John Dodson describes his unpleasant run-in with Demetrious Johnson

[Mofo2]

UFC flyweight John Dodson isn’t one to hold grudges. You won’t find him punching a dummy with an opponent’s picture or screaming their names while lifting weights.

But it seems there’s more than a little fuel for the promotional fire if he ever gets a rematch with champ Demetrious Johnson, who outpointed him 15 months ago at UFC on FOX 6.

“He’s a little arrogant,†Dodson told MMAjunkie.

Dodson got this impression just moments after their first meeting, when the two were waiting for the scorecards to be read. He said he approached Johnson to commiserate on a tough night.

“I was like, ‘Yo man, shoot, nice fight. Thanks for letting me fight you,’†he said. “He goes, “Pssh, whatever. I know I won.’ I was like, ‘All right, cool.’

“Then I talked to his wife, and she was like, ‘Oh, thanks.’ She was the one who was nice to me, not him. I was like, all right. Cool.â€

The good-natured Dodson (15-6 MMA, 4-1 UFC) brushed off the encounter, but the interaction did come as a surprise given their earlier interactions.

“Any other time that we met, for (the UFC) Fight Expo, for fighter summits, [Johnson] was real nice to me,†he said. “And then, all of a sudden, he had this attitude and this arrogance. I was like, ‘We just fought. I don’t even care.’

“If he wanted to go get a drink, we could have done that, too. Apparently not.â€

But before he gets the chance to smooth things over with another round of fisticuffs, the 29-year-old Albuquerque native and Jackson-Winkeljohn disciple is set for another rematch. This one comes against John Moraga (14-2 MMA, 3-1 UFC), who succeeded him as a challenger to Johnson’s title and also came home empty-handed. The two meet on June 7 at UFC Fight Night 43, which takes place at Albuquerque’s Tingley Coliseum, a short drive from Dodson’s home.

“I’ve got to knock this dude out, because if I beat him by decision, he’s going to sit there and say, ‘Oh, it was because he was in his home town,’†said Dodson, who won a decision over Moraga in 2010, prior to his winning turn on “The Ultimate Fighter 14.†“I’ve got to put an everlasting stamp that I beat that dude the first time, and I’m going to beat him again the second time.â€

Dodson came fairly close to winning the first time he met Johnson, knocking the champ down on multiple occasions before ceding control in the championship rounds. Two of three judges said the fight was tied leading into the fifth round, which Johnson won to earn the decision.

The main lesson Dodson took from the fight was that he needed to improve his accuracy in order to land the finishing blow that eluded him.

“Everybody else that’s gone against Demetrious, they always talk about how much power they have, or how much faster they’re going to be than Demetrious,†he said. “Well, I found out that I was more accurate than he was. When those shots landed, they hurt him. When everybody else threw shots at him, they maybe rocked him a little, but I actually just dropped him.

“I’ve got to make sure to keep that up and keep that type of mentality. If I can be accurate enough with my strikes, that’s going to add that killer instinct.â€

After his loss to Johnson, Dodson returned to the cage this past October at UFC 166 and knocked out former regional flyweight champ Darrell Montague. He was scheduled to fight Scott Jorgensen two months later at UFC on FOX 9, but a knee injury delayed his return.

Dodson is now well into training camp with Jackson-Winkeljohn’s buzzing from fighters scheduled to compete later this month through June.

The always-smiling fighter believes the flyweight division is still a vital place to fight, and because the division is smaller, the best competitors will always be fighting each other.

Of course, he is inclined to believe he is the best, and all he needs to do is prove it. For some, doing that against someone who’s been less than courteous might provide a dual advantage: winning a belt, and blowing off some steam.

But that’s not Dodson’s thing.

“For me, I want to be able to go fight and go home and chill,†he said. “I shouldn’t have to change up my whole lifestyle to hate one person. Because if you hate one person, that means they become the center of your universe, and why would I want Demetrious Johnson to be the center of my universe?â€