If greatness alone sold pay-per-view units, UFC flyweight champion and pound-for-pound star Demetrious Johnson would be one of the wealthiest fighters in combat sports today.
After a quick glance at Johnson’s Wikipedia page, you will find a record that surpasses most UFC champions and Hall of Famers.
Johnson has defended his title a staggering seven times – more than all current UFC kings and queens combined – and has never lost a fight at his natural weight class.
The 125-pound champ is looking to make it eight-in-a-row when he faces 2008 Olympic gold medalist and unbeaten mixed martial artist Henry Cejudo on Sunday, which would tie ex-welterweight titlist Georges St. Pierre for the third most title defences in company history.
There are simply no two ways about it, ‘Mighty Mouse’ is one of the best to ever put on a pair of mixed martial arts gloves. Conversely, he also has one of the poorest track records as a pay-per-view headliner.
Johnson’s last championship defence against pocket-sized knockout artist John Dodson last September sold a paltry 115,000 units.
The fight before that against Japan’s Kyoji Horiguchi in April did slightly better, being purchased in 125,000 homes, but that fight left fans in the arena so disinterested that they flocked out of the Bell Centre in Montreal without seeing the final rounds or the buzzer-beater submission finish.
UFC president Dana White later dismissed the early birds who decided to beat the traffic home at the post-fight press conference, stating “I don’t give a s*** what people are doing. I’m watching the fight.”
“It’s kind of sad that Demetrious Johnson has this thing hanging over his head that he’s not this, he’s not that,” White added. “If you understand anything about mixed martial arts and you watch what’s going on there tonight against a tough guy like Horiguchi who can knock you out at any time and has great wrestling, what Demetrious Johnson was able to do in that fight and literally break him down the whole fight (was impressive).”
White isn’t wrong. Johnson is widely accepted as the most technically perfect fighter in the UFC. He enters each fight with a game plan, and follows it to the letter, methodically breaking down the cream of the flyweight crop.
Problem is, that ‘all steak and no sizzle’ formula won’t get a majority of the UFC fan base to part with their hard-earned dollars.
Former middleweight champ Anderson Silva went through a similar conundrum during his lengthy reign atop the 185-pound castle.
‘The Spider’ caught the best middleweights of the era in his web, but with his poor English skills struggled to connect with the Western audience who still paid big bucks for major fights.
Silva’s turning point came with his improbable rival Chael Sonnen – a middle-of-the-pack fighter who found another gear competitively with the use of the controversial testosterone replacement therapy.
A chemically-enhanced Sonnen talked up a storm to promote both of their pay-per-view bouts and even came tantalisingly close to beating the middleweight champ in their first fight.
With the help of the rivalry, Silva, a fighter UFC boss Dana White threatened to fire as champion years earlier, became a household name, beloved around the world.
Perhaps that’s the missing ingredient for Johnson, too. Maybe a bitter rival will push the Matt Hume-trained fighter to unfathomable levels of stardom.
Johnson plays second fiddle on pay-per-view this Sunday to ex-UFC king Jon Jones, who is returning to the cage after a hit-and-run incident in 2015 to fight Ovince St. Preux for the interim light heavyweight title.
It’s the oldest promotional trick in the book. The company is selling Jones’ big return fight and hoping fans inadvertently fall in love with the flyweight king in the co-main event.
It’s a game they’ve played with Johnson before, slotting his title-capturing performance against Joseph Benavidez beneath a Jones fight at UFC 152, but it did little to boost his stock in 2012 and will probably yield similar results in 2016.
Love it or hate it, Johnson is the most underappreciated fighter in the UFC today and that doesn’t seem likely to change anytime soon.
Nikita Tszyu has overcome a nasty mid-fight moment to score a unanimous points win over Danilo Creati and retain his Australian super welterweight title…
A bloodied Tim Tszyu has been cruelly denied in his quest to emulate his legendary father Kostya and become a unified world boxing champion…
Liam Wilson has suffered further heartbreak in Arizona, the Australian boxer losing his super-featherweight world-title fight against Mexican Oscar Valdez. In front of a…
Tim Tszyu has the chance to emulate his legendary father as a unified world boxing champion after the stakes were dramatically raised for his…
Australia's Alexander Volkanovski has lost his UFC featherweight title to Ilia Topuria, with the Spaniard scoring a stunning second round knockout in the main…
Jason Moloney has survived an enthralling 12-round world title defence against Saul Sanchez in Canada, opening the door to a blockbuster unification fight in…
