Demetrious Johnson is chasing history next month in Kansas City, Mo. And standing in his way is a challenger who feels like his shot at the flyweight title has been a long time coming: Wilson Reis.
Johnson (25-2-1 MMA, 13-1-1 UFC), No 1 in the latest USA TODAY Sports/MMAjunkie MMA pound-for-pound rankings as well as the No. 1 flyweight, will attempt to tie former middleweight champ Anderson Silva for the most consecutive title defenses at the event. He already has nine to his credit and can tie Silva’s longstanding record of 10. But No. 6 Reis (22-6 MMA, 6-2 UFC) wants to disrupt all of that at UFC on FOX 24.
UFC on FOX 24 takes place April 15 at Sprint Center in Kansas City, Mo. The card airs on FOX following early prelims on UFC Fight Pass.
Reis was supposed to fight Johnson for the flyweight belt at UFC 201 this past July until an injury knocked the champ out of the fight. Reis fought Hector Sandoval instead and won with a first-round rear-naked choke.
But instead of staying next in line for the title, Reis had to wait out Season 24 of “The Ultimate Fighter,” which featured flyweight champs from other promotions vying for a shot at “Mighty Mouse.” That winner was Tim Elliott, and it kept Reis one step behind.
Elliott gave Johnson what many considered to be a stiff test before losing a unanimous decision.
“I didn’t watch it live, and a lot of people were calling me and telling me Demetrious didn’t look that good,” Reis told MMAjunkie Radio. “When I watched the fight, I felt Tim Elliott had a different style than everybody else and he gave Demetrious a tough first round. There wasn’t a lot of weaknesses, and he showed better jiu-jitsu in that fight than I expected. He did show some weaknesses on the feet and had to fall back on his wrestling.”
Was that enough weakness for Reis to exploit in a month in his first UFC main event and first title fight? Time will tell. But Reis has been about nothing if not patience and perseverance.
After his win over Sandoval, he took a fight against Ulka Sasaki at UFC 208 a month ago and won a unanimous decision. A loss would have taken him right out of the title mix. But as it is, he’ll fight for the belt on only nine weeks’ turnaround time.
“I asked for the fight right after I fought at UFC 208, and pretty much a week after that fight we started talking about it with the UFC,” he said. “I knew it was coming soon. It was a shorter camp than usual, but it doesn’t matter because I just came back from a fight and I wasn’t injured or anything.”
Plus, he said, his training camps at Alliance MMA in San Diego, alongside the likes of former bantamweight champ Dominick Cruz, have him perpetually ready to go five rounds – something he’s been looking forward to doing with the champ since this past summer.
Now he finally gets his chance, better late than never.
For more on UFC on FOX 24, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.
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