Scrapp! FIGHT MAGAZINE
May - 2016
15
lost the belt in the cage; he
was stripped due to a hit-and-
run incident. Secondly, the ob-
jectivity of the powers that be
saw fit to keep him in the num-
ber one slot during that hiatus.
This brings me to perennial
flyweight titleholder Demetri-
ous Johnson (24-2-1 MMA,
12-1-1 UFC) — following his
first-round starching of the
much-heralded Olympic wres-
tling gold medallist and then-
unbeaten prospect Henry Ceju-
do in the co-headliner, “Mighty
Mouse” thus catapulted him-
self into the realm of Jones
sphere — recording his eighth
successful title defense.
Albeit it was an impressive per-
formance, that per se shouldn’t
warrant his ascension atop the
p4p rankings just yet, as Jones’
résumé of conquests reads like
a who’s who of upper echelon
mixed martial arts practitioners.
A quick butcher’s hook at Jones’
and Johnson’s curriculum vitae
and how it impacts their rank-
ing post winning their respec-
tive straps:
Jones defeated four erstwhile
205-pound UFC champs –
Quinton Jackson, Lyoto Ma-
chida, Rashad Evans and Vitor
Belfort. In Daniel Cormier, he
routed a former Strikeforce
heavyweight grand prix titlist.
In addition, the Jack-Wink
product registered command-
ing wins against the highly
ranked and dangerous duo
of Alexander Gustafsson and
Glover Teixeira. Chael Sonnen
was more of an asterisk.
Per contra, out of Johnson’s
eight title defenses, only one
has come against a former
champ from a recognised pro-
motion; former Shooto ban-
tamweight titlist Kyoji Horigu-
chi.
Whilst victorious title defenses
over the likes of John Dodson;
twice, and Joseph Benavides
are nothing to sniff at, never-
theless, his competition hith-
erto has nothing on Jones’.
Apropos wins/losses, Jones has
tasted defeat all but once in his
illustrious career, and that was
by way of disqualification.
At present, Jones has the fourth
most victories under the Zuffa
banner (16), which is also the
most wins in light heavyweight
history. Furthermore, Jones,
28, is currently riding a 13-fight
win streak, the second longest
behind Anderson Silva (16).
Johnson, on the other hand,
has accumulated 12 victories,
one draw and a loss since tak-
ing up residency in the premier
promotion. The 29-year-old
is presently on a 10-fight win
streak, the longest in divisional
history.
Regards dominance and finish-
ing, Johnson just about edges it
with five finishes to Jones’ four,
however, both were equally
dominant in their last eight and
nine outings respectively.
As mentioned earlier, prior to
the “OSP” fight, Jones hadn’t
amassed any Octagon time for
nearly 16 months, which puts
him at a slight disadvantage in
comparison to Johnson, who
during that time span had
fought twice.
Following the aforementioned
criteria and everything else in
between, my druthers for p4p
kingpin lay firmly at the door-
steps of “Bones” Jones; I be-
lieve he’s meritorious of it.