Demetrious “Mighty Mouse” Johnson is the UFC Flyweight champion, and Saturday night he broke Anderson Silva’s record for consecutive title defenses. He has undoubtedly become the greatest MMA fighter of all-time. He’s currently ranked number one on the pound-for-pound fighters list, and now he tops the all-time list. The fight Saturday night to set the record with his eleventh title defense against Ray Borg ended with the most incredible finish in UFC history. Not only proving he is the GOAT, but putting a stamp on it.
The undersized Johnson at only 5’3″ defies any logic in the fight world. He earned his way into the WEC fighting at bantamweight (135 pounds). He lost his first fight, but then won his next two before the WEC merged into the UFC. He won his first UFC fight earning him a title shot against Dom Cruz, a fight that would end in loss by unanimous decision.
Throughout his career at bantamweight, Joe Rogan, who is Johnson’s biggest fan, would always say they need another weight class at 125 for guys like Demetrious Johnson, Ian McCall, and Joseph Benavidez. That would be the last fight Mighty Mouse would ever fight at 135 pounds.
The UFC decided to do a four-man tournament at the new 125-lb weight class called the Flyweight division. The four fighters were Demetrious Johnson, Ian McCall, Joseph Benavidez, and Yosuhiro Urushitani. It came down to Demetrious Johnson vs. Joseph Benavidez to see who would become the first ever UFC Flyweight Champion. Of course, Mighty Mouse won the fight, won the belt, and never looked back.
Five years later, Johnson has never lost a fight in the flyweight division and has defended his title (a record) eleven times. His technique and ability is completely unmatched in the history of MMA. He seems to show off new techniques and new ways to win fights every time he steps into the octagon. When he had his rematch with Benavidez who was the clear number two in the division people were ready for Mighty Mouse to meet his match. He answered those questions by knocking Benavidez out cold two minutes into the fight.
John Dodson came back for a rematch after showing big knockout ability and actually rocked Demetrious in the first round. Johnson showed why he is the best and dominated the rest of the fight winning a decision. The last big challenge he faced was the undefeated Olympic gold medalist in wrestling Henry Cujedo. Again, Mighty Mouse answered critics by showing pure dominance finishing the fight in the first round with knees and punches. He amazes everyone whenever he fights and never disappoints.
This Saturday, he beat Ray Borg to finally solidify himself as the GOAT by beating the previous record of ten title defenses set by Anderson Silva. Johnson could have just went out there and played it safe against Borg and walked away with his eleventh title defense to break the record. That wouldn’t have been what the GOAT does.
Borg put up a better fight than expected and found himself going into the final round with the champ. With only a few minutes left Demetrious “Mighty Mouse” Johnson pulled off the greatest submission and finish in UFC history. The champ took Borg’s back to suplex him, only it was no ordinary suplex. While Johnson had Borg in the air, he managed to change his hand and arm placement to be wrapped around Borg’s shoulder and locked in an arm bar while they landed. Borg had to tap out, and the fight was over. I’ve never seen anything like this before, and I jumped out of my seat, as did the rest of the room. Words do not do it justice people trust me!
Of course, the greatest of all-time is always an opinion, but it’s hard to argue against Mighty Mouse at this point. He started out as a mouse, but he’ll retire a GOAT.