolo…
Even Andrei Arlovski knew there was no cause for celebration.
Moments after the judges confirmed his unanimous-decision win over Frank Mir on Saturday in the co-main event of UFC 191, Arlovski stood in the middle of the cage, shaking his head and apologizing.
“The crowd is right to boo me,” the 36-year-old Pit Bull told UFC color commentator Joe Rogan during his postfight interview. “I’m disappointed because I underestimated him. … To be honest with you, I thought it was going to be an easy fight, but it wasn’t.”
Arlovski got that right.
This wasn’t an easy fight for anyone, including fans who sat through a mostly underwhelming pay-per-view card and hoped the two former heavyweight champions could provide the night’s only fireworks. Instead, Mir and Arlovski slogged to a tepid 15-minute decision that only squandered the momentum each had built up during recent career turnarounds.
In the wake of his sixth straight victory, expect the hype around Arlovski to cool considerably. After UFC President Dana White came to the postfight press conference to announce yet another unexpected delay at the top of the heavyweight division, the lackluster performance may well hit the reset button on the entire 265-pound title picture:
To add insult to injury, White told hosts on the Fox Sports 2 postfight show (h/t MMA Junkie’s Mike Bohn) he thought the judges got it wrong: “It wasn’t what I expected it to be, but I actually had Mir winning that fight. I was expecting that fight to look more like Travis Browne and Arlovski than the fight that it was. These guys are two big, hard-hitting heavyweights and they went three rounds.”
Perhaps it was our own fault for having lofty expectations for the two 36-year-old bruisers.
Arlovski came in riding high on a five-fight win streak, including three straight in the UFC since returning to the company in June 2014. When the UFC hinted last month it would book new champ Fabricio Werdum an immediate rematch against Cain Velasquez, some fans bristled because they thought Arlovski was more deserving.
Mir was also on the rebound, having distanced himself from a four-fight skid with back-to-back knockout wins so far in 2015.
Had Arlovski starched him in the first round, there would have been a long line of observers ready to make the case he ought to be next for the Werdum vs. Velasquez winner. Now, the door is open for someone else to cut the line.
Matchmakers recently confirmed a pair of upcoming heavyweight bouts that could provide another suitable No. 1 contender.
Ben Rothwell puts his own three-fight win streak on the line against StipeMiocic at UFC Fight Night 76 on October 24. Two months later, former champion Junior dos Santos is scheduled to return to the cage after more than a yearlong absence to fight Alistair Overeem at UFC on Fox 17 on December 19.
Either of the men who emerge victorious from those fights might lay legitimate claim to the next title opportunity. Now that we know Werdum will be on extended R&R until spring, however, the rub is that anyone who wants to stay in the hunt will almost certainly have to take another fight in the interim.
That could be good news for Arlovski, who might use the chance to erase this most recent outing from our memories.
“I was so pumped for this fight,” lamented Fox Sports 1 analyst and former UFC fighter Yves Edwards when it was over. “I’ve been waiting for this fight for 10 years and then it finally happened tonight and—it was not as exciting as I wanted it to be.”
Heavyweight MMA bouts typically go one of two ways: short and thrilling or long and tedious.
Arlovski vs. Mir certainly fit into the second category.
Early on, it was clear that Arlovski enjoyed a speed and technique advantage. He peppered Mir with shots during the first round while managing to steer clear of the kind of thunderous counterpunch Mir used to fell Todd Duffee in July.
Mir was able to nab a couple of takedowns, however, and Arlovski seemed mostly content to tie him up and wait for a referee stand-up. By the third round, things had devolved into the sort of stasis that often makes the heavyweight ranks the sport’s most ridiculed division:
As Arlovski’s scorecard victory was announced (29-28, 29-28, 30-27) the crowd jeered, not because the decision was wrong but just because the fight had been so lousy. He didn’t even smile as referee John McCarthy raised his hand.
Mir—a veteran of 26 Octagon appearances and the UFC’s longest-tenured active fighter—made a face as if to say, “Oh, really? Huh.” Then he simply walked away, as if it was just another day at the office.
