UFC 191 Fallout

What to do with Demetrious Johnson? The UFC is in a strange spot. The first and only Flyweight champion is easily one of the most talented fighters in MMA. He may just be the most technically sound fighter we will ever. He's dominated the division for years now. He's never had a wiff scandal in his career. Unlike some fighters who coast to the victory he's always trying to finish. But for what ever reason Johnson has never connected with the fans like the UFC has wanted. His buy rates and TV ratings are among the lowest the UFC gets for championship fight. There isn't a great among casual fans when Johnson is getting ready to fight.

Of course Johnson doesn't seem to care. Perhaps rather smartly he seems happy to fight his style of fights build his legacy and figure if greater fame and fortune will come than they will come. No doubt the UFC was hoping for a super exciting rematch with Johnson and Dodson. After all Dodson the man who rocked the champion still posed a power punch that could damage. Instead though UFC 191 was just another night where Johnson looked to be a pro fighting an armature.

The In Ring Action- Dodson's best chance to win was to land a powerful shot. But that was easier said than done. Johnson has vastly improved since the first fight and never lot Dodson land that clean shot that could do real damage. Dodson is a counter striker but Johnson never gave him a chance to counter seemingly landing and forcing Dodson to defend rather than counter. Even when Dodson did land it was more a reaction to what Johnson was doing. Dodson did block a number of takedowns early on but that wasn't enough. By the end of the fight Johnson was able to take Dodson off his feet. Johnson was trying to break his challenger but never quite could. But there no doubt who the better fighter is. The semi main event many were hoping for an exciting throw down. Both Andre Arlovski and Frank Mir were coming off back to back KO's. On top of that both men have numerous highlight reel finishes. We didn’t' get that. Both men were cautious. Not wanting to make a mistake and get caught. Mir clearly won round two but one and three were could have gone either way. Arlovski seemed disappointed in his performance but he still got the win.

Anthony Johnson rebounded strongly with a win over Jimi Manuwa. Using more wrestling than he has in a while Johnson took Manuwa down and tired him out before landing a devastating punch to knock the UK fighter out. How Johnson will fair facing a higher level wrestler remains to be seen but he is working on the skill. Corey Anderson rebounded from his first career loss with the most dominate win of his young career. Anderson's wrestling allowed him to keep putting Jan Blachowicz on his back taking away his striking ability. The main card opened with Paige Vanzant dominating Alex Chambers. PVZ never gave the Chambers a breaks every second fight she seemed to be coming forward and jerking her around in the clinch.

The prelims easily featured the best fight of the night. John Linker and Franciso Rivera went crazy throwing hay makers for about two minutes straight before the fight spilled to the ground and Linker got a guillotine submission. That wasn't the only highlight from the free portion. Raquel Pennington managed to avenge her previous loss to Jessica Andrade. Rocky found herself down when she escaped a mounted position late in the second and than secured a rear naked choke for the win. Pennington is the type of fighter who simply is better than her record would indicate.

Biggest Winners

Demetrius Johnson- Sadly like I said at the start of this article Johnson will have his detractors. IT could even be heard during the main event as fans booed. But there is no denying Johnson's talent. He's not moved closer to the all time record for most UFC title defenses. His victory over Dodson was nearly flawless. He shut Dodson down for the most part. Dodson was among the very short list of contenders that people thought could beat Johnson. But it appears that window closed. Johnson and his teamed had adjusted to Dodson's skill set and knew how to take his advantages away. Some day people will look back at Johnson's accomplishments and realize what a special champion he was. But Johnson by all indications will be holding that belt for a long time to come.

In many ways Johnson is as close to Floyd Mayweather as MMA may ever get. Obviously I'm not talking about personality. But Mayweather has made a career out of taking as little punishment as he can. For a man that was in a twenty five minute fight Johnson looked more like he had engaged in some light cardio. Like Mayweather Johnson also makes supposed world class fighter look like they have no idea what they are doing. Johnson made Dodson punch the air a lot.

