Demetrious Johnson Plans To Set Unbreakable UFC Record Before Retirement
UFC flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson is about to make history as he is one fight away from breaking former UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva’s longstanding record of consecutive title defenses with 11. Now, Johnson is looking to surpass that record. During a recent interview with ESPN, Johnson stated that he intends on adding more wins to his column but admitted that he could walk away from the sport and retire as champion once he reaches 18 consecutive title defenses even though his ultimate goal would to reach 20 straight title defense in a row.
“I hope I can get to 20. I’m on pace to get two or three fights per year, and I think I’ve got five or six years left in me. Maybe I’ll get to something like 18 and walk away from the sport, retire as champion. I think 15 to 18 title defenses is something that would be in the record books forever.”
Although he has stated in the past that he is willing to move up weight classes if the money is better, it’s likely that he will remain as a flyweight for the rest of his career.
When asked about his pay, Johnson switched gears and went off on the UFC for booking former WWE Champion CM Punk to fight last September at UFC 203 against Mickey Gall despite Punk not having one amateur or professional MMA bout. There was a lot of talk about this move by the UFC, but in this day and age it all comes down to who can sell tickets and PPV’s (pay-per-view). According to Johnson, the UFC booking Punk in a fight made no sense.
“There is not another sport in the world where you can be the best at it but not get paid the best. I never wanted to say this before, but I don’t care anymore, and it’s just facts: When [former WWE star] CM Punk [Phil Brooks] signed with the UFC, people asked me how I felt about it, and I said, “CM Punk will probably make more money than I do on his very first fight.” And he did. I think his payout was $500,000. I have nothing against CM Punk, but if you look at the sheer nonsense of that, it doesn’t make sense. I know you have to look at the business standpoint, that he’s going to sell a lot of tickets, but he can’t fight! That’s why I’ve said the UFC should just try to sign that “Cash Me Ousside” girl, because she’ll talk s— and probably outsell everybody.”
It’s safe to say that if Johnson did get 20 title defense that the record would never be broken. Johnson, who is only 30 years old, is definitely going to need a bigger display case for all those belts should he reach his goal, to say the least. As of this writing, Johnson does not have his next fight lined up. However, Former bantamweight champion T.J. Dillashaw has been on the campaign trail trying to secure a fight against Johnson so that might be his next fight. Time will tell.
