One question that will keep mixed martial arts aficionados debating for hours is who is the greatest of all time? Jon Jones, Anderson Silva and Georges St. Pierre all make the list from recent years, whilst the likes of Chuck Liddell, Randy Couture and Matt Hughes will represent the elder guard.
This weekend, Demetrious Johnson will aim to become a serious contender to the mantle by surpassing Anderson Silva’s record amount of title defences, with an eleventh consecutive retaining of his flyweight crown within reach in Edmonton, Canada.
After beginning his career as a bantamweight, Johnson’s sole career defeats came to Dominick Cruz and English mixed martial arts pioneer Brad Pickett. Since losing to Cruz back in 2011, eleven wins and one draw have seen ‘Mighty Mouse’ completely dominate the flyweight division since its inception in 2012.
The thirty-one-year-old's game is so well rounded, that it is hard to see how anyone can upset the odds and topple the flyweight king. His striking is technically outstanding whilst his grappling and jiu-jitsu has led to him submitting black belts.
Some fans believe the UFC should promote Johnson more, but the fact of the matter seems to be that he doesn’t pull in a high amount of viewing figures. His last victory over Wilson Reis drew the lowest figures in UFC on Fox transmission history so it will be interesting to see the viewing figures from UFC 215.
Johnson has previously headlined four pay-per-views, with a cumulative total of just 560,000 buys. Is it a lack of competition that doesn’t help ‘Mighty Mouse’? Or is the UFC’s lack of promotional backing lead to low numbers.
Joseph Benavidez is widely considered to be the second best flyweight and he has lost to Johnson on two separate occasions, leaving a rematch not the most desired fight in the current climate. Fans were clamouring to see Johnson take on bantamweight TJ Dillashaw, one which the flyweight champion wasn’t too keen to take up.
This put Demetrious on a collision course with UFC president Dana White going public with his criticism of choosing a fight with Ray Borg over a potentially more interesting, more sellable fight with Dillashaw.
Personally, if Jon Jones didn’t yet again place himself in the headlines for the wrong reasons following his stunning finish over Daniel Cormier, he’d be considered the greatest of all time. Anderson Silva’s legacy is in doubt, it’s rare to see martial artists bow out on top. Georges St. Pierre is even coming back so we could see a continued shake up in this debate.
If Conor McGregor comes back and defends the lightweight title and goes and regains the featherweight crown from Max Holloway, could he be considered in the debate? Cody Garbrandt is one who certainly has the potential to be included in the discussion if he can hold on to his bantamweight title.
Demetrious Johnson is definitely worth considering. He’s in the top five for certain! He’s ridiculously talented and makes it look so easy. He even spends time streaming his games on Twitch when he’s not ruling the world.
What a guy.
