Earlier this week flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson blasted the UFC for trying to bully him into accepting a fight with former bantamweight titleholder TJ Dillashaw, but in a new interview Dillashaw claims ‘Mighty Mouse’s’ legacy will be ruined if he doesn’t agree to it.
Dillashaw had orginally been scheduled to fight 135lb champion Cody Garbrandt at UFC 213 next month, but when his opponent pulled out he offered to drop down to 125lbs instead to fight Johnson, who is currently homing in on what would be a UFC record 11th title defense in a row.
“I feel like it’s disappointing that Demetrious is going to go out this way and not take the fight,” Dillashaw told MMAjunkie after Johnson again reaffirmed that he wants to fight current No.3 ranked flyweight contender Ray Borg instead. “I don’t care if it’s Cody or if it’s Demetrious, I just want to fight. I want to fight soon. I want that big title fight.
As things stand, UFC President Dana White appears to have put his foot down and demanded that Johnson take the fight, but with Johnson pushing back against him the situation remains unresolved, and that leaves Dillashaw in an awkward situation as the clock is ticking and he would need a good amount of advance warning in order to sensibly cut down to flyweight for the first time.
“I need to know sooner than later, because I’m in the process of changing my entire body around right now. This isn’t an eight-week process; this is a 12-week process. Not only do I want to make the weight, I want to perform at the weight, as well.”
For now though he is proceeding as if the fight is going to happen, and in the mean time he’s putting pressure on Johnson to step up to the plate.
“I think the smartest thing for me to do is stay on the path I’m on now until Demetrious mans up and realizes he’s going to ruin his legacy by not taking this fight.”
Johnson has already indicated that one of his reservations regarding a fight with Dillashaw is that if his opponent doesn’t make weight then it won’t be a fight for the belt and he won’t be able to break the title defense record.
However, Dillashaw says that he should be more worried about his preferred opponent, Borg, not making the 125lb limit instead.
“He should be worried about Ray Borg missing weight; he’s missed weight half of his career,” Dillashaw said. “I’ve never missed weight since I was 8 years old wrestling. Tell him he can have my show money if I miss the weight. I ain’t going to miss it. It’s just another excuse not to take the fight.”
In fact, Dillashaw feels most of Johnson’s current concerns would actually be squashed if he agrees to fight him.
“(Johnson) wants pay-per-view, which he would get if he fights me,” Dillashaw said. “He wants to be promoted, which he would get if he fights me. We both want the same thing – we both want to be the best pound-for-pound fighters in the world, as well as make a lot of money and be promoted. To fix all those problems, the only thing he has to do is fight me.”
However, Dillashaw thinks that Johnson might be hiding the real reason he doesn’t want the fight.
“The only thing I can think of is that he’s scared to lose his belt.”
