Current UFC Champion Plans To Break Anderson Silva’s Record
Demetrious Johnson (22-2-1) is set to defend his flyweight championship John Dodson (17-6) this Saturday night at UFC 191. Johnson might not get the respect from the fans that he deserves and has some who criticize the flyweights, but according to Johnson he has a way to make those people change his mind.
If he can win at UFC 191, Johnson will defend his championship successfully for a seventh time and plans to break former UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva’s ten consecutive championship defenses, which is a UFC record.
“When I got in the sport, this was a hobby for me, and right now I’m working for my seventh title defense,” Johnson told MMAjunkie. “The record held right now is by Anderson Silva, and it’s 10. So if I can break that, it would be an awesome thing. Then to be able to have the most finishes as a flyweight – most knockouts, submissions, and TKOs? That’s another goal. Just being the most active flyweight and champion. I’m a guy that hasn’t had injuries, and that’s a goal I set for myself.”
Johnson is currently on an eight-fight winning streak. In his last five bouts, he’s finished four of them, three by submission and one by knockouts. He beat John Moraga at UFC on FOX 8 by fifth-round armbar then knocked out Joseph Benavidez at UFC on FOX 9 by first-round knockout. He went the distances with Ali Bagautinov at UFC 174, which he won by unanimous decision. He finished his next two bouts by submission with a win over Chris Cariaso at UFC 178 in the second-round and then beat Kyoji Horiguchi at UFC 186 by fifth-round armbar.
He needs to get to eleven to do break the record and expects to do so. Johnson believes there is still several fights he can do at the flyweight division.
“There’s still a lot of guys I haven’t fought; I haven’t fought Sergio Pettis, I haven’t fought Henry Cejudo, and I haven’t fought Ryan Benoit,” Johnson said. “Just because those guys aren’t big stars with a name, like the other guys, and had to work their way up there to have the chance to test their skills against a guy like Dodson or Benavidez or Ian McCall, doesn’t mean they’re not a challenge and I’m not looking forward to fighting them.”
UFC 191 takes place this Saturday night (September 5, 2015) at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
