Dana White agrees with Joe Rogan: Demetrious Johnson is 'pound-for-pound greatest'

UFC President Dana White showered UFC flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson with praise following his successful title defense against John Dodson in UFC 191’s main event on Saturday.

Johnson (23-2-1 MMA, 11-1-1 UFC) dominated Dodson (17-7 MMA, 6-2 UFC) from bell-to-bell for a unanimous decision victory in a rematch of their UFC on FOX 6 bout in January 2013, which Johnson also won by unanimous decision.

“Mighty Mouse” showed minor flaws in his first matchup with Dodson. In the second fight, however, Johnson implemented a near perfect game plan that neutralized Dodson for almost the entirety of the 25-minute title bout.

The victory earned Johnson his seventh consecutive title defense, which is tied for most among current UFC champions and also is tied for the fourth best streak in company history behind Anderson Silva, Georges St-Pierre and Jon Jones.

White has named Silva, St-Pierre, Jones, Renan Barao and Anthony Pettis as his top pound-for-pound fighter in recent years. With none of those fighters currently holding UFC belts, though, the top spot was vacant. White said after UFC 191 that Johnson has filled the void.

“This was the fight to make in this weight class and Dodson had the power, the speed, the experience and got destroyed; literally, he got shut down,” White said on FOX Sports 2’s UFC 191 post-fight show. “Joe Rogan’s probably right. ‘Mighty Mouse’ is probably the pound-for-pound greatest fighter in the sport. He looked fantastic.”

Johnson’s nine-fight winning streak in UFC competition is the second longest active streak in the organization. He said his goal is to pass Silva, St-Pierre and Jones on the list of all-time consecutive title defenses, then consider a change in weight class.

“The record held right now is by Anderson Silva, and it’s 10; so if I can break that, it would be an awesome thing,” Johnson said. “Then to be able to have the most finishes as a flyweight – most knockouts, submissions and TKOs? That’s another goal. Just being the most active flyweight and champion. I’m a guy that hasn’t had injuries, and that’s a goal I set for myself.”

The constant problem for Johnson, however, is that his dominance of the flyweight division has resulted in a lack of viable contenders to the belt. After a competitive first fight with Dodson there seemed to be the possibility of a threat to his crown in a rematch. That wasn’t the case.

“The guy is an incredible fighter, he wanted this fight really bad and he went in and he imposed his will and he won every single round by a landslide,” White said. “I know he’s probably disappointed that he didn’t get the finish because I know he really wanted to finish Dodson, but Dodson was the man. Dodson was the guy. This fight should have been a knockdown, drag-em-out war. It should have been a close fight and it wasn’t any of that.”

After each of Johnson’s successful title defense the discussion emerges regarding who could be next to challenge for the title. The 29-year-old has already defeated the majority of the top contenders in the division –some of them twice– but White said he has something in store for Johnson that fans will enjoy.

“There’s always a contender,” White said. “We are working on something right now and when it happens you’ll agree.”

For complete coverage of UFC 191, check out the UFC Events section of the site.