With a big submission win over Wilson Reis at UFC on Fox 24, flyweight champion Demetrious “Mighty Mouse” Johnson has furthered his case for being considered the greatest mixed martial artist of all time. Something not lost on UFC President Dana White, who addressed the subject following the event Saturday in Kansas City. Speaking to the assembled press, White tackled the subject of Johnson’s legacy and place in the GOAT conversation.
What’s crazy is, he does what he does here tonight. I’m doing an interview with Brazil. I start to walk away, and I hear him ask his coach “what did I do wrong?” I stopped and said “hey coach, let me answer this for you: nothing. Nothing.” He literally… First of all, he looked incredible on his feet, the punch stat numbers are ridiculous. Then he goes to the ground, is absolutely dominating, and goes for the most dangerous move you can try to pull off, an arm-bar. Not only pulling off an arm-bar when you’re dominating like that, but against a Brazilian Jiu-jitsu world champion.
White continued, telling reporters that [UFC commentator] Joe Rogan began blowing up his phone. “Joe Rogan was blowing me up, [saying] he’s the greatest ever” White continued. And he found it hard to argue with him. When asked if Johnson could be the best ever, he simply answered “yes” then elaborated:
He’s got one more fight, and he breaks Anderson Silva’s record. He’s already the pound-for-pound best fighter in the world, and he strives to be better each time. And he gets better each time, literally destroying people. This kid could be considered the GOAT right now, or to give Anderson Silva the true respect, you wait til he breaks the record. It’s hard to not call this guy the greatest of all time.
While there’s no set yard stick in selecting the greatest of all time, fighters such as B.J. Penn, Fedor Emelianenko, Anderson Silva, Georges St. Pierre, Jon Jones, and Johnson have long been part of the conversation. At just thirty, however, Mighty Mouse (the first and only UFC flyweight champion) has a chance to really stand out from the rest of the pack, as he has showed no signs of slowing down.
