Demetrious
Johnson wants to show the world he still has the desire and
wherewithal to reach the mountaintop one more time.
“Mighty Mouse” will challenge
Adriano
Moraes for the undisputed
One
Championship flyweight title when their rematch shoulders the
marquee for
One on Prime Video 1 this Friday at Singapore Indoor Stadium in
Kallang, Singapore. Johnson, now 36, has won 16 of his past 18
bouts. However, the former
Ultimate Fighting Championship titleholder has not competed
since being knocked out by a Moraes knee strike in the second round
of their April 7, 2021 clash at One on TNT 1.
As Johnson prepares for his forthcoming battle with Moraes, a look
at five of the many moments that have come to define him:
1. Bump in the Road
The sting of defeat was foreign to Johnson—until his
World Extreme Cagefighting pairing with
Brad
Pickett as part of the WEC 48 undercard on April 24, 2010 at
ARCO Arena in Sacramento, California. The former Cage Rage and
Ultimate Challenge MMA champion strategically outmaneuvered the
previously unbeaten Johnson across three rounds, outpointing him to
a 30-27, 30-27 and 29-28 unanimous decision. Pickett executed 10
takedowns—four in the first round, three in the second and three in
the third—and piled up nearly eight minutes of control time against
the budding
AMC Pankration star, leaving no doubt about the reality that
“Mighty Mouse” still had plenty of work left to do if he wanted to
reach his true potential. Johnson connected on 58% of his
significant strikes, but those efforts proved futile when compared
against the visual of his back hitting the canvas over and over
again.
2. Vengeful Vindication
“Mighty Mouse” picked his shots on the feet and with takedowns when
he took a unanimous decision from
Ian McCall in
their Ultimate Fighting Championship flyweight tournament semifinal
at UFC on FX 3 on June 8, 2012 in Sunrise, Florida. Scores at the
BankAtlantic Center were 29-28, 30-27 and 29-28. The two men had
fought to a contentious majority draw three months prior. Johnson
stormed out of the gates in the rematch, as he struck for a
double-leg takedown inside the first minute and later put “Uncle
Creepy” on his rear end with an exquisite straight right to the
face. The blow knocked McCall off-balance and left him with a small
cut across the bridge of the nose, but he did not accept defeat
quietly. The resourceful Californian landed a trio of takedowns and
a spinning back elbow in the middle stanza. However, his inability
to keep Johnson grounded for any length of time proved to be his
undoing. In the third round, Johnson resumed his attack, as he
scored with another takedown and put his combinations together with
speed, power and accuracy. McCall, who had never before been beaten
at 125 pounds, grew increasingly frustrated as the final frame
unfolded and his fate became apparent. Johnson went on to become
the first flyweight champion in UFC history.
3. Power Surge
Johnson punched out
Team Alpha Male’s
Joseph
Benavidez and retained the Ultimate Fighting Championship
flyweight crown when their Dec. 14, 2013 rematch headlined UFC on
Fox 9 at the Sleep Train Arena in Sacramento, California.
Benavidez, who had never before been finished, succumbed to blows
2:08 into Round 1. After a relatively uneventful start, Johnson
backed his counterpart toward the fence, clocked him with a right
hook and rendered him unconscious with four jackhammer right hands
on the ground. It was a stunning turn of events. His first win by
knockout in nearly four years moved him to 2-0 in his head-to-head
series with Benavidez, as he had eked out a five-round split
decision over the San Antonio native in their first encounter a
little more than a year earlier.
4. Optical Illusion
“Mighty Mouse” maintained an ironclad grip on the Ultimate Fighting
Championship flyweight throne by submitting
Ray Borg with a
spectacular armbar in the fifth round of their UFC 216 co-main
event on Oct. 7, 2017 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Victimized in
one of the great finishes in UFC history, Borg yielded to the
record-setting champion 3:05 into Round 5. In what may have been
his most dominant performance to date, Johnson stuffed the stat
sheet at the expense of his young challenger. He outlanded Borg by
an almost unfathomable 172-22 margin in total strikes, went 8-for-8
on takedowns and executed a career-high 19 guard passes. The two
flyweights combined to land 54 significant strikes in the first
three rounds; Johnson accounted for 49 of them. This does not even
mention the rear waistlock slam to armbar transition with which he
seamlessly finished Borg. The highlight-reel victory propelled
Johnson past former middleweight champion
Anderson
Silva and gave him the all-time record for consecutive UFC
title defenses with 11.
5. The Passing of the Torch
Henry
Cejudo accomplished what was thought by some to be unthinkable
when he deposed Johnson by split decision in the UFC 227
co-headliner on Aug. 4, 2018 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles
and became the second undisputed flyweight titleholder in Ultimate
Fighting Championship history. All three members of the cageside
judiciary struck 48-47 scorecards: Marcos Rosales for Johnson, Sal
D’Amato and Ron McCarthy for Cejudo. The 2008 Olympic gold medalist
completed takedowns in the second, fourth and fifth rounds and
paired them with top control, helping to offset the damage he
absorbed to the legs and body from repeated kicks. Johnson was
credited with landing 30 more significant strikes (81) than his
challenger (51), but his advantages on the feet were not enough to
erase the hole that had been dug in the grappling exchanges. The
setback was the first for “Mighty Mouse” as a flyweight and ended
his historic reign atop the division at five years, 10 months and
13 days.