UFC 197: Jones vs. Saint Preux – Demetrious Johnson vs Henry Cejudo Toe to Toe Preview

Demetrious Johnson defends his flyweight belt against the Olympian Henry Cejudo this April 23, 2016 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Single sentence summary:

Phil: The fun-size Jones-Cormier, as an Olympian takes on a P4P great.

David: Mighty Mouse defends his title against the King of Douse.

Stats?

Record: FlyweightDemetrious Johnson (c) 23-2-1 vs.Henry Cejudo 10-0

Odds: FlyweightDemetrious Johnson (c) -400 vs.Henry Cejudo +355

History lesson / introduction to the fighters

Phil: Demetrious Johnson was one of two potential flyweight champions-in-waiting that WEC (and then the UFC) had in the bantamweight division. Even back then Joe Rogan would rhapsodize about how fast, technical and skilled he was, but the size differential between himself and Dominic Cruz was impressive. To describe Johnson as someone who just found his weight class (particularly one as sparsely populated as flyweight) drastically undersells him, however.

It’s not that he dominates his division that is so impressive- it’s that he dominates his division more and more thoroughly as time goes by. Most champions start off dominant, then get chipped away at by challengers over time, their weaknesses being brute-forced to the surface. Jones, Aldo and GSP all started dropping more rounds later in their careers. Meanwhile Johnson’s gone from close, competitive title fights (his early fights against Benavidez, Dodson and McCall) to increasingly clinical shut-outs. That just doesn’t happen in this sport for anyone else, really.

David: it would easy to dismiss his progressive dominance as a glitch in the quality of competition (to be fair there’s modest merit to this in a vacuum) in his division, but this ignores and fails to address his actual in cage ability. Since this is the UFC, Dana has all the class in the world for fighters like Sage Northcutt and Paige Van Zant. But promote Johnson in any unique, or aggressive way? Of course not. I get it. Johnson isn’t some loud, trash talking…wait…neither are they. You’re slipping Dana. Promote the fighters that will pay the bills long term.

Phil: If you want someone to surprise you with an upset win, then Henry Cejudo is your man. In the 2008 Beijing Olympics he was no-one’s pick to win gold, probably not even his own team’s. Still, even despite that win he’s gotten something of a reputation across both wrestling and MMA as someone with occasionally wavering motivation. He missed weight a lot in his earlier career, but has cleaned up his act of late.

David: Cejudo is still firmly entrenched in ‘wild card’ territory. Just like in the Olympics, nobody’s really counting on him to win big this weekend. But his natural athleticism and effortless core strength has allowed him to remain undefeated.

What are the stakes?

Phil: As low as the #2 P4P fighter in the world fighting an undefeated Olympian could feasibly be. The narrative, like most DJ narratives, just hasn’t caught fire with the masses. The hope is that the fight itself …

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