Paige Vanzant- Vanzant has quickly become a star in the UFC. Of course it's not without controversy. Detractors see the pretty young girl ans assume it's purely her looks that got her there. Coming into UFC 191 Vanzant had done all she could to silence those people she was 2-0 and coming off a strong win over veteran Felice Herring. The Chambers fight could have been a trap fight. Chambers isn't ranked and she not was not viewed as overly dangerous. Its the kind of fight anyone could look past and be more worried about the next fight. Vanzant though didn't fall into the trap. There are still clearly holes in Vanzant's game at times she was caught by Chambers and even admits she was worried to take the fight to the ground. But Vanzant has shown improvement in every UFC fight she has had. Vanzant and her team seem to be willing to take it slow as they know she's not ready for a title shot. But slow for Vanzant will be faster than most.

Biggest Losers

John Dodson- Dodson joins the already lost twice to a dominate champion along side Miesha Tate and fellow flyweight Joseph Benavidez. So long as Johnson is the top man at 125 the odds of Dodson getting another title shot are long. Dodson has the speed and power to remain a top contender for years to come. But even if he does string together a long winning streak they argument will always be “he's had his chances lets give someone knew a shot.” Just ask Tate about that. It doesn't help Dodson talked big before the fight. Talking about “Saving” the flyweight division before moving up to beat Dillishaw again. The truth is though he can't even claim “I knocked him down.” After this fight and it doesn't appear the current John Dodson could move up and be any threat to the current TJ Dillishaw. Dodson remains very much the same fighter he was on TUF. If he lands he can win but against the elite that just isn't enough.

Joe Riggs- Diesel Riggs got his first win in the UFC in a very long time but it's a win in name only. Riggs was badly beat up by Ron Stallings and his eye was closing fast. Than in the second Stallings landed an illegal up kick when Riggs was a downed fighter. Replays showed the kick landed on the jaw and no where near the eye. Riggs though claimed he couldn't see and the ref incorrectly believed the kick caused the problem. The truth is Riggs got a gift win instead of an injury stoppage loss. Not helping Riggs he missed weight despite moving up to middleweight from welterweight. It's nothing personal against Riggs but he's a fighter with 58 career fights he had lost two in a row since returning to the UFC and should have lost this one.

Jan Blachowicz- The guy fought a three round fight and two judges scored it 30-25 against him. Blachowicz gassed badly and all but gave up in his fight with Anderson. He found some early success with his kickboxing. But once Anderson took got the momentum Blachowicz seemed lost. Even worse for Blachowicz this a major chance for him to show something. Even if he had lost but looked good or exciting fans would have wanted to him again. Instead he's now 0-2 in the UFC with an awful one sided loss on a big show. Don't be shocked if Jan Blachowicz is on cut list.

What Come Next- Trying to figure out who is next for Johnson is a growing challenge. Johnson is dominate and so skilled in every area of MMA there isn't someone who would appear to have any advantage on him. Many have penciled in former gold medal winner Henry Cejudo in as the next challenger. Cejduo has a fight booked with Jussier Formiga in November. With Formiga ranked third and on a three fight winning streak there is no reason not to give the winner of that fight the next title shot. Unless the UFC decides to do Dillishaw vs. Johnson for the Bantamweight title but with Dominick Cruz still out there that isn't likely. Paige Vanzant and her team admit they don't want to rush her into a title shot. Vanzant has holes in her game but physical gifts have allowed her to over come them. So there is no reason to rush her into a top level fight I see two possibility. One is Randa Markos who according to the most recent UFC rankings is at 7 while PVZ is 6. Markos has few more fight and while she has a 5-3 record she has looked good at times. The other Rose Namjunas. Thug Rose appeared to be the break star in the making after TUF 20 but lost to Carla Esparza in the finals. She hasn't fought since but is set to face Angela Hill at UFC 192. Like PVZ, Namjunas is young has tons of potential but has some gaps to fill in.

As I said earlier John Dodson is in a tough spot. He's lost twice to the champion but remains a top contender. He's not good enough to the best but good enough to beat most. As a result you could see some fighters on the verge of title shot not want to face him in order keep said shot in tact. So its easy have him face Joseph Benavidez. Benavidez has been in limbo since his second loss to Johnson he's getting fights but nothing to get him closer to a third show. Plus can you really say it wouldn't be a good fight? Andrei Arlovski had a less than impressive win over Frank Mir that appeared to not move him any closer to another title shot. With the rematch between Werdum and Velasquez delayed until March the Pitbull still earn another title shot. I say give him either the winner of JDS vs. Overreem. Either way it would be two great strikers. And all three men hold a win over Werdum.