Having watched the champions of other divisions in the UFC come and go, Johnson’s reign as flyweight kingpin will stretch into its sixth year in 2018
As a result, Demetrious Johnson is looking at longevity in the year ahead. Rather than committing to three or four fights this year, “Mighty” will be content with just two:
“That’s the plan, this year two fights,” Johnson said on a recent episode of The MMA Hour. “There comes a point in time, I was looking at my Wikipedia page and there were times where I fought four times in one year, I defended the belt three times in one year, got surgery between those title defenses. I think it’s safe to say that my goal is to get two title defenses this year and we will go from there.
“I’ll try to stay healthy and we will see then. You see champions all the time, they get the belt, then they go on a two-fight win streak and lose it. To be able to defend the belt from 2012 to 2017 and hopefully defend two more times in 2018, it’s extremely freaking hard.”
Johnson’s record-breaking title defenses run may extend even further this year, although he will be in no rush to fight just for the sake of adding to it:
“That’s why there are only a couple of people who have done it: [Georges St-Pierre], Jon Jones, Jose Aldo, me, and Anderson Silva. That’s five guys right there in the span I have been a champion. I always chuckle because I remember there was a time when Chris Weidman was champion, Jose was champion, Frankie [Edgar] was champion, [Renan] Barao was champion and even TJ [Dillashaw] became champion.
“Dominick Cruz was champion, they’re not anymore. I am still sitting here on my throne. You see it over time even Ronda Rousey, Miesha Tate, and it’s kind of like, damn, it’s good sh*t I guess.”
