Demetrious Johnson, The UFC & The Battle of Sport vs. Spectacle

At one point in time, UFC President Dana White said that he would be ‘thrilled’ if the UFC could one day become as big as top American sports leagues such as the NFL, the NBA, or the MLB:

“I think that the NFL is a monster — it’s amazing what they’ve done with it,” White told the Baltimore Sun back in 2007. “The NBA, Major League Baseball — I think they all do very well. The one thing I think, if we can emulate any of those three I’d be thrilled. Those are three of the biggest sports in the United States.”

“One of the things that we want to avoid that I think happens is that the players got too big. The players don’t talk to the fans. The players don’t go out of their way to sign autographs and to do the things that I think would make [these sports] even bigger than [they are] today.”

“And that’s one of the things that we’re going to make sure doesn’t happen here in the UFC — where the guys just become untouchable.”

While it has become common knowledge to take what White says with a grain of salt, this statement stirs up a bit of irony, specifically in regards to the current state of the UFC.

In fact, one may argue that the UFC has never been farther from following the guidelines that other sports leagues have set. Sure, the promotion introduced the additions of USADA (United States Anti-Doping Agency) and Reebok back in 2015 in hopes of legitimizing the sport of MMA, but it seems as if these additions, the Reebok deal specifically, have only caused more controversy.

Recently, a plethora of fighters have begun to speak up and voice their displeasure with the behavior of the UFC and the treatment they have received from the UFC, which was purchased for by talent agency WME-IMG for a record-setting $4.2 billion last year.

The latest statement, and perhaps the most staggering, came from dominant flyweight champion and reigning pound-for-pound Demetrious Johnson. Johnson, who recently tied Anderson Silva’s record for most consecutive title defenses with 10, is a world-class fighter, but he has often been labeled as underappreciated.

His current situation involves a potential fight with former bantamweight champion TJ Dillashaw, who, after having his scheduled UFC 213 bout with bantamweight champion Cody Garbrandt scrapped, suggested that he drop down in weight to challenge “Mighty Mouse”.

White also expressed interest in the fight and he told ESPN.com that the promotion was targeting it for August. This, however, was news to Johnson who quickly rejected the fight, instead expressing his interest in taking on top flyweight contender Ray Borg.

The disagreement between Johnson and White has gained quite a bit of steam and the champion recently released a statement indicating that the promotion’s ‘mistreatment and bullying’ had finally forced him to speak out.

“Mighty Mouse” then appeared on yesterday’s (Mon., June 5, 2017) edition of The MMA Hour where he revealed that White had actually threatened to ‘get rid’ of the flyweight division if Johnson didn’t accept the fight with Dillashaw:

“I said close the mother f*cking division then,” Johnson said. “Because if somebody is willing to do that, that just shows you that they have no interest whatsoever of working with the champion. I never missed weight, always showed up on time, did all of my interviews on fight week, traveled to Australia in coach two times for the flyweight division. I’ve done a lot.”

“I respect the UFC saying, ‘Hey, we’re gonna close your f*cking division, take T.J. to fight,’” Johnson said. “Sounds good. Here’s my stance: Go ahead and f*cking close it. Like I respect them being honest and straightforward with it. But don’t expect me to be, ‘OK, I’ll take the TJ fight if you’re gonna close my division.’ No, no, no, no. That’s not how it works. What have I been doing the last five years in this division? Trying to make it the best division in the world.”

If this is indeed true, White has completely gone away from what he had said his hopes and plans were for the UFC back in 2007. First off, Johnson is arguably the best fighter in the world and arguably the best champion of all-time. It’d be quite difficult to find another sport where the “best” is treated as he has claimed to be treated by the league, or in this case the promotion.

Secondly, if the UFC were to actually do away with the flyweight division, it would essentially be saying that talent and rankings do not matter. Johnson will likely never be the biggest draw, nor will the flyweight division ever be the most popular division, but how could the UFC justify getting rid of a division in which the world’s best fighter is simply trying to fight the top contenders over and over again?

Well, that justification would come in the fact that the UFC would be making it clear that it is no longer concerned with being a legitimate sport, but rather it is focused on being a spectacle, with ratings, money fights and show reigning supreme. White’s hope of avoiding stars becoming ‘too big’ will also mean very little.

In the midst of this turmoil, however, Johnson will look to keep what White once hoped for alive:

“This is a sport foremost,” he told Helwani. “I see this as a sport. I will keep it as a sport as best to my ability and that’s what I believe I’m doing.”

Whether or not “Mighty Mouse” is successful here remains to be seen, but do you agree with his stance? Should he continue to fight for what he believes in and continue to attempt to legitimize MMA, or is the UFC simply too much of a spectacle at this point?