Demetrious Johnson boasts a towering legacy of UFC greatness. He defended his flyweight title a phenomenal 11 times, eclipsing even the legendary Anderson Silva. It’s a stunning record that remains unmatched to this day, but “Mighty Mouse” knows that as the game develops, someone will eventually snatch his crown. In fact, Johnson told The MMA Hour that the fighters who could break his record are already in the game.
“I think the only people who are close to beating that are: Valentina Shevchenko — she continues to impress me every time she steps into the octagon — Kamaru Usman, [and] Israel Adesanya.”
UFC Legend Demetrious Johnson Names Fighters Worthy of His Legacy
Adesanya might argue that his unification bout against Robert Whittaker – which saw “The Last Stylebender” enter the Octagon as interim champ and leave undisputed – counts as a defense, which “Mighty Mouse” laughed off. “No, no, no, no, it’s not.
It’s not, brother. I’m the king ding-a-ling of title defenses, I’ll let you know right now, interim is interim. Interim and all that stuff, it doesn’t count as a title defense. It does count as you’re an interim champion.”
Johnson acknowledged that his consistent fighting schedule was key to cementing his double-digit defenses, and that today’s less hectic scheduling might prevent that from ever happening again. That’s to say nothing about the modern phenomenon of “money fights” – big earners with no title on the line. “I think those three will be the closest ones to set a new record, but when I look at it, it’s like, it took me six years.
And some of those years — Dominick Cruz mentioned this — I remember I fought John Dodson in January, then I got shoulder surgery, came back and fought in July, and then fought in December, so that was three times in one year as a champion where I was f****** running them up.
I was just, I didn’t care. The more I fought, the more money I made — and at the end of the day, it’s about making money to provide for your family and go into retirement one day.
So I think those three athletes can do it, but it takes a long time, especially with injuries and finding the right opponents, and now [with UFC champions] it’s about what fight is going to make me the most money.
It’s not about who’s next in line, ‘I’m going to fight you. I’m going to fight you in two months. Oh, you want some too? I’m going to beat you in three months.’ It’s like, we need to blow this fight up so we can sell it, so we can make as money as possible.
And then obviously Shevchenko, I don’t know if she wants to get pregnant or she wants children, so all that stuff plays a factor into it as well.
But I think those three athletes are the closest to beat that record.” Do you think someone will crack Johnson’s record? Let us know in the comments.
