Johnson vs. Dillashaw? Ex-champs discuss why superfight never happened
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Demetrious Johnson and T.J. Dillashaw could have met in the UFC's octagon, but according to the former flyweight champion, the promotion wasn't willing to pay the price.
Johnson held the 125-pound UFC title from 2012 to 2018, defending it 11 times. Depending on whose recollection of the timeline of events is more accurate, "Mighty Mouse" could have mixed it up with bantamweight champion Dillashaw at 125 pounds at some point, creating a superfight between the two lightest classes in the UFC.
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According to Johnson, the idea was first proposed by Dana White after the "Unstoppable" seasonal press conference in 2016.
"So, we were supposed to fight, right?" Johnson said to Dillashaw on "The Mighty Cast." "You remember that? I never forget when they called me. 'I want you to fight T.J. Dillashaw.' I was like, 'Pay me a million dollars.' Actually, it was the first time they introduced that to me is right when I was about to fight Kyoji Horiguchi. We just did the big press conference. I remember I was coming out of it and Dana White was walking this way, and I was like, 'I'm looking for that superfight.' He goes, 'Why don't you fight T.J. Dillashaw?' 'Pay me a f*cking million dollars.' 'I can't pay what you don't bring in.' I was like, 'That means it don't need to happen.'"
From Dillashaw's perspective, things were a little different. He recalls talk of the fight occurring twice. The first was after he dropped the title in a controversial split decision to Dominick Cruz, and then coaching opposite Cody Garbrandt on Season 25 of "The Ultimate Fighter."
"So, I lost my belt, and I'm f*cking pissed," Dillashaw said. "I wanted the immediate rematch, didn't get it. I had to fight both the No. 1 contenders, and he got to fight (No.) 5 and 8. Garbrandt beat him. So, I coached 'The Ultimate Fighter,' I was gonna fight Garbrandt for the belt. He got injured, and so the fight got canceled. So, I was talking to Dana, and I was like, 'Well, I'll go '25s and fight Demetrious – and I just want a f*cking belt. I'm a champion. I want a f*cking belt.' ... It was just me being what I call delusionally optimistic, and it took me very far, but it also got me into trouble. It got me the shoulder I have, the trouble – being delusionally optimistic is a very powerful thing, but you gotta control it.
"So, I was like, 'Yeah, I'll fight Demetrious.' That was the plan for like three days. I started cutting weight right then and there. He called me like three days later like, 'Champ, fight's not gonna happen.' I was like, 'Alright, I'm gonna go eat a cheeseburger.'"
Dillashaw went on to reclaim the title against Garbrandt a few months later at UFC 217, and won the rematch in the main event of UFC 227, where Johnson competed in a co-main event title rematch against Henry Cejudo.
"Then I went and beat Garbrandt, got my belt back, then I beat him the second time, and thats when you lost to Cejudo," Dillashaw said. "You were supposed to beat Cejudo. We fought on the same night, and I was going to call you out afterwards. ... They were probably trying to negotiate even before that. So, instead of me doing an immediate rematch with Garbrandt, we might have fought each other before that."
The UFC's working with Dillashaw to move down to 125 pounds also had a nefarious side. It wasn't just about Dillashaw becoming a two-division champion. No, it was also about shuttering a division that the promotion lost faith in.
"The story was they wanted to get rid of 125s," Dillashaw said. "It just wasn't bringing in the dollars. ... They wanted me to go down and get that belt, and just be like, 'Alright. No more '25s.'"
Dillashaw admits the plan was messed up for the other fighters in the division, but he was willing to take on the task because the promotion was paying him well. For Johnson, it was about finding the right leverage with his coach, Matt Hume, to make the fight happen, whether it be a higher payday or the ability to fight for Dillashaw's 135-pound title.
"So, you were the champion, and I was like, we're negotiating, I was like, 'Well, pay me a million dollars,'" Johnson said. "'Oh, we can't pay you that. We're gonna close the division.' 'Then close the motherf*cking division!' Then hung up, they called me back, and then they're like, 'I think you should take this fight.' Matt was like, 'OK, well, if we fight T.J., if he doesn't make 125, we fight for his belt.' They're like, 'Ain't f*cking happening.' Then I was like, 'Then when do I have leverage?'
"Because you know, nobody got paid – we made a lot of money, but how much they made? It was like pennies on the dollar for them. That's where I was like, I'm gonna stand my ground. You hear about all these stories, CM Punk making $500,000. I didn't, and I'm the f*cking champion. I was like, 'Guys, you gotta make this make sense.' ... Everybody was like I was scared to fight T.J. I wasn't scared to fight T.J., I just wanted to make money."
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Ex-UFC champs discuss why their superfight never happened