Demetrious Johnson once again put on a masterclass as he defended his UFC flyweight championship against Tim Elliott this past weekend in Las Vegas, leaving him just one title defence away from tying the all time record held by Anderson Silva.
Although he had to overcome a scary first round, Demetrious ‘Mighty Mouse’ Johnson passed with flying colours once again as he notched up his ninth defence of the UFC 125lbs title when he beat Tim Elliott by unanimous decision (49-46, 49-46, 49-45) at the TUF 24 finale which went down in Las Vegas this past weekend. He is now level with welterweight great Georges St-Pierre for the second most title defences in UFC history but has his eye on tying and surpassing the all time record currently held by Anderson Silva who defended his UFC middleweight championship an astonishing ten times.
Speaking to the media in his post fight press conference Johnson says it all boils down to honing his skills and improving as a fighter and not focusing on the championship that has got him to where he’s at.
“I’m a self-motivator,” he said. “I didn’t get in to this sport to become a world champion. I got in to this sport to become a better mixed martial artist. And a long time ago, (my coach) Matt (Hume) was like, ‘If you’re goal is to become champion, you’re lost. I can offer you way more than becoming champion.’ I was like, ‘Interesting. Let me find what this path leads me to.’”
The challenge for UFC matchmakers is who gets the next crack at Johnson’s title? He’s already beaten the who’s who of the 125lbs division and some twice over. Well one of those fighters he’s got the double over is Joseph Benavidez who got a big win over Henry Cejudo (via split decision) in the co-main event of the same card this past weekend. Following a run of six straight wins after his last defeat to Johnson, Benavidez believes he’s now done enough to earn one more shot at the belt.
“That’s the only fight I want,” Benavidez said. “I have six wins in a row. There’s no other fight that I want. People say I lost twice, but me and Demetrious could fight a million times, and there’s going to be a million awesome competitions between two world-class fighters. Let us go after it again. Him and Tim’s fight was awesome tonight. That’s exactly how I feel. Of course that’s what I want. That’s the only fight I want.”
