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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
"The gameplan was to use my speed, which is one of my greatest assets. Joseph, he throws big bombs, and when you throw big bombs, you have to swing your arms wild, and that's where you get that power. When people do that, they leave themselves open for a lot of big shots. That's one of the things that I didn't get to execute on: staying in the pocket. I made Joseph miss, but I wasn't able to make him pay for missing as much as I wanted to... When I fought Ian McCall, and when I fought Joseph Benavidez, you look at those guys' records, and these guys have only lost twice in their entire lives. And they're not even finishes. When you look at the guy, you think he's got heart, determination, and he's mentally focused. In order for this guy to get knocked out or finished, he's got to make a stupid mistake. When you've got the best guys in the world going after it, there's no room for error, and we're not going to go out there and make an error because we're not stupid. So that's basically what you see."
-New UFC Flyweight Champion Demetrious Johnson talks to MMAJunkie.com about his gameplan against Joseph Benavidez at UFC 152, and addresses the criticisms of Saturday's fight.
Penick's Analysis: My main issue with Johnson's performance in the fight is exactly what he addressed here, the fact that he didn't execute and make Benavidez pay for missing. Avoidance is one thing, but there needs to be offense delivered as well, and Johnson himself realized that he didn't do enough of that. That's one of the main reasons there are a lot of critics of Dominick Cruz, and it's something that Johnson now faces. Johnson's not wrong about why a fight like Saturday's will play out the way it did, and it's definitely a fair point. But that competitiveness and mistake-free mindset can often lead to some duller fights. That's one of the reasons Georges St-Pierre has been criticized in the last several years, and it's going to continue to be an issue for many fans in fights like that one on Saturday.
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Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
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