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Mighty flyweights bring UFC show to Sydney
ErinT
Roar Guru
19th January, 2012
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Demetrious "Mighty Mouse" Johnson at UFC Sydney open workouts (image courtesy: ErinT)
ErinT
Roar Guru
19th January, 2012
2

The event may be titled “Kampmann vs. Alves” but when the UFC hits Sydney March 3, it’s the flyweights who are out to steal the spotlight.

This division, a first under the UFC banner, currently contains two fighters who were already signed to the UFC under the bantamweight division in Joseph Benavidez (15-2) and Demetrious “Mighty Mouse” Johnson (14-2).

They will fight two new but equally celebrated fighters in Ian McCall (11-2) and Yasuhiro Urushitani (19-4-6), who will battle it out in two semi-final bouts to determine the title contenders.

For “Mighty Mouse” Johnson, this is a second chance at a title, coming off his recent loss to bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz in October 2011, which was a close five round thriller.

Not put off by the loss, Johnson was all set to climb back up the bantamweight ladder with a showdown against ex-WEC (World Extreme Championship) bantamweight champion Eddie Wineland (18-8-1) at the UFC on Fox 2 event to be held January 28th.

This all changed when UFC president Dana White announced the creation of the flyweight division and the tournament to include “Mighty Mouse” Johnson.

Johnson, who was in Australia promoting the Sydney UFC card, told The Roar that he was all set to go fight Wineland, started camp and enjoyed eating whatever he wanted while keeping an eye on the 118 pound (53.53kg) limit until the call came through for the flyweight division.

But maintaining a strict diet is something that he is happy to contend with while he has the chance to fight for title contention, and would think it ideal if fellow ex-WEC fighter Joeseph Benavidez was to be the one he was facing for the title.

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In Sydney, it’s evident that these two go back awhile and Johnson recalls the WEC days with himself, Benavidez and fellow bantamweight Urijah Faber (26-5) and agreed when mentioned that the unique blue cage of the WEC was missed.

If Johnson is to get past Tachi Palace Fights champion Ian McCall, which he expects to be a tough fight, Johnson says that his recent experience in a title fight will help any pre-title jitters that can come with such a big fight and when asked if it meant more to be the inaugural flyweight title winner, he simply replied, “It’s always good to be the champ, no matter when.”

While there are only four players in the flyweight division Johnson did mention that he expects a couple of the current bantamweight fighters to drop down, John Dodson – winner of The Ultimate Fighter season 14 – could be one of them.

In fact, this guessing game was exactly what he had with Benavidez before the open workouts that morning.

This is not the first time that Johnson has fought outside the United States, the long 14-hour flight to Australia is something that will need to taken into consideration coming into fight week and this whirlwind trip certainly helps prepare for the shock of jetlag, although Johnson mentioned that he’s not feeling too bad from the flight down. Some helpful tips from a fellow passenger to overcome jetlag didn’t go astray either.

Even so, he plans to make the trip earlier than the UFC required date to make sure he is fighting fit for his bout March 4.

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