Photo: ONE Championship
Demetrious Johnson Greatest of All Time
“I came into this sport as a champ, I’m leaving my black ass as a champ too.” – Demetrious “Mighty Mouse” Johnson
Demetrious Johnson (25-4-1), has announced his retirement from mixed martial arts.
On the week of ONE Championship’s return to Denver Colorado for ONE 168, an announcement coming from the man known as “The King of the Flies” was teased all week. Fans were hoping it was a fight announcement, but Johnson hinted at it the last time ONE was in Denver that–that fight was likely his last.
And so it was.
Not a lot of fighters can do what Johnson did in his career. He was the inaugural UFC Flyweight Champion and had the most successful title defenses in UFC history. Then, when he went to ONE Championship in 2018, he was the ONE Grand Prix winner and ONE Flyweight Champion.
He’s one of the most accomplished mixed martial artists in the sport and he did not get the love he deserved as recently as two years ago.
In an interview with Esquire, he hinted at retirement when he talked about his loss to Adriano Moraes. He said, “I realized two things. One was that I’m fucking done trying to be perfect. The second is that truly nothing changes if you win or lose. You still go home and wash dishes and do laundry. Your friends are still your friends.”
He recently extended the sentiment to someone he beat in a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu competition.
With His Shield
“Come back with your shield or on it.”
A popular quote from a Spartan culture often applies to combat sports. More times than not fighters walk away when they are past their prime and a string of losses builds, but this is not the case for Johnson. His approach to his decision only adds to the maturity he has always approached almost everything he does.
In the post-event press conference, he said, after his last fight with Moraes he planned to “take a year off, keep on training and see if I miss it. Because I don’t want to be the athlete that retires and is back home and thinks ‘Aw man, I wish I didn’t retire,’ and comes back out of retirement and fight again.”
He took the last year to focus on other ventures and make sure he can grow in other ways since he’s done everything there is to do in MMA.
If you’re wondering what that is, a whole division exists in the UFC that Johnson was the king of for a very long time.
King of The Flies
Johnson was the inaugural flyweight champion in the UFC.
He won the title by winning the flyweight tournament that was made to crown a champion for the division. He went on to defend the title 11 times and when he lost his to Henry Cejudo at UFC 277, it was a split decision loss. A split decision means the win was close. When that happened the division was seemingly in trouble of being dissolved and Cejudo likes to credit himself for saving it.
But the division’s roots were planted with Johnson.
With Johnson’s retirement, he also became ONE Championship’s inaugural Hall of Fame inductee. The UFC needs to add him to theirs as well because he definitely deserves it.
“They wanted me to leave the belt in here, I ain’t doing that sh*t. I came into this sport as a champ, I’m leaving my black ass as a champ too.”
