Why Johnson doesn’t want to fight Dillashaw

Demetrious Johnson is as close to a perfect fighter as the sport has ever seen. He fights with no discernible single base, showing equal and extraordinary talent in striking, submissions, and wrestling, as the needs of the fight dictate. His conditioning is crushing, one of the few fighters ever who appears capable of fighting for ten rounds.

In a sport where the other potential P4P best, Jon Jones, recently bragged that he defeated a title challenger after a cocaine bender, Johnson shows admirable character and doesn’t sink to silly and degrading trash talk. Mighty Mouse is arguably the best fighter in the league, and arguably the best fighter in the sport ever. But his income is not close to being commensurate with his talent.

A company man, Johnson recently found out on his social network that UFC president Dana White had rejected wholesale his reservations about next fighting T.J. Dillashaw. In response, Johnson posted an extended critique of his treatment by the UFC. And he followed that up with an appearance on Ariel Helwani’s The MMA Hour.

Look what Conor is doing now, said Johnson, as transcribed byMarc Raimondi for MMA Fighting. Conor isn’t even in the sport of mixed martial arts, technically. He’s a champ and he’s not even ready to defend his belt. Where’s Ronda at? Exactly — nobody knows. Where’s my black ass at? I’m still out here trying to defend my title, I’m still trying to represent this company as the greatest combat sport on the planet Earth.

Johnson wants to fight someone who has worked their way up in the division. Sergio Pettis was idea, but Ray Borg was acceptable. Instead, the UFC wants him to fight former bantamweight champion T.J. Dillashaw, who became opponentless after division champion Cody Garbrandt was out with an injury. Instead, Johnson wants title shots to be made from rankings.If not, you’re basically lying to the public and selling wolf tickets like Nick Diaz would say, Johnson said.

If not, you’re basically lying to the public and selling wolf tickets like Nick Diaz would say, said Johnson.

Johnson was concerned about Dillashaw making 125 for the first time in his career, and asked for a guarantee that if T.J. missed, Johnson would get his full purse and would not have to fight. The UFC countered by saying Borg would be standing by.

What is this? Is this f***ing amateur hour?” said Johnson. “This is the s*** you do at smokers and amateur shows. … This is supposed to be the pinnacle of mixed martial arts and this is what we’re negotiating?

There have been bizarre suggestions that Johnson is ducking Dillashaw, and tarnishing his legacy. Johnson says he is not concerned with the opinion of asses in seats who don’t know s***.

When somebody says you’ll tarnish your legacy, I say, ‘My legacy is in the back of my car,’ said Johnson. My two children that I’m putting time and effort into. When I’m done my mixed martial arts career, the only people who are gonna remember me and respect what I did and how I lived my life are my two children. That’s my legacy, ladies and gentleman.

People are already s****ing on Jose Aldo’s legacy after he got knocked out by Max Holloway.

I’m just tired, I’m exhausted. I just felt this is the right time to do it, this way people understand my character and where that comes from, why I put my stance down, why I’m not fighting any bantamweight that comes down here and wants to get a title shot.

I love fighting for the UFC. It’s an amazing company. I’ve done a lot of great things and they’ve done a lot of great things for my career.

But I’m f***ing tired of seeing things about my career on Twitter. A phone call would be nice. Discuss it before you go out there saying all this stuff.