If thereâs one man who can weigh in on the outcome of UFC title fights, itâs the promotionâs title defense king Demetrious Johnson.
The former, longtime UFC flyweight champion will be looking to add his first ONE Championship title when he meets Adriano Moraes in the main event of ONE on TNT 1 on April 7.
When speaking with MMA Fighting, Johnson was asked about the ending of the bantamweight title fight between Petr Yan and Aljamain Sterling at UFC 259, where Yan landed an illegal knee and was subsequently disqualified, thus making Sterling the new champion. Coincidentally, âMighty Mouseâ was in a similar position as Yan over eight years ago.
âObviously rules are put into place to keep the athletes safe and what not,â Johnson told What the Heck. âI dealt with the exact same thing in 2013 in Chicago, UFC on FOX 6 against John Dodson. I had him against the cage, he put his hand on the ground, I did not take the time to see his hand on the ground and itâs not my job to look and see if his hand is on the ground. In my opinion, he was in a knowledgable position that he could defend himself.
âI blast him in his face, John McCarthy stopped the fight and said, âHey, dude. He was a downed opponent.â I said, âWhat the f*ck do you mean heâs down? His finger is touching the ground. Heâs not down.â So Iâve gone through this before in the UFC.
âTo see the same thing happen with Aljamain Sterling vs. Petr Yan, first off, Iâm a big fan of Aljamain Sterling. I have nothing against the guy, but each time I give my personal opinionâwhich you just asked forâI like to do so as a neutral person. If I had friends over my house and they ask why he got DQâd, well itâs a rule that he was a downed opponent, that he was on the ground. Yeah, heâs down, but he can currently defend himself.â
I agree you shouldn't be able to play that game having a finger down and now you're a downed opponent. Either get up or go down.
Good shit. Respect the mouse.Â
100% correct.
Great call by Mighty Mouse & glad too see he doesn't play into that. Â Defend yourself at all times & don't leave it all up to the ref. Â Like BJM said to Jon Jones when he tried crawling up to Vitor & Vitor almost kicked his head off.
william795 -Great call by Mighty Mouse & glad too see he doesn't play into that. Â Defend yourself at all times & don't leave it all up to the ref. Â Like BJM said to Jon Jones when he tried crawling up to Vitor & Vitor almost kicked his head off.
*to
Am I crazy?
Does DJ not first say that intentional violaters should be punished, THEN he basically says it's not his job to check if Dodson was "down" as per the rules he agreed to fight under before he kneed himÂ
mikethecricket -ÂAm I crazy?
Does DJ not first say that intentional violaters should be punished, THEN he basically says it's not his job to check if Dodson was "down" as per the rules he agreed to fight under before he kneed himÂ
Intentional violators are eye pokers, fence holders, head stompers to an opponent on his back. Checking to see if a few fingers of your opponentâs hand are touching the mat before hitting him is unreasonable and shouldnât be a fighterâs responsibility. Fighters who can defend themselves should, and should not be able to fail to do so in the interest of gaming the ruleset.
mikethecricket -ÂAm I crazy?
Does DJ not first say that intentional violaters should be punished, THEN he basically says it's not his job to check if Dodson was "down" as per the rules he agreed to fight under before he kneed himÂ
I think his point is that guys shouldnât be able to put a finger or a knee down as a way to avoid the knee. Theyâre able to defend themselves in the position theyâre in, and should do so instead of putting a hand or a knee down as a way make the shots illegal.
The rule was put in place to avoid guys getting kneed or soccer kicked when theyâre down and canât defend the strikeâŚthey donât want guys on all fours scrambling back to their feet, using their hands to get upâŚthen they get kicked in the fucking face. They donât want guys on their knees, arms tied up trying to get a takedown, eating knees to the head. Thatâs what the rule is supposed to protect.
However, we have several guys choosing to stay on a knee, or put a hand down to avoid having to defend against the kicks/knees. Itâs within the rules, so they arenât breaking a ruleâŚbut you have to admit that itâs an odd rule that a guy can just stay on his knees like that and avoid eating a knee. He has plenty of time to try to get up, to change positions, to defend himselfâŚbut he knows heâs safe there and chooses to stay there instead of finding a way to advance position and defend.
Mighty Mouse needs to beat up Aljo.
Great attitude on this Mighty Johnson!
.
Holy shit 2 people in a row responded to my post in a civil and intelligent manner.Â
Phags.
mikethecricket -Am I crazy?
Does DJ not first say that intentional violaters should be punished, THEN he basically says it's not his job to check if Dodson was "down" as per the rules he agreed to fight under before he kneed himÂ
That was Sterling's quote about punishing violators.  DJ's comments were later.  I had to re-read to catch that also. You might still be crazy though.... ;-)
DJ nails it, Sterling is a fool if he admitted he thought he was safe.Â
Congrats on your being awarded as a champion from a DQ in a fiight you were losing. At least it a record UFC first!Â
Im sure that Matt Hammil feels cheated. Sucks his fight was prechampion status for Jones.Â
I hate that fucking rule, wanted Yan to win, but it was a legit DQ. Good for MM to take a stand as that rule needs to change.
Some people shat on the ones that had to put this dumb rule in place, not realizing all the compromises they had to agree on then for MMA to go on.
What I donât get, is how so many many years later, some of those initial dumb rules have not been changed since! Bureaucracies are slllloooooowwwww
got to respect his opinion, but I donât agree with some.
Maybe they should modify the rule to both knees on the ground?
That would prevent a lot of the games of putting one hand down.
If youâve got both knees down then itâs a slower process. So the fighter canât transition to offense as quickly and the guy standing also has a better opportunity to adjust.
Heâs kind of too casual about the concussions though, like theyâre no biggie.