UFC 218's Justin Willis dares heavyweight division to go on 'suicide mission' and call him out

DETROIT – Justin Willis is talking a big game after scoring a massive knockout in his sophomore octagon appearance on Saturday at UFC 218.

Willis (6-1 MMA, 2-0 UFC) scored a first-round knockout of Allen Crowder (9-3 MMA, 0-1 UFC) in the opener of the UFC 218 card, which took place at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit and streamed on UFC Fight Pass prior to the remainder of the card on FS1 and pay-per-view.

It was an impressive finish for “Big Pretty,” and now he has his sights on the top the heavyweight division.

“I’m here to take over this division,” Crowder told reporters in a post-fight media scrum, which MMAjunkie attended. “I’m made for this (expletive). It’s time for me to come and reap my rewards one by one.”

Although Willis believes he belongs at the top of the weight class, he refuses to call anyone out. He said fighters who call others out are the ones looking to move up, and in his mind, he’s already the best.

“I’m the elite fighter,” Willis said. “I am the elite fighter in the heavyweight division. I have teammates (like UFC champ Daniel Cormier) that are elite, they’ll tell you the same thing. But now it’s just coming here and proving it to the world piece-by-piece, step by step. Crowder was the second step.

“The guy who gets paid is the guy who gets called out,” he continued. “The people will take the suicide mission and come and challenge me and they’ll get decapitated as well.”

Willis won’t call other fighters out, but he does have some thoughts on the top contenders in the weight class, including Francis Ngannou and Alistair Overeem, who co-headlined UFC 218.

“They can kiss my (expletive) ass, and they can get it next if they want to call me out,” Willis said. “When you’re calling people out you’re not making the money. I’m the guy the people will be chasing down.”

For complete coverage of UFC 218, check out the UFC Events section of the site.

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