Would Demetrious Johnson vs TJ Dillashaw really have been a superfight?
Demetrious Johnson or TJ Dillashaw aren’t huge PPV draws and Dillashaw no longer holds a UFC title, so probably not.
However, if that fight were to be booked, it would have at least garnered more attention from hardcore MMA fans than the title defence ‘Mighty Mouse’ booked against Ray Borg for UFC 215.
As much as it displeases Dana White, Johnson and Dillashaw won’t be duking it out anytime soon as Dillashaw has vowed to wait for Cody Garbrandt to recover from his injury so he can try to reclaim the bantamweight strap.
White namedropped Conor McGregor (twice) in his rant https://t.co/YwKOMaxCBe
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) June 29, 2017
Johnson has explained at length what he wanted from the UFC in order to put the Dillashaw fight together, but he only revealed the exact reason why it fell through on the Anything Goes with TJ and Forest podcast. There was one sticking point in the contract negotiations and the UFC refused to budge.
“The money stipulation was that Matt (Hume), my coach, said that if he (Dillashaw) was not to make weight, we would get his pay plus my guaranteed pay and the fight wouldn’t happen.”
“Obviously, these negotiations are behind us now. The UFC was like, ‘No, we can’t guarantee that.’ So, I’m like, ‘Soooo the fight’s not going to happen.'”
Such a shame, but at least Johnson will find some solace knowing he won’t be attempting to break Anderson Silva’s consecutive defence record against a fighter who never competed at 125 lbs before.
