Sherdog’s Top 10: Greatest Fighters of the 2010s

2. Demetrious Johnson

Sherdog's greatest-ever flyweight and third-greatest ever fighter pound-for-pound (I had him #2) is the runner-up on yet another prestigious list, including two first-place votes. The decade encapsulates Johnson's prime, as his second pro fight occurred in January 2010 and by the end of the decade, he had moved to One Championship, going 3-0 and winning their 135-pound tournament, with an overall mark of 22-3-1 during those 10 years. His career during the start and end of that time was spent at bantamweight, where, despite being ridiculously undersized, Johnson has still had plenty of success, coming in as the 10th greatest fighter at that weight according to Sherdog. His only losses during that period were against top contender Brad Pickett and Sherdog's greatest bantamweight ever, Dominick Cruz.

Between the forays into bantamweight at each end of his career, “Mighty Mouse” established a run of dominance and greatness that may not be matched for decades. Johnson was a nearly perfect fighter in every way, and unlike recent champion Deiveson Figueiredo, that especially included his cardio, the greatest in the sport's history, and his fight IQ and mental preparation, certainly among the very best as well. He consistently made great decisions throughout a fight, even very deep into the final stanza. Additionally, he had phenomenal grappling, an outstanding mix of wrestling and BJJ, and excellent striking, especially his kicks, as well as his tireless and technical movement.

After an initial draw against Ian McCall upon dropping to flyweight, Johnson went 13-0 from 2012 until 2018, including an incredible 11 title defenses, a UFC record. Moreover, very few of these fights were close. His victories include decisively beating McCall in the rematch, winning a tight decision over Joseph Benavidez for the first UFC flyweight crown despite being a significant underdog, brutally knocking out Benavidez in the first round in their rematch, twice decisioning the very dangerous and skilled John Dodson, achieving late fifth round submissions over John Moraga, Ray Borg and Kyoji Horiguchi, earlier submissions over Wilson Reis and Chris Cariaso, five-round beatings of Ali Bagautinov and Tim Elliott, and a quick knockout of Henry Cejudo in their first encounter. Despite Johnson likely being slightly past his prime for the Cejudo rematch and his great opponent turning in the fight of his life, it's still an open question who should have won, so evenly matched were the duo. A lot of fans don't appreciate Johnson's greatness since he fights in the relatively neglected and overlooked flyweight division, and that's a crying shame.

Continue Reading » Number 1