‘Mighty’ Johnson still open to superfight, if the money’s right
Demetrious Johnson: “Basically, before I got injured, I was going to be fighting him, and then they moved on, and they went to Cody and TJ.”
Earlier this year a superfight between flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson and bantamweight champ T.J. Dillashaw was floated. The pair fight on Saturday at UFC 227, but not against each other. Johnson rematches Henry Cejudo and Dillashaw rematches Cody Garbrandt.
During a recent UFC 227 conference call on Tuesday, Johnson said he remained open to a superfight.
If the money’s right, I’ve always been upfront in talking about these super fights, said Johnson, as transcribed by Dave Doyle for MMA Fighting. Everyone keeps talking about these superfights. If the money’s not there, if the compensation’s not there, I’ll keep doing what I’m doing. That’s up to my management if that happens. My management knows what I want, the UFC knows what I want, so for me, I show up to fight the number-one contender in the flyweight division and I’ll continue to do that. So, who knows, if something comes to the table I’ll do it.
In fact, Johnson says he accepted a fight with Dillashaw, but the bout was thwarted when he had shoulder surgery.
When they offered it to me, I accepted it, I got injured, and I got the surgery, said Johnson. And then, when it came time again, from my understanding, from my management’s standpoint, is that TJ got an offer to fight Cody with a brand-new deal. So God bless him for taking the new deal to fight Cody. … Basically, before I got injured, I was going to be fighting him, and then they moved on, and they went to Cody and TJ.
Garbrandt says with a win Saturday, he too is open to a superfight, and unsurprisingly, he has the same demand.
If they go out and compensate us, I’ll be more than willing to fight ‘Mighty Mouse’ at 125 pounds, said Garbrandt. If they don’t want to pay us, I’ll stay at 135 pounds and clean out my division, and [Johnson] will keep doing what he’s doing. No ill words toward ‘Mighty Mouse.’ I think he’s a great, great fighter. But they’ve got to compensate us for that. I think it’s going to be a great fight.
