Flyweight champ Demetrious Johnson continues to make his case for being the best pound for pound fighter in the UFC. The latest addition to his resume? A record for most successful title defenses in UFC history. Before UFC 216 he was tied with the legendary Anderson Silva with 10. And in Las Vegas tonight he moved past Silva with a dominating win over Ray Borg.
Borg never managed to get much going as Johnson peppered him with leg and body kicks on the feet and positioned himself for endless submissions on the ground. The best we could say for Borg was that he came out game at the start of every round. But at the end of those rounds, he was always on the canvas with Johnson on top of him. After five rounds where Johnson rarely lost control, he jumped on an armbar out of nowhere to force an eventual tap out of Borg at the 1:48 mark. It was a fantastic finish that will be a worthy highlight for Johnson’s record breaking moment.
Sweet Jesus. What a way to break Anderson Silva's title defense record. Greatest submission in @ufc history and p4p great #UFC216 pic.twitter.com/Vnn43LSllx
— Brendan Schaub (@BrendanSchaub) October 8, 2017
Crazy way to finish a fight and to do it at the same time as breaking the record. Unbelievable. Huge congrats to DJ !
— Chris Weidman (@chrisweidman) October 8, 2017
IT'S OVER!!!!! RECORD BREAKER!!!!
@MightyMouseUFC #UFC216 pic.twitter.com/UcBNaGzWlf
— UFC (@ufc) October 8, 2017
The only negative thing we can say about all this is that it was slightly anti-climactic. Johnson was a +700 favorite, his opponent Borg a -1000 dog. There was a definite air of inevitability coming up to the bout that this was all but a sure thing for Johnson. Sure, no fight in the UFC is a gimme. Ray Borg is no scrub, either. But strange things happen to perspective when you’re dealing with someone as good as Demetrious Johnson.
It doesn’t help that the UFC wanted Johnson to fight former bantamweight champ TJ Dillashaw, who was willing to move down to 125 to give the champ a stiffer test. But Demetrious bugged out and demanded to fight Borg, a situation that caused all sorts of animosity between Johnson and the UFC. Fans were split as well between those siding with Johnson and those upset that he would turn down an intriguing challenge like Dillashaw.
Now that Johnson has this record under his belt, the question is what’s next? Will he stay at flyweight and continue to crush all comers? Will someone from banamweight move down to challenge him? Or will he challenge himself and move up in weight?
