Who has Demetrious Johnson lost to in his MMA career?

Demetrious Johnson
Demetrious Johnson (Image credit: Getty Images)

Many believe that dominating a sport should automatically make one a top contender for the greatest of all time. Unfortunately, some legends are overlooked despite their incredible accomplishments. Such was the case for UFC flyweight GOAT Demetrious Johnson. On paper, Mighty Mouse was more skilled and accomplished than nearly all of his peers during his prime. However, the flyweight division was often seen as lackluster, leading to less fan engagement in the fights. Despite his exceptional dominance, he had to earn respect from the UFC through force, and even then, he never received the recognition he truly deserved.

Recently, one of the best to ever grace the sport, DJ, left the scene for good as he announced his retirement from ONE 168. While there’s no doubt that Mighty Mouse, Johnson, was one of the best in the flyweight division, his career did have its standout moments. He held the belt from 2012 to 2018, successfully defending it 11 times. His fights were often marked by one-sided dominance, reflected in his impressive 25-4-1 record, most of which came within the UFC. Given his stellar career, one question that often comes up is: who was the opponent that DJ managed to outshine? Here’s the answer.

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Demetrious Johnson’s First and Last Loss

Unlike Conor McGregor, Jon Jones and other top athletes who had a more glamorous start, his start in professional MMA was not exactly a fairytale. Like Georges St-Pierre, he struggled in the early stages of his career. In fact, he suffered a loss in his fourth fight ever, which took place in 2010. This early loss was tough but important, as he dominated after this loss.

Speaking of his first loss, in 2010, Mighty Mouse faced Brad Pickett in a WEC match. Pickett was all over Johnson on the ground, taking him down and dealing him some serious damage. Although Johnson tried to fight back, Pickett’s ground game was too much. Ultimately, Pickett won the match.

Johnson’s last career loss came against Adriano Moraes on April 7, 2021, for the ONE Championship flyweight title at ONE on TNT 1 in Singapore. Despite his dominant performance at ONE Championship, where he was an excellent fighter, this loss was hard to swallow. Moraes scored a knockout victory in the second round, which surprised many in the MMA world. Furthermore, Johnson was seen as nearly unstoppable leading up to this fight, making the result even more shocking to fans and analysts.

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Mighty Mouse vs. Dominick Cruz

Although Pickett handed Johnson his first-ever MMA loss, it wasn’t his first setback in the UFC. Upon joining the biggest MMA promotion, he went all out, knocking out Norifumi Yamamoto and then taking on Miguel Torres. His momentum was unstoppable, but things took a turn for the worse after he lost a title shot to Dominick Cruz. Mighty Mouse couldn’t keep up his energy and fell hard.

In 2011, Cruz defeated Mighty Mouse via unanimous decision, a big deal considering Mighty Mouse had only lost twice in the UFC. This was the only second loss in his UFC career where his opponent dominated throughout and secured a safe unanimous decision victory.

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Demetrious Johnson’s last UFC fight ends in disappointment against Henry Cejudo

After losing to Dominick Cruz, Johnson transformed into a completely different beast, and didn’t lose a single fight after that. Interestingly enough, during that time, he captured the title from Joseph Benavidez and defended it 11 times in a row, defeating the likes of Henry Cejudo, Ray Borg and others. However, his last UFC fight didn’t go well for him, as he lost to Cejudo at UFC 227 via a split decision, which was indeed controversial.

Despite a few bumps in the road, Mighty Mouse has had a solid MMA career, racking up 25 wins, beating some of the biggest names and cementing his status as a legitimate pound-for-pound GOAT, earning the respect of superstars like Khabib Nurmagomedov and others who nod in agreement.

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