Former UFC flyweight champion turned ONE Championship superstar Demetrious Johnson speaks with Tony Reid of MyMMANews.
Tony Reid – When you make the trip overseas to train you’ve spent time at Evolve MMA. Can you speak to how incredible that team and that facility is?
Demetrious Johnson – Evolve is amazing. I always tell people that if you are a martial arts that place is paradise for you. They have so many world champions across so many different disciplines. They have Muay Thai world champions, MMA world champions, Jiu Jitsu champions and so many more. They have cryotherapy. They have a nice bar. They have a cage. They have a ring. Its two floors. It’s an amazing facility.
TR – What has your experience been like in actual training at that amazing facility?
DJ – When I went into Evolve before my fight in Manila, I worked out with just Muay Thai guys. I just worked on Muay Thai. I fight like a mixed martial artist. There are certain things they do that are geared more towards Muay Thai. So, you can take little things directly from Muay Thai and bring it into mixed martial arts and make it your own. To have a gym where people have an option to go to a gym like that to go train and work on specific aspects of your game is phenomenal.
TR – In mixed martial arts you work on mixing it all together but when you are working with someone with such a high proficiency in one skill set I imagine it can really be beneficial.
DJ – 100 percent. The guys at Evolve, the Muay Thai masters have been doing it since they were kids. They have become multiple time world champions. I think they can probably teach me a few things here and there.
Tony Reid
In July of 2008 Tony Reid launched an MMA inspired clothing line that he named Reid Fight Wear. He saw a need in the MMA clothing market for a more classic, clean and timeless design and less of the dated styles seen then. In the process of major life changes, Tony cashed out his 401(k), emptied his bank account and put his heart and soul into building the brand.
In August 2009 Tony began writing for TapouT and MMA Worldwide Magazines. There he created Rattling the Cage, an MMA specific news site and home for all of his work.
In May of 2012 Reid began writing for Ultimate MMA Magazine, launching an MMA Legends and MMA Officials Series.
Also in May of the same year he started appearing regularly on ESPN 92.3 WVSL as the MMA Insider.
In early August of 2012 Reid was named General Manager of UFC Fighter Tim Boetsch’s Barbarian Combat Sports in Sunbury, PA.
By December 2012 Reid started contributing to Fighters Only Magazine. "The World's Leading MMA and Lifestyle Magazine" is sold in over 30 countries around the world and has the largest reach of any international magazine of its type.
In May of 2013 Reid became a monthly segment host on Sirius XM Radio. Appearing the first Thursday of every month on TapouT Radio on SiriusXM (Sirius 92 XM 208) in a segment he created called "On Blast!" where he puts people in the MMA world on notice.
In June of 2013 Reid began writing for the UK based MMA Uncaged Magazine.
In August of 2013, Reid launched "Rattling the Cage with Tony Reid" a talk radio show he hosted on ESPN 92.3 WVSL "The Valley's Sports Leader". The show aired over 100 episodes and featured some of the biggest and brightest stars in the world of combat sports. It was one of the most successful shows in the station's history.
In May of 2016 Reid became a feature writer for FloCombat.
In September of the same year Reid began writing for ONE Championship, Asia’s largest global sports media property in history.
Reid is happy to now join the team at MyMMANews as a contributor.
