Johnson vs. Elliott

This is the official discussion thread for Johnson vs. Elliott. Let's see what you've got.

The Mouse's next victim has been revealed.

I'm disappointed that Elliott won this. I don't see how he can possibly win this fight.

@MikeyG Hey man, I'm genuinely curious: is Elliott a heart or a head pick? I respect the prediction either way. I'm just intrigued as to what you see are Elliott's keys to beating the Mouse and why he has a good shot to do so. :)

Personally, I think Demetrious is too much for him (and anyone else in the division). Not a knock on Elliott, as I like him too. But even if he's improved, he had some issues with top-10 guys that MM has already destroyed.

@Mikey That's fair. The whole GSP vs. Serra thing and whether lightning can strike twice seems to be a pretty big storyline heading into this bout, even before DJ's opponent was announced. That alone right there, along with DJ's title defense streak, are what really sell the fight, IMO. 

And I agree that EVERYONE has a shot in MMA. I've said it a bunch on here: the unpredictability is why I love the sport. 

That said, I'm still very confident that Mighty Mouse gets the win. I'm just torn on whether it's by T/KO or submission (leaning sub). And while an Elliott victory would make me silently go "...Wow." and surprise me as much as Holm's win over Ronda, Bisping's win over Rockhold or Dillashaw over Barao, I'll always know that he at least had a chance. 

I just think MM is too good anywhere for the division and still around his fighting prime. I'd be shocked if Elliott caught him in a sub and even more surprised if he wins a decision, as the Mouse is very good at out-pointing people. I feel like Elliott's best shot is a flash-KO....which could absolutely happen, as unlikely as it is. 

I agree that it'll be interesting to see how DJ responds to Elliott's size advantage. He's used to fighting bigger opponents, but none of them have as significant a size advantage as Elliott. 5'7" is a tall flyweight. We'll see in due time whether it's just another question that Mighty Mouse will answer, or if size is the one thing that will stump him. 

Thank you for the response, Mikey. I'll be keeping an eye out for the things you've mentioned regarding Elliott's potential strengths. You've got me even more excited for the fight now!

I'm happy Elliott won for one reason, he belongs in the UFC and was cut because his opponents basically present the future "all time greates flyweight fighters in history" list (not that his next fight's gonna be any easier).

I hope he gets matched up properly after he loses to MM so he can at least rack up a UFC record that shows where he's at a bit better. He's way better than his soon to be 2-5 UFC record.

* Edited at 12.01.2016, 3:03 AM ET *

As much as I admire and respect mm as a mixed martial artist, I find it hard to put him in the same category as Anderson, Bones, fedor, and GSP simply because he doesn't face the same threats at his weight class as larger men do. Almost all of jones opponents since gaining the title could have knocked him out with one shot if jones didn't have a great chin and he wasn't so hard to connect on. Anderson fought vitor on trt and hendo. Both of those guys can shut the lights out on anyone. Fedor fought at Hw where a wrong turn or simply not tucking your chin for an instant is the difference between winning and staring at the lights. GSP fought well rounded killers like Carlos and Hendricks as well as Kos and Alves. Each can end the night early. Mm doesn't have to worry about that when he fights his opponents which in my opinion allows him to be free when he fights. His technique is stellar but he doesn't have the same concerns as the Hw champ. 

Eh, I find it hard to get behind that. Dodson, Bagautinov, JoeB, Kyoji have enough knockouts between them to dispute that in my opinion. A wrong move against any one of them would put anyone on his back.

I don't think that should matter. 

It's not his fault he's like... 5'3. He's a little guy, he doesn't have to worry about getting punched in the head by an Alistair Overeem, but that shouldn't matter. He's a small guy, and he's fighting other small guys (Dodson, *****, Bagautinov) who have serious power in their hands for that division. 

He is a ridiculously impressive fighter. In my opinion, easily #1 right now. Easily. 

I've never seen a fighter improve as much as Johnson does everytime we've seen him. Seriously. If you watch his entire flyweight run, the guy who fought Ian McCall is nowhere near the same guy who fought, let's say, Ali Bagautinov. And the guy who fought Ali Bagautinov would get crushed by the guy who fought Henry Cejudo.

His criticism for the longest time was that he wasn't a finisher. And that was one of the main reasons people thought a Jon Jones was higher up on the P4P list. Which has never made sense considering Jones hasn't finished a fight in over three years, yet DJ has finished four of his last six.

