Mighty Mouse is next.
Many call Demetrious “Mighty Mouse” Johnson the best pound-for-pound fighter on the planet. At UFC 216 the Flyweight champion set a new UFC record for most consecutive title defenses at 11 when he defeated Ray Borg via a specular lift into an arm-bar submission.
DJ’s detractors have one major critique- that he has achieved that record against sub-par competition. After UFC 217, he will likely have a chance to silence all doubters.
Bantamweight champion Cody Garbrandt and challenger T.J. Dillashaw, who meet in the co-main event of UFC 217 on Nov. 4 at Madison Square Garden both have expressed intention to fight DJ for his belt should they win.
“With a knockout over T.J., I’ve wiped out the division,” Grabrandt said on a UFC media call. “There’s a big gap between myself, and then there’s Dominick and T.J., and then it falls off from there. Like I said, T.J. is my next adversary, my next challenge. I know what he brings to the table. I’m focused and prepared on that, to wipe him out, and then go on from there.”
“I always like to have a fight ahead of myself, plan ahead. I’m obviously focused on T.J., but ‘Mighty Mouse’ is next at 125 pounds.”
Dillashaw almost fought Demetrious during the summer when Garbrandt postponed their fight due to injury. But that matchup was rejected by DJ, which drew serious acrimony from fans. But Dillashaw is confident he can make a fight against DJ happen with a win on November 4.
“He’s the pound-for-pound kingpin and on top of the world right now,” Dillashaw said on Monday’s edition of The MMA Hour. “I definitely feel that he’s a winnable fight. I definitely feel I could have stopped him from breaking the record and it could have been something great, big money fight for himself. Yeah, that’s something I’d love to do. Big money fight, and especially knowing that I can definitely make the weight. … That’s definitely something that’s in my crosshairs. We’ll see how it goes down,” Dillashaw said. “That would be definitely something I’m interested in, a huge legacy fight, something that needs to be done.”
A fight between the Bantamweight Champion and DJ would undoubtedly be a massive event. Only Conor McGregor has managed to hold two UFC belts simultaneously. With a win, the Bantamweight challenger would have a chance to top that, being the first fighter to defend a UFC belt while holding two. And that would be nothing short of history.
