The UFC has had many fighters over the years and with that comes many champions, however, only a few champions have been able to stand out. Champions such as Jon Jones, George Saint Pierre and Alex Pereira have made massive impacts on the UFC, but none of them have had an impact like Demetrious “Mighty Mouse” Johnson.
His insane accomplishments and his run as the first ever flyweight champion have led many UFC fans to call him the greatest fighter of all time. However he is also seen as the most disrespected champion of all time, not because of what the fans say and do but because of the way the company had treated him. His run in the UFC and ability to push through really difficult times has made him a fan favorite for many people and has left an impact on MMA even after retiring. One of the big reasons he’s so well loved is because of his time as flyweight champion, which saw him defend the belt a record breaking eleven times in the span of six years dominating the 125 pound division. The only person who has come close to his record of defenses is Anderson Silva, a middleweight champion who has dominated and held ten defenses in his respective division. Demetrious Johnson’s defenses were against tough competitors like Joseph Benavides, John Dodson, Tim Elliot and Henry Cejudo. He had amazing finishes throughout his run like a spectacular flying armbar against Ray Borg who was Johnson’s final title defense on October 7, 2017, Johnson made sure to make a statement with that finish. His defense against Ray Borg was an extremely one sided fight with Johnson dominating the entire time in such a horrific way, however the submission overshadowed the entire fight. He had Ray against the cage and was attempting a suplex, mid slam he transitioned into an armbar and forced Borg to tap out really quickly. Many fans call this the greatest submission of all time due to how it was executed.
Another fun part about his run with the belt was his awesome rivalry against John Dodson. Demetrious Johnson had just come off an awesome fight with Joseph Benavides where he would become the first flyweight champion in the UFC, he would immediately come back to make his first defense against John Dodson who was a fighter with insane knockout power and he was looking to make Demetrious run with the belt short lived. So when the two faced off on January 26, 2013; many fans expected this fight to be a banger and it was exactly what everyone expected it to be. At the start of the first round Dodson would show off his incredible knockout power by knocking Demetrious down two different times. And from there, John Dodson would control the fight for the next 3 rounds. However, Demetrious showed how durable he was by taking Dodson’s hardest hits. Eventually John Dodson would slow down in the later rounds, which would allow Demetrious to use his wrestling and pick apart Dodson with his quick striking. It was an insane back and forth fight which would surprisingly go the full five rounds. Demetrious would be given a controversial unanimous decision victory which many people thought should have been given to John Dodson due to many people thinking he won three out of two rounds. Although Demetrious won the fight, he did not believe that he had a good performance and hoped to change that soon.
The two would cross paths again at UFC 191 on September 5, 2015. During the build up Dodson would taunt Demetrious and make comments about their last fight feeling like he got robbed of the flyweight belt, however, Demetrious wasn’t having any of the trash talk. He would end up dominating John Dodson throughout the whole fight giving him an insane unanimous decision victory with all judges scoring it a 50-45, meaning Demetrious had won every single round. This victory made Demetrious look completely unstoppable as no other person had done that to John Dodson before and this performance made him a fan favorite. Demetrious would continue to defend the belt and would eventually lose it to former rival Henry Cejudo. Even the loss was controversial as many fans thought Demetrious won the fight. However to Demetrious this wouldn’t matter because he would get traded from the UFC to ONE Championship quickly after losing the fight. The big reason he left was because he felt like he wasn’t being respected and marketed well like all the other champions. He thought the UFC wasn’t respecting his style of fighting which was a wrestling type of style so he took his talents to another company. This didn’t stop him from dominating ONE championship as he would win their flyweight belt becoming a dominant champ once again and would retire as a champion on September 6, 2024.
Demetrious Johnson’s legacy will forever cement him as one of the greatest fighters to ever fight in the UFC. His name is still being called by fans and the current flyweight champion Alexandre Pantoja boasting his own feats and accomplishments. Even after his retirement, people from the MMA community continue to cheer for Demetrious to fight once more.