First it was on. Then it was off. Then maybe. And now it’s off again.

According to reigning flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson, his teased superfight with bantamweight titleholder T.J. Dillashaw is officially ‘dead’.

Speaking to ESPN’s Ariel Helwani ahead of his championship rematch with Henry Cejudo at UFC 227, ‘Mighty Mouse’ said that the ‘ship has sailed’ on the Dillashaw fight and he is no longer interested in talking about it.

“Nah, I don’t think it will happen,” Johnson said when pressed by Helwani about a possible fight with Dillashaw. “I think it’s dead. The ship has sailed.”



“I’m just over it,” he added. “I’m just over it. I’m tired of talking about it. It’s almost like, if you already said what the things are, why keep beating a dead horse? Why?”

“Until something comes up, it’s just flyweights”.

Johnson has defended his flyweight title a record-breaking 11 times and is ranked as the No. 2 pound-for-pound fighter in the world, just one spot behind newly-crowned two-division champ Daniel Cormier.

‘DJ’ seems content to continue defending his belt against flyweights, but Dillashaw has offered to move down in weight to challenge the champ at his natural weight class.

Despite Johnson’s objections, if both men win their respective bouts at UFC 227, expect the hype around a DJ-TJ superfight to increase tenfold after Saturday night.

UFC 227: Dillashaw vs. Garbrandt 2 takes place tomorrow night, August 4 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California.