As the MMA world is now well aware, there is a new king atop the flyweight throne, and his name is Henry Cejudo. Henry Cejudo picked up the split-decision victory over Johnson (48-47 x2, 47-48) at UFC 227, thus making history by ending the record-breaking title reign of Demetrious Johnson. Now that the shock has begun to wear off for the MMA community, the next logical question is, where do we go from here? Henry Cejudo has already stated what he would prefer, and that’s a bantamweight title fight against T.J. Dillashaw. But what about Johnson? When asked if he believes a rematch is in order at the UFC 227 Post-Fight Press Conference, he replied with what he, and many others, felt to be an obvious answer:
“Of course,” Johnson began. “It wasn’t like he blew me out the water. Like I said, first things first, I’m not gonna sit here and be like, oh, I want a rematch, blah, blah, blah! I need to get healthy first. My health is number 1, and I’m not gonna sign a contract if I can’t get through eight weeks of training camp to get ready for a fight.”
When reflecting on what Johnson has accomplished, he reflected on how far he has come from where he began with pride, and insists this isn’t the last chapter of a storybook career:
“It’s not over yet,” Johnson said. “Like I said, I do this because I love it. I’ve already way exceeded my expectations. I was the guy who was in a warehouse making $10.76 an hour, running home to watch Joseph Benavidez fight Dominick Cruz. So my dream was never to be world champion. My dream was just to learn how to do mixed martial arts. And then, when I did that, I became passionate about it, and this is the path that it led me on. So I’m happy with my run. I’m gonna get back home, get healthy, and go from there.”
If Demetrious Johnson had one fight left in the UFC, who would you like his opponent to be?
