Demetrious Johnson turned pro in 2009 and after 15 long years, he finally announced his retirement from MMA during ONE 168: Denver. The former UFC flyweight champ has 12 title fight wins and boasts one of the longest win streaks (13) in the promotion.
During his illustrious UFC run, Johnson walked through the flyweight division with ease. Although his one-sided beat downs didn’t gather a ton of PPVs, he’s now regarded as one of the best fighters of all time.
Many believe that “Mighty Mouse” can still hang with the best flyweight fighters in the world, but here’s why the UFC legend retired from MMA at 38…
Demetrious Johnson Reveals Why He Didn’t Find Mixed Martial Arts Fun Anymore
In a YouTube interview recorded before his official announcement, Johnson talked about his retirement from MMA with Merab Dvalishvili. Right away, he mentioned that MMA isn’t fun for him anymore and he prefers competing in Jiu-Jitsu over it.
Training and fulfillment are also two major reasons why Johnson retired despite being the reigning ONE flyweight MMA champ. He didn’t gain contentment from fighting because he was barely learning anything by spending 25 minutes or fewer in the cage with opponents.
“I’m not going to fight anymore. And the reason why is, um, I don’t find mixed martial arts fun anymore. Reason why is because I find more fulfillment in doing Jiu-Jitsu because I feel it’s harder. I find more fulfillment in helping and training with different people.”
Instead, “Mighty Mouse” will now try to master his BJJ which he claims to be a tougher sport, and reap the benefits of training as a retired fighter. He believes athletes feel more secure about showcasing their abilities when there’s no threat of their training partner facing them in the future.
Here’s how he explained the concept using Dvalishvili’s example:
“If I ever wanted to feel, how does, I want to feel Merab’s gas tank. I want to see how good he is. I want to feel his strength. The only way that would ever happen is if me and you were to fight each other. If I was a professional athlete, right, it would just never happen. But if I’m like, hey, I don’t care about winning. I don’t care about, you know, ever have an opportunity to fight you. Hey Merab, can I come train with you? Yeah, you’re like, Demetrious come train. And then when we train together, you’re not going to have like, I need to beat you, you’re trying to learn from me. I don’t know, I’ve never trained outside of training camp when I would fight.”
Based on these statements, it is safe to assume that Johnson will surely compete in specific martial arts like Jiu-Jitsu. However, it is unlikely that fans will ever get to see him mixing it all up inside a cage.
“Once I get ready for a fight and I beat somebody. It’s like, okay, I mean I beat him, I made this money, which is great. But I didn’t get to learn anything in that 25 minutes, if that makes sense.”
