39 and feeling fine is one way to describe flyweight John Dodson these days.
The former two-time UFC title challenger sits on a three-fight win streak in MMA as he heads into RIZIN 45, where he’s been paired up with ex-Shooto champ and RIZIN 2021 Bantamweight Grand Prix winner Hiromasa Ougikubo. It’s not just MMA where Dodson (24-13) has found success, however— earlier this year, “The Magician” pulled off quite the trick in capturing the inaugural BKFC flyweight championship.
MMA, bare-knuckle, and even boxing could be in Dodson’s future, he told Cageside Press in an exclusive interview ahead of RIZIN 45.
“The secret to my success is a whole lot of candy, I have kids, I need to keep telling them I’m immortal, and the one important thing is that time’s not on my side,” the always enthusiastic Dodson exclaimed. “So I’m fighting against time! I’m trying to make sure I can go and do everything super-fast and cement myself as one of the greatest strikers of all time.”
The pace, which actually seems to have picked up a notice since his exit from the UFC in 2020, is something he’s enjoying. “I love this pace, because I keep on bouncing between bare-knuckle and mixed martial arts, and if I could be able to go ahead, dabble, dip my toes into some boxing, I’d be down to do that too.”
It’s no surprise that Dodson is enjoying this career resurgence: he’s won his last six fights, three in MMA, and three in bare-knuckle boxing. What is a surprise is the opponent Dodson faces at RIZIN 45 in Saitama, Japan on New Year’s Eve. Hiromasa Ougikubo is a former Shooto champ and TUF alum, but one who has lost his last three fights, against the likes of Kyoji Horiguchi and Juan Archuleta.
“I was actually really surprised, to tell you the truth. I was going to sit here and say I wasn’t,” Dodson admitted when asked about the match-up. “But this dude has literally had my name in his mouth since I got signed to RIZIN. And every chance he’s got an opportunity to step [up] before me, he’s lost. He stands in front of everybody, and literally keeps on sitting there saying he can beat up me, and then all of a sudden he’s getting his butt kicked by Horiguchi, then got his butt kicked by Juan Archuleta and he’s telling everybody that he’s the best flyweight in the world.”
“Sorry to break it to you, but I’m already the best flyweight in the world, and I’m going to go ahead and destroy this dude as quickly as possible so I can get my hands on that title as soon as possible.”
RIZIN 45 is up next, but John Dodson has another home in BKFC, and a title there waiting to be defended. When his first title defense will come isn’t clear just yet.
“I have no idea to tell you the truth. Hopefully, as soon as I get done with this fight we can go ahead and start actually crunching the numbers, and seeing what would be the shortest time frame to get back into the squared circle.” Dodson wants to stay super-active in 2024. “I want to stay on the ball, trying to make sure I can get as many fights as I can get on the early cards, like mid-February, mid-March. Early March. I know I’m fighting on New Year’s Eve, but mid-January would be good too,” Dodson added with a laugh.
Staying active could mean taking advantage of some of the other top promotions around, though with Bellator scooped up by the PFL, things there are uncertain at the moment. Bellator was in the process of launching their flyweight division when the sale of the promotion went through; the PFL just not feature a 125lb weight class for men.
That might be a moot point, however. “Bellator said I sucked,” revealed Dodson. “That was what was up. Bellator was like ‘yeah, you’re not good enough to go ahead and be in our promotion. Same thing with ONE FC. ONE FC said they could never see me going to that organization, because I do not fit the criteria. So I was like ‘oh, f*ck you guys too!'”
As for the PFL, who now own Bellator, “I could always use a million dollars. PFL, they always do everything so seasonal. If they did a flyweight tournament, I would guarantee you I would go win that one, and if they let me double dip, I’ll do a flyweight and bantamweight tournament just for you!”
Watch our full interview with RIZIN 45’s John Dodson above.
