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#2 vs. Ian McCall, UFC on FX 2 – 03/03/12
When the UFC introduced the Flyweight division with a four-man tournament to decide the inaugural champion in 2012, it was ‘Uncle Creepy’ Ian McCall, rather than Johnson, who was considered the favourite to win, largely based on his impressive wins on the smaller circuit at 125lbs. And with different judges, it would’ve been him and not Mighty Mouse who went on to face Joseph Benavidez for the title.
After two close rounds, the third clearly went McCall’s way – and indeed, the end of the round, with ‘Uncle Creepy’ pounding on a completely defensive Johnson from a dominant back mount, probably remains the closest that Mighty Mouse has ever come to being stopped in his UFC career. In the end, it was only the fact that McCall chose to showboat a little too much that saved Johnson, as the round ended before ‘Uncle Creepy’ could land the killer flurry.
Unfortunately for McCall, the judges scored the fight as a majority draw – and in the rematch three months later Johnson clearly outpointed him to take the win and advance to the tournament final. But for viewers today, the sight of McCall hammering on Johnson from back mount is shocking – and should give a wrestler the calibre of Cejudo some hope going into this weekend.
