Super Fight Taking a Back Seat
The UFC approached UFC 227 with some big announcements during the week talking about their fall schedule and providing fans with aa lot to get excited about.
Another exciting fight was on the horizon for some fans who could see the writing on the wall when the card for UFC 227 was announced.
The main event and co-main event involved two fighters that seemed to be destined to face each other in another super fight, a true super fight.
When TJ Dillashaw beat Cody Garbrandt for the bantamweight title the rumours immediately started.
Although he hadn’t done a lot in the division and hadn’t cleared everything out there was that attitude that he could bring some attention to a super fight.
That fight would have been against the consensus pound-for-pound best in the world, Demetrious Johnson.
After clearing out the entire flyweight division there wasn’t a lot left for Johnson to do and so the assumption was that he would move up and take on bantamweight again.
To kick that off there may have been no better fight than one against Dillashaw that would have pitted champion against champion.
It was going to be the same as the heavyweight-light heavyweight super fight earlier this year and although it would have been the opposite end of the spectrum on weight the skill was going to be there.
That fight never came to fruition though as nobody seemed to be able to agree on how big a fight it would have been.
Instead, both fighters were given challengers for their own belts and both were very familiar to the champions.
Dillashaw would defend his belt against the man he beat to get it and the man who represented an entire camp that had a real issue with Dillashaw.
Johnson would get a chance to extend his record-breaking title defence streak against a man he had already beaten during that streak in Henry Cejudo.
With both fighting on the same card, there may have been something in the air during this entertainment era.
If both could win it would be a logical step to match them up against each other for the super fight.
It would work out perfectly but both needed to get past their title defences in order for that to happen.
No super fight is made up of two former champions so both Dillashaw and Johnson needed to retain their titles and the conversation could start for a super fight.
For Johnson, it seemed like the easy thing as he had already beat Cejudo and there has been no fighter to even come close to beating the champion in years.
With eleven straight title defences, he had established himself as unbeatable which is why the super fight seemed to be a sure thing.
Cejudo was coming in two years after being beat by Johnson and believed that he had made the adjustments necessary to beat Johnson and shock the world.
Those two years seemed to be exactly what Cejudo needed to solve the problem that was Demetrious Johnson.
It wasn’t a necessarily dominant performance from Cejudo but it was never going to be against the best fighter in the FUC.
He did just enough with his takedowns and ability to wrestle that he earned the favour of the judges and get the split decision win.
It was a shocking win for the challenger as nobody thought that Johnson would ever be beaten and yet Cejudo did the impossible.
It crowned only the second flyweight champion in the UFC but also hurt that ability to get that super fight as Johnson is no longer a champion and will likely look for an immediate rematch.
With half of the equation done it was time for Dillashaw to begin solidifying his own legacy in the bantamweight division.
He would look to do that against a rival who he had already beat and was now looking to shut out for good.
Dillashaw and Garbrandt had a lot of history and with Garbrandt looking like the young up and coming guy when he was a champion he had the ability to take back his belt.
Both fighters went after it again in this one with the aggressive style of Garbrandt trying to pressure Dillashaw.
Initially, that strategy didn’t work well as Dillashaw was able to counter and sit Garbrandt down multiple times in the first round.
The second time was the beginning of the end as Dillashaw went after his rival and landed a number of big shots including a knee that forced the referee to end the fight.
Dillashaw took the win and closed the chapter against Garbrandt and although Cejudo called out the winner of the fight there are a lot more people for Dillashaw to face.
The super fight isn’t going to happen but two fighters stepped up in a big way on a big night to do something special.
Cejudo shocked the world with the win against the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world while Dillashaw solidified his spot at the top and now looks to a growing list of challengers.
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