Demetrious Johnson says he’d fight Cody Garbrandt at 135 or 125

LOS ANGELES -- UFC bantamweight champion Cody Garbrandt put forth an interesting proposition to UFC flyweight champ Demetrious Johnson a couple weeks back.

Should Johnson defeat Wilson Reis in the main event of Saturday’s UFC on FOX 24 in Kansas City, which would tie Anderson Silva for the most successful defenses in UFC history at 10, Garbrandt would be willing to come down to 125 pounds and become challenger No. 11.

For his part, “Mighty Mouse” says he’ll accept that challenge. Or he could go up to 135 pounds. Either way, he’s not going to shy away from the callout.

“If he wants to come down and the UFC wants to give him an immediate title shot, that’s what they do nowadays, you get an immediate title shot,” Johnson said Monday. “If I go up and challenge him for his belt, if the negotiations go well, then yeah, it could happen.”

This, of course, isn’t the first time the idea of a bantamweight contender dropping down and challenging Johnson has been put forth, but it’s rare anyone has followed through.

“It’s not the first time someone has said that,” Johnson said. “I would say, if they can make the weight class, hey, I could go down to 115 pounds if they wanted to fill the position down there. Would I be fighting to the best of my abilities? Probably not.”

Still, if someone wants to come knocking, Johnson will answer the door.

“I’ve never turned any fight down for coming into my weight class and challenging for my belt,” Johnson said. “I’ve never done it and it’s not going to stop now and it’s never going to happen. If Jose Aldo says I can lose 25 pounds, I’m going to fight you, I’m like ‘sweet, perfect, let’s go down to that weight class and make it happen.’ Like I said, a lot of people have said it before.”