Demetrious Johnson wants to show the world he still has the desire and wherewithal to reach the mountaintop one more time.
As Johnson prepares for his forthcoming battle with Moraes, a look at five of the many moments that have come to define him:
1. Bump in the Road
The sting of defeat was foreign to Johnson—until his World Extreme Cagefighting pairing with Brad Pickett as part of the WEC 48 undercard on April 24, 2010 at ARCO Arena in Sacramento, California. The former Cage Rage and Ultimate Challenge MMA champion strategically outmaneuvered the previously unbeaten Johnson across three rounds, outpointing him to a 30-27, 30-27 and 29-28 unanimous decision. Pickett executed 10 takedowns—four in the first round, three in the second and three in the third—and piled up nearly eight minutes of control time against the budding AMC Pankration star, leaving no doubt about the reality that “Mighty Mouse” still had plenty of work left to do if he wanted to reach his true potential. Johnson connected on 58% of his significant strikes, but those efforts proved futile when compared against the visual of his back hitting the canvas over and over again.
2. Vengeful Vindication
“Mighty Mouse” picked his shots on the feet and with takedowns when he took a unanimous decision from Ian McCall in their Ultimate Fighting Championship flyweight tournament semifinal at UFC on FX 3 on June 8, 2012 in Sunrise, Florida. Scores at the BankAtlantic Center were 29-28, 30-27 and 29-28. The two men had fought to a contentious majority draw three months prior. Johnson stormed out of the gates in the rematch, as he struck for a double-leg takedown inside the first minute and later put “Uncle Creepy” on his rear end with an exquisite straight right to the face. The blow knocked McCall off-balance and left him with a small cut across the bridge of the nose, but he did not accept defeat quietly. The resourceful Californian landed a trio of takedowns and a spinning back elbow in the middle stanza. However, his inability to keep Johnson grounded for any length of time proved to be his undoing. In the third round, Johnson resumed his attack, as he scored with another takedown and put his combinations together with speed, power and accuracy. McCall, who had never before been beaten at 125 pounds, grew increasingly frustrated as the final frame unfolded and his fate became apparent. Johnson went on to become the first flyweight champion in UFC history.
3. Power Surge
Johnson punched out Team Alpha Male’s Joseph Benavidez and retained the Ultimate Fighting Championship flyweight crown when their Dec. 14, 2013 rematch headlined UFC on Fox 9 at the Sleep Train Arena in Sacramento, California. Benavidez, who had never before been finished, succumbed to blows 2:08 into Round 1. After a relatively uneventful start, Johnson backed his counterpart toward the fence, clocked him with a right hook and rendered him unconscious with four jackhammer right hands on the ground. It was a stunning turn of events. His first win by knockout in nearly four years moved him to 2-0 in his head-to-head series with Benavidez, as he had eked out a five-round split decision over the San Antonio native in their first encounter a little more than a year earlier.
4. Optical Illusion
“Mighty Mouse” maintained an ironclad grip on the Ultimate Fighting Championship flyweight throne by submitting Ray Borg with a spectacular armbar in the fifth round of their UFC 216 co-main event on Oct. 7, 2017 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Victimized in one of the great finishes in UFC history, Borg yielded to the record-setting champion 3:05 into Round 5. In what may have been his most dominant performance to date, Johnson stuffed the stat sheet at the expense of his young challenger. He outlanded Borg by an almost unfathomable 172-22 margin in total strikes, went 8-for-8 on takedowns and executed a career-high 19 guard passes. The two flyweights combined to land 54 significant strikes in the first three rounds; Johnson accounted for 49 of them. This does not even mention the rear waistlock slam to armbar transition with which he seamlessly finished Borg. The highlight-reel victory propelled Johnson past former middleweight champion Anderson Silva and gave him the all-time record for consecutive UFC title defenses with 11.
5. The Passing of the Torch
Henry Cejudo accomplished what was thought by some to be unthinkable when he deposed Johnson by split decision in the UFC 227 co-headliner on Aug. 4, 2018 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles and became the second undisputed flyweight titleholder in Ultimate Fighting Championship history. All three members of the cageside judiciary struck 48-47 scorecards: Marcos Rosales for Johnson, Sal D’Amato and Ron McCarthy for Cejudo. The 2008 Olympic gold medalist completed takedowns in the second, fourth and fifth rounds and paired them with top control, helping to offset the damage he absorbed to the legs and body from repeated kicks. Johnson was credited with landing 30 more significant strikes (81) than his challenger (51), but his advantages on the feet were not enough to erase the hole that had been dug in the grappling exchanges. The setback was the first for “Mighty Mouse” as a flyweight and ended his historic reign atop the division at five years, 10 months and 13 days.