Demetrious Johnson discusses fresh start with ONE Championship

E. Spencer Kyte

Demetrious Johnson discusses fresh start with ONE Championship image
In advance of his ONE Championship debut, Demetrious "Mighty Mouse" Johnson discusses his UFC departure and the changes that excite him as he begins the final chapter of his fighting career.

Demetrious Johnson is about to begin the final chapter of his fighting career and he’s bucking the trend as he does.

“I’ve got five years left and you look at all the great athletes who have done mixed martial arts — 'Rampage' [Jackson], Shogun Rua, Wanderlei Silva, Cro Cop, the list goes on — they started in Japan and finished in North America,” began Johnson, speaking with Sporting News late last week. “But it’s very rare that you see legit mixed martial artists leave the North American audience and go over to the Eastern audience and that’s what I’m doing and I’m really looking forward to it.”

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This weekend, the man known as “Mighty Mouse” makes his ONE Championship debut when he takes on Yuya Wakamatsu in the opening round of the promotion’s Flyweight Grand Prix as part of the main card at ONE Championship: A New Era.

It marks the first time in seven years that Johnson will be competing outside of the UFC Octagon and the first time in six years that he will not stride to the cage as the undisputed top flyweight fighter on the planet.

After racking up a UFC-record 11 consecutive defenses of the title won all the way back at UFC 152 in September 2012, Johnson landed on the unhappy side of a split-decision verdict in his rematch with Henry Cejudo last August. A few months later, the 32-year-old was part of a blockbuster “trade” between the UFC and ONE Championship, which “sent” Ben Askren to the Las Vegas-based promotion in exchange for the services of the Matt Hume protege.

When the deal between the two organizations was announced, the motivations for the move were broken down and dissected from all angles as fans and observers tried to figure out how the transaction came together, what it meant for the fighters changing sides and how the move could potentially impact the legacies of the athletes involved.

For Johnson, it was actually really quite simple.

“Why not?” he questioned rhetorically when asked about his motivations for taking part in this first-of-its-kind talent exchange between ONE Championship and the UFC. “I had been the champion for six years. I had been in the UFC for seven years. I only lost two fights and I have never been finished. All my fights have been close. I fought for the world title at bantamweight. I defended the belt 11 consecutive times at flyweight. So, I feel like there was nothing left for me to do. If I were to go back and beat Henry Cejudo, I’m right back at the top of the flyweight division again. If I were to lose, I’m back where I started.

"I feel like this is a fresh start going over to ONE Championship, the Home of Martial Arts,” continued Johnson, who is considered one of the most complete fighters in the sport. “If I want to do Muay Thai, I can. If I want to do kickboxing, I can. If I want to do submission grappler, I can do that too. So, why not? This is the last chapter of my career where I’m going to put five good, solid years in and then I’m done.”

While preparations for his March 30 debut at Ryōgoku Kokugikan in Tokyo, Japan have largely been the same as they have been for the last several years, competing inside a different cage isn’t the only change that Johnson will have to get used to as he begins his time as a ONE Championship athlete.

Because his long-time coach Matt Hume is the matchmaker for the promotion, “The Wizard” will not be allowed to corner Johnson when he competes. In most cases, that would mean the role of lead corner would fall to Brad Kertson, Hume’s second-in-command, but not this time.

“Brad and his wife are about to have their third child, so he will not be making it out to Japan,” explained Johnson, who will instead be cornered by two of his training partners. “So, this part is different."

 

He added: “The biggest change is that Matt’s not going to be in my corner, giving me instructions. That’s a big piece of my game —  being able to go to my corner and having Matt telling me what to do and then going out there and being able to exploit things that Matt sees during the fight. I won’t have that in my back pocket. So, that’s going to be a little bit different, but I hope with where I’m at in my career, I can go out there and implement all my training.”

The other major change for Johnson as he begins the five-year run of his career and that while he’s nominally competing in the flyweight division, ONE Championship’s weight classes all check in one division higher than where they do in most other mixed martial arts organizations, meaning that Johnson will fight at 135 pounds.

“The Grand Prix is pretty sick and obviously, I’ll fight on Eastern soil,” he said, rattling off the new elements that excite him about his new fighting home. “And a new weight class! I don’t have to fight at 125 any more. I have to weigh 135, which is nice because I’m getting older and I’m getting tired of f— cutting those extra 10 pounds.”

He’s also looking forward to no longer having to answer questions about his position atop pay-per-view cards and why those events haven’t generated the same kind of sales figures as those headlined by some of his more boisterous and infamous colleagues.

“It’s also awesome because I don’t have to worry about selling a f***** pay-per-view or the numbers on the pay-per-view, it didn’t sell or anything like that,” said Johnson, who was dogged by fans and media for events he headlined producing paltry pay-per-view numbers throughout his career. “It’s one thing I love about ONE Championship — they’re not focused on numbers and selling pay-per-views."

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

#martialarts #passion #nocaptionneeded #weareone #family #motivation #onechampionship

A post shared by Demetrious Johnson (@mightymouse125) on

 

He added: “The UFC is looking for the next big star to sell pay-per-views and make money or whatever, while ONE Championship is just focused on telling everybody’s story, making everybody relevant in their hometown. (ONE Championship Chairman and CEO) Chatri [Sidyodtong] said it best when he said, ‘I want to make real life superheroes. I want people to want to have a poster of Demetrious Johnson on their walls.’ I think it’s just two different organizations, which isn’t bad. The UFC just signed that new deal with ESPN to host all pay-per-views and it’s a good model, while ONE Championship is all about honor and the code of martial arts.”

Despite the myriad of changes, there is one thing that has remained the same throughout the process and will continue to stay the same from now until Johnson hangs up his four-ounce gloves and retires to drink beer, get fat and hang out with his beautiful family ... and that is on fight night, you can expect “Mighty Mouse” to bring his full arsenal into the cage and continue to prove that he’s one of the best fighters on the planet today.

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“I’m going out there to tear things up and bring the same skillset that I had in North America over to Asia," Johnson said, "and show them why people consider me one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the world.”

In the immortal words of Bart Scott: “Can’t Wait!"

E. Spencer Kyte