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

#5 vs. Timothy Elliott, Ultimate Fighter XXIV Finale – 12/03/16

Timothy Elliott almost upset Johnson in 2016

By mid-2016 it had become pretty clear that Johnson had developed into one of the greatest champions in UFC history, and after beating Henry Cejudo – who it must be said, was probably given his initial title shot too early – the list of contenders for his crown was looking thin. So the UFC put together a series of The Ultimate Fighter to find the next challenger – bringing champions from outside the UFC in to create a tournament loaded with talent.

In the end though, it was Timothy Elliott – a fighter who’d washed out of the UFC in 2015 with three straight losses – who won the season and earned his title shot. Nobody was really giving him a chance against the UFC’s most dominant champion, and yet he came closer than anyone had done in years to defeating Mighty Mouse – surprisingly enough, by using his grappling.

The first round began with a wild scramble following a Johnson takedown, and incredibly enough, Elliott came out on top, gaining side mount before locking up a tight-looking guillotine. Although Johnson managed to free himself from that, Elliott then locked him into a D’Arce choke – and for a moment at least, it looked like one of the biggest upsets in UFC history was about to happen.

Johnson was able to free himself from that predicament largely through sheer toughness, but in the waning seconds of the round, he found himself in deep trouble again – this time after Elliott stunned him with a left hand and almost put him down face-first.

In the end though, Mighty Mouse survived the round despite being in trouble, and from there he made the correct adjustments – using his grappling but not taking too many risks – to clearly take the remaining four rounds. But although he won the fight, Elliott showed he was human – and that even against a champion the calibre of Johnson, an upset is always possible.