In a rematch of what had been the toughest fight of his long title reign, UFC flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson was machine-like in Las Vegas Saturday night, earning a one-sided unanimous decision over John Dodson in the main event of UFC 191. The …
In a rematch of what had been the toughest fight of his long title reign, UFC flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson was machine-like in Las Vegas Saturday night, earning a one-sided unanimous decision over John Dodson in the main event of UFC 191. The UFC’s smallest champion once more made a strong argument that he is the sport’s best pound-for-pound fighter.
UFC veteran Kenny Florian summed up the performance on Twitter:
In the other main event fights, Paige VanZant showed great cardio and applied relentless pressure against Alex Chambers, beating her up for two rounds and then finishing her with an armbar at 1:01 of Round 3. It was a legitimately exciting performance by VanZant and thrilling enough to inspire a bit of hyperbole from former pro wrestling star Bill Goldberg, who exclaimed that the armbar was “Ronda Rousey like!”
Bleacher Report Analyst Patrick Wyman provided a bit of a more realistic perspective on Twitter:
After a competitive first round, Corey Anderson used a strong wrestling advantage to brutalize Jan Blachowicz for the remaining two rounds. Two of three judges scored the final two rounds 10-8 and the third scored one 10-8, as Anderson earned scores of 30-25 twice and 29-26 once.
This was a fight that was as one-sided as they come without ending in stoppage. The following tweet from ChaelSonnen highlights the surprising degree to which Anderson was able to bully his Polish opponent:
In his first trip to the Octagon since losing to Daniel Cormier last May in a fight for the vacant light heavyweight title, Anthony Johnson reverted to classic “Rumble” form, knocking Englishman JimiManuwa cold with a crushing right hook just 28 seconds into Round 2.
Don’t be surprised to see Johnson in a rematch with the champion sooner rather than later. And even though Cormier was able to finish him last time and would be a favorite in a return bout, a puncher such as Johnson can never be written off, as Jon Anik of Fox Sports 1 pointed out:
In the night’s co-main event, two former heavyweight champions clashed, with Andrei Arlovski earning a unanimous decision over Frank Mir by scores of 30-27 and 29-28 twice. It’s almost a surprise to remember that these two never fought a decade ago when they were both among the top big men in the sport.
At this point, the fight had something like the feel of an old-timers’ game at Yankee Stadium, a point made with a classic wisecrack tweet by Sonnen:
In the preliminary portion of the night, bantamweights John Lineker and Francisco Rivera stole the show, turning in what will likely be the most exciting two minutes of MMA that we see in 2015. According to FightMetric’s Michael Carroll, the two threw exactly 100 strikes in the first two minutes of the fight:
This tweet from Fox Sports gives an indication of the mayhem:
What started with an explosion ended in a tap, as Lineker was able to assert control on the ground and secure a guillotine choke 2:52 into the first round.
As it turns out, we might not love mixed martial arts the way we claim to. You see, Demetrious Johnson is the living embodiment of what we hoped the sport would turn into.
Technically precise, mistake-free, wildly athletic, composed, adaptive. These a…
As it turns out, we might not love mixed martial arts the way we claim to. You see, Demetrious Johnson is the living embodiment of what we hoped the sport would turn into.
Technically precise, mistake-free, wildly athletic, composed, adaptive. These are the base elements of brilliance that we reject when we shrug our shoulders at Johnson, which many of us often seem to do. And make no mistake, he is nothing short of brilliant.
In fact, after wiping out John Dodson for a second time, this time at UFC 191 on Saturday, we’ve seen enough from Johnson to know that he is peerless in his division. That is why the time is right for him to move up and fight bantamweight champion T.J. Dillashaw.
DJ vs. TJ. It has a certain ring to it, a je ne sais quoi that comes when two legitimate champs put their shiny gold belts down and their fists up.
“We’ve had a conversation about bantamweight in the office,” an unmarked Johnson said on the post-fight press conference podium, stealing a knowing glance at UFC President Dana White. “He might not remember. I do, clear as day.”
It makes a surprising amount of sense. During his title reign, Johnson has beaten Nos. 1 (twice), 2 (twice), 4, 6 and 7. The UFC flyweight champion hasn’t gotten around to Nos. 3 (Jussier Formiga) and 5 (Henry Cejudo) yet because even superheroes need rest, but does it really matter? By now, he has separated himself from the rest of the divisional pack so completely that it’s really not necessary.
