5 times Demetrious 'Mighty Mouse' Johnson was in trouble in the UFC

#4 vs. John Dodson, UFC on Fox 6 – 01/26/13

John Dodson's punching power had Johnson in trouble in 2013

Johnson’s first title defense came just four months after he won the Flyweight crown, and this fight was also arguably the closest he came to losing his newly-won title, too. Coming into the fight, the feeling was that opponent John Dodson would be an extremely dangerous foe due to his incredible punching power and unbelievable speed, and that proved to be true – especially in the second round.

After finding it hard to establish his range in the first round, Dodson suddenly found a lot of success in the second and began to land his counter left hand as the champion pushed forward. A combination had Johnson down midway through the round, and when he got back to his feet, he found himself badly hurt and dropped again by Dodson’s big left hand. Despite having the champ in a lot of trouble though, Dodson was unable to finish Mighty Mouse off.

That proved to be his undoing, as by the time the third round began, Johnson had adjusted to avoid Dodson’s heavy counters, and then began to wear him out from the clinch – nullifying his apparent speed advantage – and the fourth and fifth rounds clearly went to the champion, allowing him to take a unanimous decision. It was a gutsy performance from Johnson – but five years on it also stands as evidence that Mighty Mouse can be hurt.