Demetrious Johnson Undergoing Surprise Shoulder Surgery
UFC flyweight champion Demetrious “Mighty Mouse” Johnson on Wednesday made a surprise announcement, revealing that he was about to undergo surgery.
While all signs had been pointing to the UFC pushing Johnson to put his belt on the line in a champion vs. champion superfight against bantamweight titleholder TJ Dillashaw as soon as possible, that fight, and any other title defenses for Johnson, will have to wait.
“It’s 5:42 in the morning. I’m about to go in and get my left shoulder worked on, cleaned up,” Johnson said via his Instagram stories, before explaining how the injury occurred.
“I’ve been having pain in it since December. I grappled nine rounds straight, the next day both shoulders blew up with inflammation, and I will try to get this thing taken care of. Other than that, I will keep you posted via Instagram stories and after I’m done I will do a live stream back in the hotel room doing all the rehab. Wish me luck.”
Johnson last set foot in the Octagon in October of last year, submitting Ray Borg with a stunning variation of an armbar. The victory over Borg cemented his position as the most accomplished champion in UFC history, as he broke the record for most consecutive title defenses that he had previously shared with Anderson Silva.
The UFC had been angling for a fight between Johnson and Dillashaw prior to the Borg bout, but Mighty Mouse refused. After Dillashaw reclaimed the bantamweight belt from Cody Garbrandt at UFC 217 in November, however, talk of the superfight heated up again.
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Now that Johnson is undergoing surgery with an undisclosed timeline for his return, it remains to be seen if the UFC will wait for him to heal and make another push for Johnson vs. Dilllashaw or if they will find someone for Dillashaw to defend the belt against while Johnson is on the mend.
