In July of 2016, Brazilian flyweight contender Wilson Reis was scheduled for a title fight with dominant divisional king Demetrious “Mighty Mouse” Johnson. Unfortunately, Mighty Mouse was then forced out of this fight with an injury, depriving Reis of his long-awaited shot at gold.

In a brave display, Reis then agreed to take a high-risk, low-reward fight with the relatively unknown Hector Sandoval. When Reis won this fight, he expected to be rescheduled for a fight with the champion. Instead, however, he was paired with another relative unknown in Japan’s Ulka Sasaki, who he defeated by unanimous decision on UFC 208’s undercard.

Having bested Sasaki, Reis is now hellbent on a title fight with Johnson. He explained this desire in a post-fight interview with MMAJunkie.com.

“It has to be [Johnson next],” he said. “I feel that I deserve this fight. He owes me this fight. We signed a bout agreement. I did a full camp for it. I showed up fight night, and he didn’t. And I want him next.”

“I feel that I deserve it,” he continued. “They threw me this fight. They put me on the shelf for almost seven months. So, I feel right now, they gave me this guy, I beat him, and now give me the title fight.”

Reis then went on to explain that, despite Johnson’s incredible dominance, he believes he can steal the UFC flyweight crown.

“I have everything to beat him,” he said. “I can’t wait to have the opportunity to show it.”

With his defeat of Sasaki, Reis moved onto a three-fight streak, having preceded this win with defeats of Dustin Ortiz and Sandoval. Johnson, meanwhile, is on an 11-fight streak. 10 of these wins have occurred in UFC flyweight title fights. He is the only flyweight champ in the promotion’s history.

Do you think Wilson Reis deserves a flyweight title shot, or should that honor go to somebody like Joseph Benavidez? Sound off, PENN Nation!

This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 2/12/2017.