Deiveson Figueiredo vs. Demetrious Johnson - Who would've won in a fight?
This weekend sees UFC 256 take place in Las Vegas, and in the main event, current UFC Flyweight champion Deiveson Figueiredo will defend his title against top contender Brandon Moreno. It’s only been a matter of weeks since we last saw Deiveson Figueiredo inside the Octagon.
The God of War defended his title for the first time against Alex Perez, finishing his opponent inside the first round with a guillotine choke. If he defeats Moreno, as most people expect, then he’ll have defended his title twice.
However, that still puts him miles behind former UFC Flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson. Mighty Mouse became the division’s inaugural kingpin at UFC 152 back in 2012 by defeating Joseph Benavidez and went onto defend his title on 11 occasions – the most title defenses in UFC history.
Johnson would eventually drop his title to Henry Cejudo in a controversial fight in 2018. He has since departed the UFC, moving to Singapore’s ONE FC in exchange for Welterweight Ben Askren. Since moving, Mighty Mouse has not been defeated – going 3-0 in his new promotion to claim a shot at their Flyweight title.
Right now, there can be no question that Deiveson Figueiredo has a long way to go before he can match the UFC legacy of Demetrious Johnson. However, could The God of War have defeated the former UFC kingpin in his prime? It’s a very tricky question.
Firstly, a disclaimer: there’s every chance that Johnson is still in his prime. He didn’t exactly lose badly to Cejudo, is unbeaten since leaving the UFC, and is still only 34 years old. And since moving to ONE FC, it’s not like his game has changed a lot, if at all.
However, the question here is whether the Deiveson Figueiredo currently ruling the UFC’s Flyweight division with an iron fist could beat the version of Demetrious Johnson who ruled the division from 2012 to 2018.
Deiveson Figueiredo vs. Demetrious Johnson – Strengths
To begin with, let’s look at the strengths of both fighters. In terms of Deiveson Figueiredo's strengths, we can look no further than his incredible power and explosiveness.
One of the best natural athletes in the UFC’s Flyweight division, if not in the entire promotion, Deiveson Figueiredo possesses striking power largely unheard of for a 125lber. In the UFC alone, he’s got four TKO finishes to his name, but that’s almost underselling his ability on the feet.
His submission win over Joseph Benavidez, for instance, was triggered by a brutal knockdown. And he also hurt Jarred Brooks and Alexandre Pantoja with his strikes too.
Simply put, nobody in the Flyweight division hits as hard as Deiveson Figueiredo. If you trade off with him, you’re probably going to sleep.
However, Deiveson Figueiredo is equally dangerous on the ground. A black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Deiveson Figueiredo also has eight submissions on his overall ledger to go with his nine knockouts.
The guillotine choke appears to be his go-to move – he’s got five wins using the hold, including two in the UFC. But he seems to be dangerous from any position on the mat.
Demetrious Johnson, meanwhile, saw his strengths develop over his eight-year UFC tenure. When he arrived in the UFC, Mighty Mouse was almost a pure wrestler whose greatest attribute was his blinding speed.
This speed dazzled his foes at 135lbs and allowed him to land takedowns in practically all of his early UFC fights. And at 125lbs, his speed remained a major strength, as he often appeared to be moving on a completely different plane to his opponents.
Johnson’s takedowns and top game were excellent throughout his time in the UFC. But by the end of his time with the promotion, he’d become one of the most well-rounded fighters in the world. His striking – based around clean technique and accuracy, as well as movement and speed – enabled him to pick up wins over Cejudo, Benavidez, and John Dodson.
On the mat, meanwhile, he developed his submission skills hugely too. A brown belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu under famed coach Matt Hume, Mighty Mouse, was able to tap out five of his opponents in the UFC, with submission wins giving him the majority of his seven finishes in the promotion.
Johnson’s cardio was also fantastic throughout his tenure with the UFC. In fact, prior to his stretch of finishes in the latter part of his time with the promotion, he was often unfairly labeled a “boring fighter” purely because of his penchant for fights that went to decision.
Of his 18 fights in the UFC, 10 of them went the distance. And Johnson only came out on the wrong end of a single decision – his debatable loss to Henry Cejudo.
But perhaps the most underrated facet of Johnson’s game was his toughness. Mighty Mouse suffered bad knockdowns at both Benavidez and Dodson's hands but came back to defeat both men.
And when Timothy Elliott trapped him in a tight D’Arce choke, Mighty Mouse remained calm, adjusted his position, and eventually escaped, outpointing his opponent over five rounds.
Deiveson Figueiredo vs. Demetrious Johnson – Weaknesses
It’s hard to really pinpoint the weaknesses of Deiveson Figueiredo when you consider that he’s won nine of his 10 bouts inside the UFC. The God of War is clearly an exceptionally well-rounded fighter with phenomenal offensive skills in all areas.
However, his loss to Jussier Formiga in March 2019 did give some insight into how an opponent could overcome the Brazilian.
