How Johnson Brought Prestige to the Flyweight Division

Demetrious Johnson, otherwise known as “Mighty Mouse”, has been an unstoppable fighter within the UFC ovr the years. He brings an arsenal of tactics within his bouts that include powerful jabs, leg-weakening kicks, and suffocating submissions towards his opponents. Johnson has been apart of the UFC for seven years now, after World Extreme Cagefighting merged with the Ultimate Fighting Championship. As part of the collaboration, Johnson officially joined the biggest MMA stage of all-time.

Johnson contained a 12-1 record as he entered the UFC. Notable opponents that Johnson faced and defeated were Norifumi Yamamato and Miguel Torres. Johnson would go on to prove to be a contender to Dominick Cruz’s UFC Bantamweight Champion. As the eventual match took place, the two put on an amazing fight, in which Cruz won. This lead Johnson to suffer his first loss in UFC, and only the second loss in his career.

Afterwards, Johnson pulled out of a fight against Eddie Wineland. However, the reason Johnson pulled from the bout was to take part in a four-man flyweight tournament in order to determine the UFC’s first Flyweight Champion. After suffering his first draw against Ian McCall, a rematch took place in which Johnson defeated McCall by unanimous decision in order to advance to the finals.

Later on, it was announced that Johnson would face off Joseph Benavidez in the finals of the UFC Flyweight Tournament in September of 2012 at UFC 152. After a close and fast-paced fight, Johnson won via split decision (48-47, 47-48, 49-46) to become the inaugural UFC Flyweight Champion.

This not only gained Johnson his first UFC championship, but it put weight on his shoulders, as he was in position to bring prestige to the Flyweight division, and prove he was there for a reason.

For the next five years, Johnson defeated many contenders such as Benavidez in a rematch, Ali Bagautinov, two bouts with Josh Dodson, Tim Elliot, and Wilson Reiss. All the aforementioned names tried taking down the Mighty Mouse, but they all came up short of success.

Johnson is one win away from surpassing Anderson Silva in total championship defenses, and has likely already secured his spot in the Hall of Fame. Johnson is currently on his tenth defense, and currently contains a record of 22-2-1.

After his most recent fight with Wilson Reiss, Johnson proved that is one of the most notable stars that the UFC has had the privilege to support.