How Can Demetrious Change Our Perspective On The Flyweight Division
Any of you who follow MMA and watch UFC events will probably know that the Flyweight division as a whole isn't doing too well. They lack any star power, and despite having the most dominant champion in the UFC who tied Anderson Siva's championship defense record it doesn't feel like anything interesting is happening there.
This isn't the be all end all. There are plenty of examples of weight divisions starting out irrelevant and then turning into the most popular divisions in the UFC seemingly overnight. One great example is Conor Mcgregor and the Featherweight division. Before Conor the FTW division was just really really unpopular. They were often on the undercard and there were no PPV records being broken. Conor's personality and trash talk made the fights marketable and as a result people cared about the division, and now even after Conor has left it is still faring well. He left a lasting effect on the fan base.
Unfortunately that kind of thing can't be faked. You need to have that kind of personality, which Demetrious doesn't have. But there are other ways to raise interest in the division and get fan recognition. Right now I feel Johnson's biggest problem is the lack of relativity. His biggest wins were over other flyweights who failed to hold belts in other divisions, Benavidez and Dodson come to mind. The situations was exactly the same in the Lightweight division, but things took a turn with BJ Penn.
Any of you remember when exactly the LW division took off? BJ's biggest favor to the LW division was actually leaving the division. No one gave any credit to the lightweights for the longest time. Then BJ moves up to Welterweight and chokes out Matt Hughes, someone the fans already recognized as a badass. Then everyone was like "wait a sec, maybe there's to this LW division". That's when their popularity kicked off, when they got some sort of validation I guess.
This is how Demetrious can win over the fans, by beating an already established badass. Dodson and Benavidez are great Flyweights but they aren't champions. Demetrious needs to beat a champion in another weight class, or maybe a former champion. This is why I think he should've taken the fight with Dillashaw despite getting a shitty deal overall. I think he should've bit the bullet and fought TJ and fight to beat him handily. A win over the former BW champion who has a well established fan base would've elevated Johnson's status, and as a result, elevated the status of the entire Flyweight division. Dodson has a win over TJ, but that was before TJ really honed his skills and became champ, the timing matters.
Hopefully Demetrious can get that super fight soon and become the PPV star he deserves to be. He isn't gaining momentum as fast as he should be and I'd hate to see him retire still having not become a star.
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