UFC
Demetrious Johnson's coach says they wanted to show his power at UFC on Fox 9 against Joseph Benavidez
Dec 20, 2013 - 8:00:52 PM Demetrious Johnson's coach says they wanted to show his power at UFC on Fox 9 against Joseph Benavidez

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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

The end result of last Saturday's UFC on Fox 9 main event came as a shock to most, but not to Demetrious Johnson's camp. The UFC Flyweight Champion knocked out Joseph Benavidez with a fantastic right hand to the jaw, followed up with some strikes on the ground, and that's just what he and his team sent out to do.

The finish came as a surprise given he hadn't knocked anyone out in years, and that the two fighters had fought for 25 close minutes just over a year ago. However, Johnson's coach Matt Hume this week explained that things went exactly according to plan.

"He did exactly what we worked on," Hume said in an interview with Yahoo! Sports this week. "We spent most of the previous fight just making Joseph miss and mixing up combinations on him, taking him down and playing that game. This time I wanted DJ to really show the power that people haven't seen from him. Every time out [Johnson] shows something new. People have criticized Demetrious for this or that but we're bringing out all the tools of Demetrious that people haven't seen yet. It was time to let him sit on his punches and show people what he's got.

"We had already gone five rounds with Joseph so we knew we could get in there and beat him to the punch and show DJ's power. We knew Joseph would throw that short hook first and then the right hook behind it. So DJ just came off [Benavidez's] first hook with his overhand and got their first. DJ is a very explosive athletic individual. So how can you not, at some point in his career, take those attributes and make a knockout artist out of him?"

Penick's Analysis: By showcasing that he has legitimate knockout power now to go along with his many other attributes, Johnson just sent out a huge message to the rest of the field. He is capable of beating his opponents anywhere at this stage, and he's only getting better. He's got the striking ability to knock people out, he's got the speed and wrestling to bring fights to the ground at will, he's got skills in the clinch to impose his will, and he's got submissions on the ground to finish people there. He's the total package as a Champion right now, and it's hard to see how anyone's going to be able to deal with that. Benavidez was the man who seemed to be on his level, and yet what happened on Saturday still happened.