Demetrious Johnson is staying put at flyweight, but is open to moving up in weight if it comes with better compensation.
After his 11th consecutive title defense last Saturday at UFC 216, one of the questions that were thrown at Demetrious Johnson was “what’s next?” One of the options that have been on the table for a while now is to move up in weight for a possible super-fight at 135-pounds.
“Mighty Mouse” did begin his career as a bantamweight, but has since moved down to flyweight when the UFC opened up the division in 2012. He says he is willing to make the jump back up, but only if it comes with better compensation.
“Make it worth my while. Show me the money,” Johnson said on Monday’s MMA Hour episode (via MMA Fighting). “These guys are taking concussions. Like I said after the fight, I’m not in the business to get concussions. I do not like getting hit. I can take a hit, but I don’t want to damage my brain if I don’t have to.”
In the meantime, Johnson says he is staying put at 125-pounds and will be looking forward to keeping his record for the most title defenses in the UFC.
“Obviously there’s fights at 125 that seem appealing. Sergio Pettis is a hot prospect. Henry Cejudo looked good in his last fight. I know Joseph Benavidez is getting healthy again. So I don’t know see why I would leave when I just cemented this legacy. Why not set it to 15 (title defenses)?”
“There’s going to come another guy down the road who’s going to be aiming for my record, so my job is to set the bar high. And Joanna Jedrzejczyk, she’s at six. So you know what, she might want to keep on going and try to break my record, and I can’t allow that. So I’ve got to set the bar higher, that why she’s like, ‘F--k that, I’m not going to go for 20. I’m done. I did eight or nine, I’m done.’”