Dodson weary of losing close calls
Duke City fighter looking for stoppage
Albuquerque’s John Dodson is one of MMA’s happiest warriors. Here’s a statistic though, that could make the happiest warrior downright grumpy.
In fights decided by stoppage — KO, TKO, submission — Dodson is 11-0 for his career. In fights that went to the scorecards, he’s 7-8.
Two decisions, in particular, stick in Dodson’s craw as he prepares for Saturday night’s fight against Eddie Wineland (23-111) on a UFC card in Nashville, Tenn.
In January 2013, Dodson fought UFC flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson in Chicago. In the octagon immediately after the fight, Dodson said, UFC President Dana White congratulated him on his victory. Seconds later, though, Johnson was announced as the winner by unanimous decision (48-47, 48-47, 49-46).
Then, last October, Dodson fought Brazil’s John Lineker in a five-round bantamweight fight in Portland, Ore. Lineker won by split decision (48-47, 47-48, 48-47).
Many in the MMA community — fighters and media — believing Dodson should have gotten the decision. But others felt Dodson’s stick-and-move style cost him the fight.
It was a defeat that denied Dod-
son, having moved up from the 125-pound flyweight division a year ago, real traction at featherweight. As the No. 7 challenger to champion Cody Garbrandt, he’s not close to a title shot.
Dodson admits to some serious frustration.
“I don’t know what the judges want to see, what the fans want to hear, what they all want,” he said.
But, he said, there is only one solution.
Don’t let any more fights, starting with Saturday’s, go to the scorecards.
“I just need to forget trying to please everybody and just please myself,” he said. “Just go out there and hit him as hard as I can, watch him fall and everything will fall in place for me.
“If he doesn’t get taken down by my fists, he’ll get taken down by my double-legs (takedowns). ... I will chop that tree down any way I can.”
Wineland, a 14-year MMA veteran from Portage, Ind., has bounced back from consecutive losses with victories over Frankie Saenz and Takeya Mizugaki, both by TKO (punches).
“He brings a threat,” Dodson said. “He’s on a two-fight winning streak . ... He’s knocking everybody out, and I don’t want to be his next victim.”
A victory over Wineland, ranked 10th in the UFC bantamweight rankings, won’t get Dodson appreciably closer to a title shot. What it will do, he said, is “remind people I’m one of the most dangerous strikers of all time.”
For now, Dodson is not considering a move back to 125, where he twice challenged Johnson for the title and twice lost.
“If they (the UFC) called me and said, ‘Hey, we really want to see you back at 125, I’ll be glad to do that,” he said. “But as of right now I’m gonna stay here (at 135), stay relaxed, stay composed and just crush everybody that’s in my way right now.”
Someday, he wants another shot at Johnson, who after his 10th successful flyweight title defense last week is being touted in some circles as the greatest MMA fighter of all time.
Johnson has expressed no interest in moving up to 135. But Dodson, noting that one of Johnson’s two career losses was to Dominick Cruz for the UFC bantamweight title in 2011, believes “Mighty Mouse” eventually will test the 135-pound waters again.
“I know this is a title he wants that he failed at achieving it the first time he tried to get it,” Dodson said.
When Johnson moves up, Dodson said, “I will be there to crush all his dreams.”
Dodson’s own title dreams could be derailed, if not shattered, by an upset loss to Wineland.
“That’s why I’ve got to go out there and just finish,” he said. “... There’s nothing the judges can sit there and tell me when I get (a stoppage).
“When I stop the fight, they have no control over it.”