If the rest of the division has yet to throw up the white flag in his presence, it’s only because he’s too quick to track down.
Besides that, this is prizefighting, and Johnson has unfortunate and real problems. He doesn’t draw. He doesn’t excite. He doesn’t inspire. These are major sources of angst for the insular fight world, which examines the problem from every angle whenever DJ shows up at fight week.
From the outside looking in, it is a somewhat strange phenomenon. Major League Baseball media doesn’t spend much time examining the horrendous attendance of the Tampa Bay Rays, and NFL scribes don’t scratch their heads wondering why DeAndre Hopkins doesn’t have the high profile of Dez Bryant, but it’s hard to ignore the apathetic reaction that too often accompanies Johnson to his title defenses.
It was more of the same on Saturday night in Las Vegas, with far too many jeers and heckles for one of the best fighters walking this spinning orb. “Drunk dummies,” White called them in the post-fight press conference, and he may have a point. UFC events are lengthy and draining—true investments of money, emotion and time that can catch fire or devolve into monotony. That volatile dynamic is why the fans demand so much of the headliners.
The trick of it all is that few can do it by themselves. Even the best need a rival, a foil who can bring out their best in personality (to sell the fight) and performance (to make it memorable).
Dillashaw would seem a good match in that regard, a chance for fans to invest themselves in a Johnson match in a new and meaningful way. However, White didn’t seem as interested in the idea as you might have thought, indicating there was some surprise in store for Johnson when he’s ready to roll again.
“There’s always a contender, man,” White said. “And we are working on something right now. When it happens, you’ll agree.”
Unless he’s in another division, nah, we probably won’t.
Dillashaw needs Johnson as much as the inverse is true. While Dillashaw is much earlier in his reign—just two successful title defenses to Johnson’s seven—only a matchup with former champ Dominick Cruz would offer anything comparable, and Cruz is still officially on the shelf recovering from yet another knee surgery.
If Cruz isn’t ready, the UFC could do a lot worse than set up two champions who have no other ready-made rivals. The fight itself would be fascinating, a blur of footwork and hand speed. And while Dillashaw would have a clear size advantage, Johnson was no slouch at bantamweight before the UFC instituted his more natural weight class, as he advanced all the way to a championship match loss to Cruz via decision.
If the UFC decides against it, there just isn’t much in the pipeline to help Johnson boost his Q rating.
The problem Johnson has is the same one that Floyd Mayweather Jr. has: No one buys prizefights for subtlety. Johnson wins in the margins that only true students of the game spend time looking at. His footwork cuts off the cage. His head movement ensures no return target when he fires first. His transitions from striking to grappling to wrestling (and sometimes back) are sublime.
The frustration isn’t in beating Johnson; it’s in getting to him at all.
Of the remaining 125ers he hasn’t faced, there simply isn’t anyone left who inspires hope for a competitive fight. It’s a DJ world, earned and deserved. So for those of us who want to see him break through or simply be challenged, T.J. Dillashaw is the answer.
The story of Ronda Rousey’s rise to prominence, both in the “real” world and the sometimes absurd world of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, has been one of swiftness.
Rousey had a rocket attached to her back from the moment Sean Shelby signed her fo…
The story of Ronda Rousey’s rise to prominence, both in the “real” world and the sometimes absurd world of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, has been one of swiftness.
Rousey had a rocket attached to her back from the moment Sean Shelby signed her for the Zuffa-owned Strikeforce promotion, because she was a promoter’s dream: She had a world-class athletic pedigree, could talk and was a relentless worker. The fact that she is a beautiful woman was icing on top of the cake for the owners of the world’s biggest MMA promotion.
These days, the UFC’s two women’s divisions are gaining strength and momentum, and it’s still due to Rousey, her dominance and her swiftly-increasing popularity. Without her, there may not be one women’s division in the UFC, let alone two, though it is hard to imagine the UFC in 2015 continually overlooking female fighters even if she were not in the picture.
But Rousey’s contributions to the sport go beyond just another checkpoint in the ever-evolving Zuffa myth—she is the real deal and likely the most important fighter on the UFC roster.
