Demetrious Johnson gives thoughts on ONE Championship debut
Demetrious Johnson fought this weekend, but it wasn’t at a UFC event. Rather, the former flyweight king and arguably one of the greatest fighters ever made his ONE Championship debut. There, ‘Mighty Mouse’ was taking on Yuyu Wakamatsu. Ultimately, Johnson won in the second round by submission.
Following the fight, Johnson talked about his opponent.
“At the end of the day, I don’t rate my opponents,” he said. “Obviously Yuya Wakamatsu is tough. Being my first time ever competing in Japan, overseas, not having my head coach (Matt Hume) in the corner… I knew I was going to battle some adversity because that’s kind of his style. I knew I wanted to put the pressure on him, and when you put pressure on people, you leave yourself open to counter shots, getting hit. It happened.
“He’s tough, he’s young, he’ll be back. It was a good fight.”
As well, Demetrious Johnson advanced to the second round of the flyweight championship. To many North American fans, they believe Johnson is the favorite and rightfully so. He dominated the entire UFC’s flyweight division, before losing a close decision to Henry Cejudo. Ultimately, Johnson knows the fighters in ONE Championship are as tough or tougher than those in the UFC. He witnessed that firsthand by fighting Wakamatsu and getting tagged a few times.
Meanwhile, Kairat Akhmetov and Danny Kingad, who are also a part of the flyweight tournament picked up wins at ONE: A New Era. They surely impressed Johnson, and he is looking forward to sharing the cage with them and getting back in there.
“They were great matches,” he said. “Danny Kingad looked good against Senzo Ikeda and Kairat Akhmetov looked great against Reece McLaren. They were both great fights. Now those two will fight and I will fight the other gentleman (the winner of Tatsumitsu Wada vs. Ivanildo Delfino).”
