The Film Room: Demetrious Johnson

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UFC 227 is now available on Amazon Prime.

Demetrious Johnson has the chance to break his own title defense record this Saturday when he defends the belt in a rematch with Olympic gold medal wrestler Henry Cejudo. Johnson solidified his case as the greatest mixed martial artist of all time last October with an incredible suplex-to-armbar victory over Ray Borg that broke the record for most title defenses in Ultimate Fighting Championship history. Now at only 31 years old, DJ plans to spend the rest of his career adding to his legacy but first, he must get by the most decorated wrestler to ever grace the Octagon in Cejudo.

The Unanimous G.O.A.T.

The status of being the greatest of all-time in any sport has always been controversial. Some believe Tom Brady is the greatest NFL player ever, and others credit it to John Elway, Joe Montana or Lawrence Taylor. And of course, there is the Lebron vs. Jordan debate that has dominated sports media for the last decade. No matter the sport, there has never been a unanimous greatest of all time until now. If you’re an MMA fan and don’t believe DJ is the greatest to ever do it, you’re just plain wrong. Despite what some say about his level of competition, we have never seen such a well-rounded fighter who decimates his opponents in all aspects of martial arts. Whether it’s on the feet or on the ground, Johnson has demolished every opponent at flyweight without even breaking a sweat. Although Johnson has fought elite level fighters, he makes it look so easy that fans and media proclaim his level of competition is lackluster instead of praising him for his dominance.



Other flyweights get knocked for their finishing ability, but Johnson has finished 16 of his 27 wins. That’s nearly a 60% finishing rate compared to the flyweight average of 41%. Johnson has become partial to the armbar later in his career and has won four of his title defenses in that fashion, but none more impressive than his last victory over Ray Borg. With the fight in the bag, Johnson could have coasted for another two minutes but decided to go for the most spectacular submission you will ever see in this sport and solidify his status as the greatest of all-time.



But Johnson doesn't only finish opponents with submissions. He has shown to have power in his strikes that is rarely seen in someone his size, as shown by his knockouts of Henry Cejudo and Joe Benavidez. In their first fight, Cejudo believed he had the grappling advantage and looked for the clinch throughout the fight. Cejudo severely underestimated Johnson’s power and clinch game and got caught with a knee in the clinch that set up the TKO finish.



“DJ” mainly fights orthodox but is a sneaky switch hitter. He will often throw a right straight from orthodox while switching to southpaw and then throws a lead hook from the same hand. Since he switched stances during the right straight, the straight now becomes his lead hand where he can land hooks or jabs from a new angle. If the switch goes unnoticed by the opponent, the lead hand can now land at angles the opponent didn’t know were possible since they think he is in the other stance. This switch-hitting overloads the opponent’s reactions and adds to Johnson’s already overwhelming style.



Although he’s known for his pressuring style, Johnson has the countering skills to catch opponents off guard on the few occasions they lead. He earned his most impressive knockout to date by countering Joe Benavidez’s stance switch with a perfectly placed and timed right hook.



Johnson likes to stand and trade with opponents but will rely on his grappling background when needed. Against dangerous striker Kyoji Horiguchi, Johnson looked to get the fight to the ground early and often and landed 14 of 22 takedowns. He is the only UFC fighter to record 10 or more takedowns in three different fights, but this does say something about his ability to hold opponents down. Although he landed 14 takedowns against Horiguchi, he couldn’t get much top control time and only landed 11 ground strikes.

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