And it’s easy to look at Paige VanZant, the charming and charismatic strawweight, and assume that the UFC wants her to be the 115-pound version of Rousey. Of course it does. In a perfect world, VanZant can anchor that division for years to come, especially since she is just 21 years old.
She has some of the same traits as Rousey, though she is absolutely missing the world-class Olympic pedigree that propelled Rousey from poverty to the top of the world. She trains with a great gym at Team Alpha Male and appears, by all signs, to be a hard worker who is willing to learn and get better. And, of course, she is a beautiful woman, and that will lead people to surmise that she is getting opportunities (Reebok) that others do not simply because of her looks.
Some of that is true, at least to an extent. Reebok signed her as one of its exclusive athletes before the UFC’s uniform deal went into place in July. The company signed her, in fact, before it signed former champion Carla Esparza (who never did get one of those nice exclusive Reebok deals) or current champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk.
Reebok didn’t sign VanZant because she was tearing the house down with her athletic performances; it signed her because it saw someone who was marketable and had the potential to be a great spokesperson for the brand.
But that’s the key here. VanZant, who scored a dominant one-sided win over an overmatched Alex Chambers at UFC 191, is still all rough potential and promise. She might be an eventual gold mine for the UFC, but at the moment she’s still a piece of coal in need of plenty of work.
Even on this night, she conceded (in a roundabout way) that she still needs work.
“I worked a lot of technique for this fight,” she said after the fight. “But it kind of went out the window and I just brawled like I usually do.”
The good news is that it appears the UFC is fully cognizant of not only what it may potentially have on its hands but of what it currently has: a prospect in need of a lot of grooming.
The unwise decision here would be to catapult VanZant into title contention immediately. She went into Saturday night’s fight ranked No. 7 in the world, but that’s a misleading number. She might be able to beat several fighters in the top 10 of that strawweight division, but from what we’ve seen so far, she will struggle mightily if matched against Esparza, Jessica Aguilar, Claudia Gadelha or the mighty Jedrzejczyk.
Yes, VanZant dominated Chambers. But she was expected to. She closed as a near 16-to-1 favorite here at the MGM Grand, which is nearly unheard of in the UFC, and especially for a prospect who was facing someone who has been in the sport for quite some time.
In that domination, you could see moments where VanZant, with her frenetic energy and nonstop action, displayed stuff that may bode well for her in the future. But at the same time, her penchant for wading into striking exchanges with her chin in the air and her head not moving one iota? That’s bad. It may work against Chambers and others, but against Jedrzejczyk, that trait will spell doom.
So far, though, the UFC must be applauded with its handling of VanZant. Rushing her to the top too soon would be disastrous, at least in the short term, and the promotion and the men who book the fights seem to have a grasp on that fact. All too often we have seen them jump the gun—to favor short-term money over sustained income. But here, they’re taking the right approach.
VanZant could be something special someday. There’s no need to try to force that “someday” to immediately become “tomorrow.” If she’s going to be a superstar and title contender, it is better to let her arrive there on her own terms than to push her before she’s ready.
UFC 191 gave us yet another brilliant performance from Demetrious “Mighty Mouse” Johnson.
The flyweight champion stood across from the only man to truly threaten his title reign—John Dodson. In their first fight, Dodson dropped him and nearly cam…
UFC 191 gave us yet another brilliant performance from Demetrious “Mighty Mouse” Johnson.
The flyweight champion stood across from the only man to truly threaten his title reign—John Dodson. In their first fight, Dodson dropped him and nearly came away with the belt, but the champion showed his resolve in hanging tough to win a decision.
On Saturday, it wasn’t close. Johnson schooled Dodson. Mighty Mouse was never in any danger, and the flyweight challenger had no answers for the speed and pressure of the champion.
In the co-main event, Andrei Arlovski kept his winning streak intact by nabbing a decision over Frank Mir. The fight wasn’t much to write home about, but the two former champions competed for 15 minutes, leaving one in title contention.
Nine other bouts filled out the card, but who came out as the real winners and losers? That is what we will take a look at following the action from Las Vegas at UFC 191.
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