Despite losing his UFC flyweight title fight to pound-for-pound king Demetrious Johnson, Tim Elliott boosted his stock massively with his lionhearted performance inside the Octagon.
Time and time again we've seen fast-tracked challengers get overwhelmed by the brilliance of Mighty Mouse when they finally get their crack at the belt. However, huge underdog Tim Elliot, who received his shot by winning season 24 of the Ultimate Fighter, refused to cave under the pressure. Instead he opted to rise to the occasion.
Prior to the TUF 24 Finale, Johnson had racked up eight-straight defences and few were expecting him to have much difficulty dispatching the former Titan belt-holder. It became apparent from the opening stanza though, that Elliott wasn't content allowing DJ to have it all his own way as he came out in search of the upset victory.
Elliott rocked the champ in the first round and appeared to lock in a deep guillotine that probably would have forced the tap from anyone else in the division. Johnson remained composed and survived the early onslaught. After dropping the first round, he went on to win each of the remaining rounds, but Elliot kept fighting until the final buzzer sounded.
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Some laughed the bout off as a squash match, but it was far from that as Elliott gave Johnson a real run for his money in the early rounds. What made his incredible achievement all the more impressive was that he was actually hurting from the tough weight cut, as he explained in the post-fight press conference.
“The weight cut killed me. The morning of the weight cut I was hurting pretty bad. The first time I’ve ever told my coaches I was done."
Elliott admitted that he nearly gave up trying to make championship weight at the crucial last stage. Had he not tipped the scales under the 125 lb limit, he would have been forced to forfeit 20% of his purse and the fight would have been changed to a non-title fight. He was extremely grateful that his teammate made him see it through when he was on the cusp of quitting.
“I told James Krause I wasn’t going back in the sauna. I told him I would give up the 20 percent; I didn’t care about the belt. He made me get back in there. He made me cut the weight, and I appreciate that he did that. I was hurting after the first round. Not my cardio but my muscles, my stomach. I was cramping a little bit and I know that's from the weight cut."
However, Elliot knows the capabilities of his own body and in order to avoid another extreme cut, he will be promptly moving up to bantamweight.
"But everything about this sport is fun for me. I do it because it’s fun. It doesn’t pay that well, so I feel like I could really compete at 135, when I feel good and I feel strong.”
After that showing on Sunday morning, he won't be short of top contenders looking to give him a scrap.
