UFC 130 Video: Demetrious Johnson Explains Why He Beat Miguel Torres

Nick CaronMay 29, 2011

Demetrious Johnson surprised many experts last night by defying the odds and defeating former WEC Bantamweight kingpin Miguel Torres at UFC 130. Johnson’s takedowns and ground-and-pound game, along with his standup, were likely the deciding factors in all three judges scoring the tightly-contested bout for “Mighty Mouse.”

But not everyone agreed with the decision.

In fact, many experts throughout the internet are already calling this one of the worst decisions of 2011 and believe that the judges need to go back to school on how to score jiu-jitsu. The man who benefited, though, disagrees.

“Miguel Torres did have a lot of submission attempts, but I fought through them,” Johnson told MMA Fighting's Ariel Helwani. “I remember one time, we both had a heel hook position...I was pressing forward the whole time.”

“I had way more takedowns. I think I had the better exchange of strikes.”

Known as one of the best strikers in the game, Torres was expected to dominate the fight if it stayed on the feet. Surprisingly, though, that didn’t happen.

“Everybody says he has a good standup, but he just plays a tall man’s game. I had good footwork, I landed like five leg kicks,” Johnson explained.

“I think I won the second and third rounds. The first round, Miguel won that one,” he admitted. “After the second round, all the top control that I had, and the leg kicks, I knew I won that one. Then in the third round, we were back and forth and I was still hurt. I just pushed through it.”

“This is my job. I’m coming after you, I want to win.”

But Johnson didn’t escape the fight unscathed. In fact, he had a nervous moment during the fight where he believed he broke his leg.

“When I landed a leg kick and he checked it, I thought I broke my leg. I kept on pressing forward even though I was the injured animal.”

After the fight, though, he found out that it was not broken and will probably just need to rest.

“It’s feeling good, but I can’t put a lot of weight on it. It crunches a little bit each time I put a lot of weight on it, so I’m going to massage it tonight and hopefully there’s no real damage,” he said.

So what’s next for “Mighty Mouse?” Perhaps a shot at the UFC bantamweight title. But Johnson understands that it’s ultimately up to the UFC and they will decide if and when he is ready.

“You’ve got Brian Bowles over there, he’s about to take on Takeya Mizugakii,” Johnson explained. “He can win that fight and then me and him can meet, and then whoever wins out of me and him could go [fight for the title].”

“Or [the UFC] could be like, ‘Dominick already beat Brian Bowles, we need somebody fresh. We need new talent in there. Somebody who’s quick and elusive like Dominick.’ And if me and Dominick fight, it’s going to be like two guys doing a dance bout in there, throwing punches.”

Johnson is now an impressive 10-1 in his MMA career and appears ready to make a real push in the wide open bantamweight division.