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The quickness mesmerized Tim Elliott.
The newest winner of “The Ultimate Fighter” will never forget the first time he saw UFC flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson fight. Johnson was just an up-and-comer on a preliminary bout of a WEC card, but the way he used his footwork to fly around the cage struck Elliott.
“He’s so lightning fast,” Elliott said. “I think he beats a lot of people on speed alone.”
From that moment six years ago, the 30-year-old Johnson became a favorite fighter of the 29-year-old Elliott. At 7 p.m. on Saturday night at the Pearl at the Palms, he becomes an opponent.
Elliott (13-6-1 MMA, 2-4 UFC) challenges Johnson (24-2-1 MMA, 12-1-1 UFC) in the main event of “The Ultimate Fighter: Tournament of Champions” finale, which airs live on Fox Sports 1. Johnson is out to retain his unofficial but consensus title of being the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world while moving within one victory of Anderson Silva’s record of 10 straight UFC title defenses.
“To be honest, he deserves more accolades than what he’s getting,” Elliott said. “He’s winning every fight, and he’s doing it with ease.”
Johnson has never lost since the UFC implemented his natural 125-pound weight class four years ago. But while his counterpart champions are commanding massive pay-per-view audiences in some of the biggest arenas in the world, Johnson is stashed on free television in a midsized concert venue.
Elliott echoes many others in the sport who plead for Johnson to get more attention. Everyone seems concerned over the champion’s profile — everyone, that is, expect the champion himself.
“I’m not worried about it,” Johnson said for the umpteenth time over the last several years. “I don’t care what people think.”
Part of the problem is Johnson has proven so much more proficient than everyone else in his division. For example, the fighters ranked directly behind him at flyweight, Joseph Benavidez and Henry Cejudo, meet in Saturday’s co-main event.
Johnson knocked them both out in less than three minutes within the last three years. To face an opponent perceived to have a chance against him, Johnson would need to move back up to the bantamweight division.
It’s a shift he’s unwilling to make unless the UFC gives him a strong financial incentive.
“If it’s a money fight, that’s what I’m going to do,” Johnson said. “But I’m not in the business of trying to get more brain damage by fighting bigger bodies.”
Elliott is four inches taller with a reach that’s two inches longer, but those might be the only advantages he holds against Johnson. He won “TUF” to earn the shot against Johnson only after getting cut from the UFC following three straight losses last year.
But Elliott said he didn’t even know how to properly strike during his first UFC stint and got by only though toughness while fighting as a hobby. The loss of his job with the UFC and the birth of his daughter gave him a new purpose and inspired him to improve.
He won all three fights in the Kansas City-based Titan Fighting Championships as well as four more in “TUF” after his UFC exit. Still, as a minus-950 (risking $9.50 to win $1) favorite, Johnson is expected to crush Elliott.
There’s almost nothing Johnson can do in the fight to improve his public stature. It’s left up to fighters like Elliott to try to explain the eminence of Johnson.
“He’s a great champion,” Elliott said. “He’s built a legacy and it’s an honor for me to share the octagon with him.”
Case Keefer can be reached at 948-2790 or [email protected]. Follow Case on Twitter at twitter.com/casekeefer.
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