Joe Rogan has been part of the UFC since its budding stages and has surely seen the best and worst fighters in the MMA world. When it comes to the GOATs, Rogan has a few names on his mind, including former UFC flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson, who dominated the 125-pound division. But how did that weight class first come into UFC’s picture?

According to Dominick Cruz, he may have contributed to that. Now, while Cruz was reigning as the bantamweight champion, he was beating fighters like ‘Mighty Mouse’ and Joseph Benavidez. But as the flyweight division was launched, these fighters found significant success there.

“135 was new. 125 hadn’t really been established at all yet. And it was 145 and 135. And I really do have a real hand to say in making 125 pound division because I cleaned out the division,” said Cruz during a discussion on Death Row MMA with Jorge Masvidal. “I was just a little bit bigger than these guys.

And so I think that helped move them to a division that was more fit for their size. And Demetrious dominated in that division when he went down.”

Surely, the success of Demetrious Johnson in that division is backed by stats. He became the first UFC flyweight champion and defended the title for 11 consecutive times. To this date, that record is yet to be broken by anyone in the leading MMA promotion.

And for his achievements, people like Rogan rate ‘Mighty Mouse’ highly. But what makes a fighter like Johnson stand out in the eyes of veterans like the UFC commentator?

When Joe Rogan heaped praise on Demetrious Johnson’s fighting style

Currently, Demetrious Johnson has retired from professional MMA. Although he does take part in some grappling competitions, Johnson spends the majority of his time creating content around the sport. But during his peak time in the UFC, Johnson was a treat to watch. To that extent, Joe Rogan has even explained why it was so.

“Just as a rough example. If there was a way to defend an armbar that wasn’t the correct way to do it, but the fans liked it more, don’t do that. Don’t do that,” said Rogan on JRE MMA Show #37. “You want to fight like a maestro. You want to fight like ‘Mighty Mouse.’ That’s what I tell everybody…

In my opinion, one of the things that sets him apart from everybody else is that he’s not running away from you and not getting hit. He’s running at you and not getting hit. He’s coming straight forward and then cutting angles and doing things that you didn’t anticipate, and he’s not there for the counter. So he’s fighting correctly.”

After more than a decade-long career, ‘Mighty Mouse’ bowed out of MMA with a record 25-4-1. Not only Rogan, but even in the eyes of many other people from the community, he is surely one of the greatest to ever compete.

Do you feel the same? Let us know in the comments below!