You need to just look at what he's done. In his fights with Moraga and Horiguchi, he was dominating. 95% of fighters going into the 5th round would have just cruised their way to the clean-sweep decision win. But he didn't. He finished both. Late, the latter being in LITERALLY the last second of a 25-minute fight. That is ridiculous. He knocked out Joseph Benavidez with one punch. Literally. Out cold. He had one of his tougher fights as champion vs. John Dodson, and in the rematch he completely adapted his game and dominated him. In his last fight, he dominated an Olympic gold medalist in the clinch and finished him early. 

I honestly don't think there's a better FIGHTER in the sport right now, or maybe even ever, that has the skillset Mighty Mouse has. He's fighting good competition and making them seem like they don't even belong in the UFC with how easily he's taking them out. People talk about a division being cleared out. Very seldom is a division ACTUALLY cleaned out. And that's what's happening right now at flyweight. 

Now to the Elliot fight; nothing but respect for how Elliot has earned this shot. Was cut from the UFC last year, went to titan, won their belt, went 3-0, joined the most talent-filled TUF season ever with 15 other champions and won it. Credit to him, I don't like his chances one bit, but hey, people didn't like Serra's chances vs. GSP after TUF either, I guess. 

* Edited at 12.01.2016, 12:25 PM ET *

I actually really love watching Elliott fight but just can't imagine him winning here.

Watching this season I was thinking that they were all pretty good fights and there seemed to be some good talent but really there wasn't one guy on that show I thought would give MM any trouble at all. He keeps his belt again here.

Like many I am surprised not more of the fighters from the show have been signed to the UFC. Hopefully they show up on future cards because the Flyweight division certainly needs some more talent. And at the very least this season had plenty of that. They aren't ready for MM yet, but they're good.

Yes, I am also surprised there are not more FLWs in the event.

I'm not disputing the fact that Johnson is an amazing mixed martial artist. He is easily on the short list of most improved fighters over the last few years. Technically, he is probably #1. But I just don't buy into his competition being as dangerous as the competition Jon Jones has faced for example. He fought a murderer's row from Bader through to DC. Hell, even OSP is ultra dangerous.

I'm not knocking Johnson as a fighter. All I'm saying is that the competition he has faced is not the same as the guys other champions have faced. DC was knocking out heavyweights before he dropped to 205. To me, that win is one of the greatest wins in mma history. It ranks up there with Conor's win over Aldo and Fedor's win over Big Nog and Mirko.

You're gonna tell me that guys like Vitor, Chael, OSP and Bader are more dangerous on paper to Jones than Kyoji, Bagautinov, JoeB, Cejudo and Dodson were to DJ?

Vitor loses every single one of his advantages to a guy with Jones' build, Chael didn't stand a chance from the get-go, OSP too green and not evenr remotely close to the talent level of most the guys DJ defended his belt against, Bader at the time he fought Jones was strictly a wrestler who was outmatched in the only area he knew how to use.

Don't get me wrong, Jones is an amazing fighter, but I think that with DJ fighting the guys he did, the reason it looked so easy it more a statement as to how good he is than to him not having great opposition. Yeah, he's had the Moraga fight, but I think that Chael is a much easier fight for Jones than Moraga is for DJ.

On paper they've both had easier and tougher defenses and have both looked dominant (except DJ has yet to meet his Gustafsson at 125).

DC was knocking out heavyweights but he isn't even the best 205er around and to be honest has yet to beat enough real contenders to be compared to DJ. He has the potential to get there IF Jones doesn't come back, but I think he's too old to ever get into DJ's bracket.

DJ is without any doubt on the all-time, p4p greats list (and if Cruz wasn't another one of those guys he'd have also held the 135 strap too, but what can you do? When 2 of the all-time greatest fighters to ever grace the cage clash, one of the has to lose).

No I don't believe that anyone Johnson has faced is as dangerous as trtvitor. The guy was gassed out of his mind for the Jones fight. The Chael fight was a joke. There's no defending that one. But the win over DC is comparable to any win any other fighter has at any weight class. It's just my opinion. I'm not discrediting Johnson's talent or his skill. He is one of the greatest fighters I have ever watched. It's just that I don't think he faces the same dangers as the fighters at the higher weight classes do.

this is gross

and just sad

edit: this is the Tyson v Marvis Frazier of the 125 div

* Edited at 12.01.2016, 7:54 PM ET *