Demetrious Johnson To Move On to No. 1 Contender if UFC Refuses to Make TJ Dillashaw Fight

We’re all waiting for it. We all believe it’s the only fight for the UFC to make right now. Yet, there has been little progress made in getting a fight with TJ Dillashaw done since Demetrious Johnson revealed they were in negotiations. Both fighters were holding out for the best deal, but it seems like the UFC is hesitant. The UFC flyweight champion’s reaction? He just shrugged like when the UFC threatened to close his division the last time he tried to negotiate. If the TJ Dillashaw fight doesn’t go down, he’ll fight whoever is next in line and move on.

“At the end of the day, UFC is a business. TJ [Dillashaw] obviously just won the belt and he’s been the champ for maybe five or six months, and so there’s still a line of contenders he could fight in the division. You have your Dominick Cruz, Jimmie Rivera, the Cody Garbrandt rematch, so they have options for that one. Whereas for me, I have options as well and rematches and whatever. But I think TJ wants this fight because it is probably a bigger paycheck for him, and hopefully for me too, so we’ll see what the UFC wants to do.”

“That’s the fight that I want. That’s the fight I believe should go down. That’s the fight the UFC knows that I want and I’m letting Malki and First Round Management handle that.” – Demetrious Johnson on TJ Dillashaw superfight. #TheMMAHour

— Justin Golightly (@SecretMovesMMA) March 12, 2018

“At the end of the day, it’s a paycheck. If you’re going to make as much money as you are, when you’re fighting someone else, that’s the one thing I always tell people is I would never turn down the truly rightful No. 1 contender in my division, because the UFC can actually strip you. They can say, you’re not going to fight the No. 1 contender, we can strip you. So okay, you know what, Henry Cejudo is the No. 1 contender, we deem him the legit No. 1 contender, and then I’m going to fight him again blah blah blah, if he’s truly the No. 1 contender I will fight them.” — Demetrious Johnson speaking on The MMA Hour.

Demetrious Johnson wouldn’t go into any detail on why negotiations for the TJ Dillsashaw superfight have gone dormant, just says his management is handling negotiations. However, it’s not hard to determine what’s holding this up: Johnson and Dillashaw want what they deserve and the UFC are trying to convince them they don’t deserve it. Big fights with huge stakes should come at a greater expense, if not then the Mouse is content proving he is Mighty against Henry Cejudo and Joseph Benavidez again.

3/14/2018.