UFC Flyweight Champion Demetrious Johnson recently broke the UFC consecutive title defense record when he submitted Ray Borg at UFC 216.
The flyweight title holder has had a lot of success in his career due to his defensive tactics and he wants youngers fighters to learn those skills as well.
?I mean, I saw Bobby Green and Lando Vannata (at UFC 216), and everybody in the back was like, ?Oh, man, that?s a sick fight!? And I?m like, ?Dude, look at his face, that cannot be good for his brain,?? Johnson said on The MMA Hour. ?I?m just honest. I think [Vannata] is an amazing fighter, he has a great game, he comes forward, does a good job mixing it up, great power. But for me, if I was his coach, I?d be like, ?Dude, you need to work on your wrestling. We need to work on your clinch game. We need to work on not taking so much damage, because I want you to have a long career.? When you?re done fighting, I don?t want to look back at your fights and be like, ?Oh man, you were such a sick-ass fighter, you did this and this.? I want to look back at your career and be like, ?Man, you did such a good job of not taking any damage, and look, you have something to show for it. You have a 15-year career, instead of a short three or four years because of all the concussions you?ve taken.? So that?s my whole thing. But those two fighters, amazing. I told Bobby Green, I was like, ?Damn, dog, you go have that five-piece chicken meal. I was worried about you. You?ve got to duck and move and do some wrestling, homie.??
White Johnson was critical of the Bobby Green/Lando Vannata bout at UFC 216, it did take home the ?Fight Of The Night? award for the show.
Johnson also remains critical of his own performances and there are some things he wish he would?ve done better against Borg.
?I think I could?ve lit him up a little more on the feet,? Johnson said. ?But like, when I hit him with my cross and I saw him, he just smiled, I thought, ?Okay, you?ve got a hard head. You?ve got a granite chin.? So I was like, okay. I?m always calculating everything, so I was like, ?Okay, if I stand and bang with him, there?s I chance I get clipped, and then that clip, I can get a mouse under my eyes or I can get cut, et cetera, et cetera.??
There are currently no plans set on stone for Johnson?s next title defense, but he has previously stated he would fight the winner of Sergio Pettis vs. Henry Cejudo at UFC 218 next.