Former UFC fighter and color commentator Brian Stann was calling the action when UFC Flyweight Champion Demetrious Johnson defeated Wilson Reis at UFC On Fox 24.
Stann has no problem calling Johnson the best fighter ever, and he has some good reasons why.
“In my eyes, the best ever was Georges St-Pierre before DJ and I just thought GSP’s total dominance, his ability to take the fight and dictate where it goes, takedown defense, offense, the ability to end a fight striking and on the ground — I thought he was the best ever,” he said on the Anik & Florian podcast. “But when you add up everything, [him] being so fluent lefty, righty, angles, hard to hit, beautiful offense, power — he was doing legitimate damage to Wilson Reis during this fight — mixing in punches, kicks, excellent boxing, kickboxing, wrestling ability from both sides, passing the guard consistently, having an answer for every single position, being good off his back, having excellent submissions. To me, this fight solidified the fact that he’s the best to ever do it. When I look at the strength of competition, we all know, the lower you go in weight, the more technical you need to be in this sport. You can get away with a lot of things in the heavier weight classes, especially when you go north of welterweight. 185, 205, 265, you don’t have to be as good of an athlete to be considered world class. When you drop to 170 and below, you’re talking about world-class athletes and in my eyes, right now, Demetrious Johnson is the best to ever do it.”
If there is a fighter in Stann’s eyes that could unseat Mighty Mouse as the best fighter ever, it could be former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Jon Jones.
“Absolutely. But you have to take into account the lumps in [Jones’s] legacy, the pitfalls. We’ve got to see him return and if he can return and if he can return and he can get consistency — to become a ‘greatest of all time,’ consistency is a big factor, that’s one of the reasons why Anderson Silva is in that conversation. He’s never looked as good, in my opinion, all around, as Jon Jones or Georges St-Pierre; he certainly has at striking. But consistency is a big deal and failing different tests, things of that nature, they all matter. But if Jon Jones can come back and regain the light heavyweight crown and then he goes up and does what I think he can also do which is gain the heavyweight crown, absolutely he can take over that status. The thing that everyone knows about Jon is, it’s always up to him. He’s the only guy that can beat him,” says Stann.
Johnson is currently tied with former UFC Middleweight Champion Anderson Silva for the most consecutive title defenses in the UFC at 10.
The color commentator can be seen next at UFC Fight Night 108, which takes place on Saturday, April 22.