Essentially, Formiga was able to avoid Deiveson Figueiredo’s powerful strikes by refusing to engage him in a firefight. Instead, the former Shooto champion played a counter-striking game and was actually able to catch Deiveson Figueiredo with the cleaner shots during the fight.
Where he really won out, though, was in his ability to take Deiveson Figueiredo down. We’d seen The God of War grounded before – in his 2017 fight with Jarred Brooks – but Brooks had never really been able to control the Brazilian.
Formiga, on the other hand, was able to keep him firmly grounded, even when Deiveson Figueiredo cut him with elbows from the bottom. It is worth noting that Formiga was and remains a truly exceptional grappler, particularly from the top and when he’s got back control. But the performance did show that Deiveson Figueiredo isn’t flawless.
The God of War has another major question mark around him, and that’s his cardio. It’s true that we’ve never really seen him gas out in a fight – even in the Formiga loss. But it’s also worth remembering that in 10 UFC fights, he’s been the distance just three times.
Sure, he looked to be the fitter fighter in his win over Brooks and also didn’t really slow down against Alexandre Pantoja. But in a hypothetical fight against someone comfortable in going five rounds like Demetrious Johnson, you’ve got to wonder how his gas tank would hold up.
However, it’s also fair to say that Johnson showed a handful of weaknesses throughout his UFC tenure, too, despite his massive success.
Despite the great developments in his striking across his eight years with the promotion, Mighty Mouse was still liable to getting hit. And obviously, that penchant allowed both Benavidez and Dodson to come close to finishing him. It’s arguable, in fact, that Benavidez could have finished him had he followed his knockdown with more strikes.
Had he done that, then Johnson would never have become the inaugural UFC Flyweight champ. However, Benavidez instead went for a guillotine choke, Johnson escaped, and the rest is history.
But it’s almost certainly fair to say that Mighty Mouse had his greatest difficulties with opponents who were able to put him on his back. This didn’t happen often, largely due to Johnson’s incredible speed and wrestling skill. But when it did, it definitely exposed a crack in his armor.
In his first UFC outing at Flyweight, for instance, Ian McCall took Johnson down on a number of occasions. McCall actually ended the third round in full mount, hammering Mighty Mouse with unanswered punches.
On another day, it could well have led to a TKO loss for Johnson, and with different judges, it probably should’ve led to a decision loss.
Dominick Cruz also grounded Johnson in his unsuccessful attempt to become the UFC Bantamweight champion in 2011. And, of course, Henry Cejudo’s takedowns and ground control were largely the reason for his win over Mighty Mouse in 2018.
We never really saw Johnson taken down by a high-level submission expert, though. He did fight a number of such opponents – Timothy Elliott, Wilson Reis, Miguel Torres – but was largely able to avoid being taken down by them.
Deiveson Figueiredo vs. Demetrious Johnson – Who would win?
Basically then, with respect to Cejudo, I think it’s probably fair to say that a fight between these two men would represent the best two Flyweights in UFC history going head-to-head. And, of course, that means that it’d be a pretty tricky fight to pick.
Firstly I’d go as far as saying that if a finish occurred, then it’d probably be Deiveson Figueiredo getting his hand raised. Demetrious Johnson was able to put together a number of finishes in his UFC career, particularly towards the end of his tenure with the promotion.
However, it’s worth noting that the majority of them – particularly his submission wins – came over tired and beaten-down opponents in the later rounds.
Mighty Mouse was also never hit – with respect to John Dodson – by an opponent who had the thunderous power of Deiveson Figueiredo.
However, it’s probably fair to say that in order to knock Johnson out, Deiveson Figueiredo would first need to connect with one of his hits. And I believe there’s a question mark over whether he’d have been able to do that.
Formiga was able to land plenty of strikes on The God of War purely by remaining calm under fire and being the more accurate, cleaner puncher. And judging by Johnson’s second fight with Dodson in 2015, I suspect he would’ve been able to do the same.
More to the point, part of Formiga’s success came through the threat of the takedown, and of course, Mighty Mouse is a far superior wrestler to Formiga. So could he have taken Deiveson Figueiredo down as Formiga did? I’d say it’s definitely a strong possibility.
However, it is worth considering that if a scramble was to see Deiveson Figueiredo land on top, then there’s every chance that he’d have been capable of doing what Cejudo and McCall were unable to do – finish Mighty Mouse.
Overall, though, I feel like this match would’ve favored Johnson. Like Formiga, I suspect he would’ve been able to mix in his striking and wrestling to neutralize Deiveson Figueiredo’s power.
And over five rounds, with the question marks around Deiveson Figueiredo’s cardio, Mighty Mouse probably could’ve pushed a strong enough pace to force the Brazilian to wilt.
In my mind, Deiveson Figueiredo still has the opportunity to be recognized as the UFC’s all-time greatest Flyweight. But in a fight with prime Demetrious Johnson, he probably would’ve lost.