UFC flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson isn’t looking past top contender Henry Cejudo and his title defense this month.
But with the UFC announcing that the winner of The Ultimate Fighter 24 would receive a shot at the flyweight champion in December, there is no way for “Mighty Mouse” to not be asked about the subject.
As far as Johnson is concerned, he’s content with facing the winner of the reality series – just not so much when the UFC seems to want it to happen.
“I’m fine with having two fights this year, but I don’t want to wait all the way to December,” he said, during a recent interview with Submission Radio. “I would, you know, I’ve told the UFC that I like to stay pretty active and I like fighting in September. That’s kind of like the schedule I’ve been on, fighting April and September. So I want to fight in September, then, you know, if they want to have me fight in February – you know, give the guy who won the Ultimate Fighter December off, then January, February, fighting in February, I’m happy with that. But I like to stay active.
“I don’t like to wait on people to be successful in this sport. Because at the end of the day, my timer and my age is getting up there. And the longer I sit on the shelf, the longer I’m not making money.”
As for his upcoming opponent, Johnson views it as just another challenge. He’s already bested the likes of Joseph Benavidez, Ian McCall, Ali Bagautinov and Kyoji Horiguchi.
“Well they always bring in different challenges. I mean, that’s like the perks of always fighting somebody new,” he said. “But you can always sit down and look at tape, but until you get in there with me or try get in there with those guys, you know, they see it as ‘oh yeah, everybody talks about how Demetrious is fast, his cardio, his wrestling, ability to switch it up, to switch from different arts of combat, you know, fluid’ and when they get in there with me they’re like ‘holy schizer! Yeah this is what we saw on tape and I’m not prepared for it.’ So that’s what I think is going to happen, but we’ll have to see.
“It’s not overcoming a guy like Cejudo or anybody, it’s just me overcoming myself – make sure I go out there, feel good, I get in my rhythm, you know, be sharp and go out there and fight. So you know, I was thinking about it and I was like, you know, when I’m fighting these guys, I’m not fighting these guys. I’m fighting myself. I just gotta go out there and do what I do best, which is win.”
