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#5 Demetrious Johnson vs. Henry Cejudo – UFC Flyweight title, UFC 227
When Olympic wrestling gold medallist Henry Cejudo first faced longtime UFC Flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson for his title at UFC 197 in 2016, he was beaten convincingly – TKO’d by a series of knees inside the first round. By 2018, though, ‘The Messenger’ had improved dramatically and had placed himself in a position for another shot at ‘Mighty Mouse’.
Despite that, few were giving him a chance of actually winning, largely because Johnson had looked phenomenal since winning the title in 2012, barely ever finding himself in trouble in his 11 title defenses. And the first round looked like it’d be no different; ‘Mighty Mouse’ had Cejudo hurt almost immediately with a low kick, rolling his ankle and leaving him barely able to stand. The Olympian did recover but found himself firmly beaten to the punch for the remainder of the round.
The subsequent rounds all followed the same pattern; Cejudo would have some brief success with his well-developed striking skills but was largely being beaten by Johnson, who was also able to stuff the majority of Cejudo’s takedowns – or reverse almost immediately out when he was taken down.
Realistically, the only round that should’ve been scored for ‘The Messenger’ was the fourth – as he was finally able to wrestle ‘Mighty Mouse’ to the ground relatively early on, and was also able to keep him there for the remainder of the round. That alone – winning a single round definitively – was impressive enough.
Somehow though, two of the judges scored the fight 48-47 for Cejudo, handing him his first UFC title and ending one of the most legendary reigns in promotional history in the process. It wasn’t like Cejudo had fought badly, but this was a true head-scratcher as it just didn’t seem like he’d even come close to doing enough to dethrone ‘Mighty Mouse’, who scored more strikes than him over the 25 minutes and largely fended off his takedowns.
The call was so controversial that an immediate rematch was the initial plan – but eventually, the UFC decided against it, and instead Johnson was “traded” to One FC with Ben Askren moving the other way. To say this was a disappointing way for him to end his title reign was an understatement.
