"Close the motherf****** division" - Demetrious Johnson reveals the truth behind him ‘ducking’ TJ Dillashaw

Demetrious Johnson revealed the truth behind him “ducking” TJ Dillishaw.

Back in 2017, UFC president Dana White pushed for a superfight with the then top-ranked bantamweight competitor TJ Dillashaw to allegedly knock Johnson off his dominating winning streak.

While negotiations were being made to set that up, rumors spread that Johnson was too afraid to fight Dillashaw at 125 lbs. Fast track to the present day, DJ made a reaction video to a fan-made video called The Man the UFC Erased, which made similar assumptions to those past events.

In the video, Dillashaw was seen claiming that the reason the fight didn’t happen was because DJ was “ducking” him. To make matters worse, Dana White was also shown saying “Dillashaw is calling me every day if he has the fight.”

Demetrious Johnson revealed part of the story of how things went down and said:

“You know the beautiful thing about keeping it real is that you don’t throw any bull****. So here it is. They did offer me the TJ fight. I said, ‘absolutely. Pay me a million dollars.’ Dana says no. I say ‘okay, we go on forward’.

“Then they went on and said ‘if you don’t take this fight, we’re gonna close the division.’ I said, ‘go ahead and close the motherf****** division.’ TJ, on the other hand, was gassing up following a narrative trying to get this fight, and with him doing that, I was like, okay. Then when I saw TJ many years down the road in Disneyland, I walked to him like a f****** man…we started chatting up and I said ‘dude, why’d you say all those mean things about me? I’ve always shown you a lot of respect.’ He says, ‘oh man, I was just trying to get a fight.’”

---

Demetrious Johnson pitched a fight with TJ under his terms, UFC said ‘no’

Demetrious Johnson has always wanted to fight TJ Dillashaw since day one. After the initial negotiations fell through, DJ said he went back to discuss the TJ fight again.

TJ Dillshaw recaptured the bantamweight belt in a rematch against former rival Cody Garbrandt.

Due to TJ having problems cutting to 125 lbs, Johnson’s camp asked the UFC that if TJ couldn’t get to 125 lbs to fight him, then he would fight for TJ’s belt. The UFC said ‘no.’

In 2019, Dillashaw was suspended for 2 years by the USADA for using EPO, a performance-enhancing drug. Johnson said TJ later admitted that he also took the drug after he felt his body crashing while trying to make weight as he was willing to go to any lengths to get the fight with DJ. Demetrious Johnson later went on to say he has nothing but love for Dillashaw.