Demetrious Johnson Needs To Return To Bantamweight

Washington native Demetrious Johnson hasn’t lost in four years, and has also won seven straight title fights during this time period. Although he is largely dominating his division, he’s done little to win over the casual MMA viewer. If the UFC were the NBA, “Mighty Mouse” would draw an all-too appropriate comparison to the San Antonio Spurs. He’s a skilled, destructive, and methodical force that no one really cares about.

From a marketing standpoint, there is nothing for Johnson to do but to accept the fact that the UFC has chosen to neglect their flyweight champion. Fewer dollars are spent to market the 125 lb. division than any other male division. The UFC does little to promote DJ and does almost nothing to shed light on his growing list of relatively anonymous opponents. Simply put, the UFC created the flyweight division and then shrugged its shoulders when the numbers didn’t live up to their expectations. Demetrious Johnson doesn’t deserve any blame for his lack of drawing power. He has a high-speed, relentless and attacking style that has resulted in 5 postfight bonuses during his UFC tenure. Johnson has also been unfairly criticized for not going for finishes, which is absurd since he holds the record for the latest stoppage in UFC history, at 24:59 in a submission victory over Kyoji Horiguchi. Bear in mind, this was a fight that Johnson had dominated and was in no danger of losing on any scorecards.

Demetrious will never reach superstardom in this division. He is just simply too dominant to stay as well. Someday, when he runs out of viable contenders, he will have to make the jump back to bantamweight (135). Mighty Mouse has won at the 135 lb. division his entire career, but fell short of the UFC title in a decision loss to Dominick Cruz in 2011. However, it’s not impossible for him to become the UFC’s third-ever champion to hold belts in multiple weight classes. The current bantamweight champion, TJ Dillashaw, lost by TKO to John Dodson, whom DJ had rallied to defeat in 2013.

Winning the bantamweight belt would cement Johnson as one of the greatest MMA fighters of all time, and would do wonders for his marketability (see: wallet). At the young age of 28, he has plenty of time to contemplate this career move. Undoubtedly, Johnson has all of the skills and speed necessary to join BJ Penn and Randy Couture as the UFC’s only multi-division champions. Does he have the size or the guts to move up and challenge fighters who will be stronger and larger than himself? Time will tell, but if he wants to be remembered as one of the most talented fighters to ever grace the octagon, returning to the bantamweight division is the only choice.