EXCLUSIVE: Demetrious Johnson Opens up on ONE Championship Future and Video Games

Hello everyone, I hope you are all doing well. Essentially Sports is privileged to be joined by a former UFC Flyweight Champion, and the current ONE FC Flyweight Grand Prix Champion… the one and only Demetrious ‘Mighty Mouse’ Johnson!

Welcome to the show, Demetrious, it’s great to have you.

DJ: Hey, thanks for having me, man. 

ES: How’s everything been in the last few months with the coronavirus. Obviously the daily activities have been scuppered with the lockdown and the terrible situation. How’s it been in Washington where you are currently based?

DJ: For me, honestly, it’s been fantastic. I’m not gonna lie. I like it a lot, I’m a family man and I’ve been an athlete ever since I was 15 years old, and I haven’t taken breaks. I think the last time I took a break from athletics has been in my senior year in high school during track. So for me, I’ve got three kids and my wife, so we most of my time goes hanging out with them.

So I’ve been hanging out with those guys, working out almost every few days with my wife at the field, hanging out with my kids, getting them into gaming. I’ve been gaming and working on my Twitch streams and my gaming career. So I can’t complain, it obviously sucks to have the gyms down and I can’t go for training at AMC Pankration. The only thing I miss is my training, but I’m enjoying my time with my family and I will not take that for granted. 

ES: Yes, of course, family time is a boon, it’s one of the boons of the lockdown. And you’ve mentioned your gaming. I’ve noticed that you are streaming a lot of Escape from Tarkov, and you put a poll of Call of Duty and Escape from Tarkov, and Call of Duty won the poll. You’ve signed with Method Gaming recently, and Mighty gaming has become very active since the lockdown. Can you take us through all of your streaming activities?

DJ: Yea, absolutely! The whole thing with the Call of Duty vs Escape from Tarkov poll, that came from a buddy of mine who also streams on Twitch. He says, your streaming channel is never going to grow from playing Escape from Tarkov, you got to play Call of Duty.

I truly enjoy playing Escape from Tarkov. When I stream, I understand making content. It’s about catering to the viewership. But at the same time, I don’t get 8-9 hours of streaming every day. When I get the opportunity to stream, I want to play the games that I get the opportunity to enjoy. You know, I just got off, I literally just got off from playing Escape from Tarkov. With that being said, I’ll choose ‘Escape from Tarkov,’ over Call of Duty. I believe it is the better game. It’s more polished, and I think it’s more realistic. 

Now with the whole method gaming thing and whatever happened with those guys. Right now, I believe that they are trying to build from the ground up. They released the two gentlemen who were with those allegations or whatnot. So I’m looking to hope that they build it up from the ground up, and if the opportunity arises for me to join that team again, and pick up from where we left off. We’ve really had some great content, I’ll be on board.

What can you do? They’re the bad apples. Let’s keep on creating content, other than that trying to stay focused. Got some stuff this weekend, going to Los Angeles to film looking for games. I’m just trying to stay busy, I’m looking to get life back to normal. Yeah, just trying to stay busy. 

ES: When you talk about getting life back to normal, in addition to being an avid gamer, you are also a mixed martial artist and you would have to continue keeping in shape for the eventual championship fight. How has that training been going? You said you have been engaging in activity on the field, apart than that we have seen your kettle ball workouts, which look really impressive. Can you take us through how the workouts have been in the past 3-4 months?

DJ: Yeah, so a lot of workouts, pullups, pushups, squats, long-distance running. I’m a long-distance runner, I ran a mile, the 2-mile in high school, ran half marathons. So, I’ve always had great cardio and I haven’t been focusing on that. But it’s pretty bad on your knees and your hips and your shins, so that’s the only downfall from running long distance.

And right now, my goal, I’ve been really trying to work on the 40-yard dash, get into the high 4s. Right now, I’m at 5.08, so just trying to stay athletic. At the end of the day, the thing with COVID-19 is that I’m 33 years old, I’m only gonna get older, right? You’re not as fast, I realize that that’s the way our bodies are built genetically.

So for me, I’m just focused on being athletic, and as long as I keep this athletic body going, as long as I can. Then I think when COVID goes away and we’re able to get back to fighting, I’ll be 34, 35, 36, who knows? I’m way ahead than if I sat on my butt all day. I feel that doing the 40-yard dash is one of the most explosive things. You are doing one of the short distance, so that’s what I’m focusing on, just being athletic.

ES: It’s like doing the best that you can do considering the situation, is that it?

DJ: Pretty much, all the gyms are closed. Me and my wife literally started to collect weights. When COVID-19 hit everyone was like ‘Oh, we’re sold out. We can’t keep up with the demand, we’re all sold out.’ So we’re slowly trying to grab pieces of equipment that way. If this virus doesn’t go away or if another virus comes around, we are way more prepared this time. 

ES: You were preparing for your match in April against Adriano Moraes ONE Infinity 1. You earned the title shot on the back of your Grand Prix win. Now were you going at full tilt with the preparations before it got postponed and eventually canceled?

DJ: Absolutely, we were in full force, going great. I even had stitches, I got head-butted, so I had stitches during training, got that sewed up and continued to train, so we’re ready to go full force.

ES: Is there a sense of frustration given the delays in the fight, or do you think that is a given, considering the scene the world is going through at present?

DJ: At the beginning, I’m not gonna lie. I was frustrated cause I’m an athlete, right? At the end of the day, that’s the only way us athletes make money-when they compete-and my window of opportunity is closing. I’m 33, turning 34 in 9 days. So I know my time is coming to an end. So for me, I want to be as active as possible. That way, when I’m ready to retire, I’m good to go. So that is what is most frustrating about the situation, but as the way things kept going on, and how the bad the virus got, I was like you know what; it is what it is.

I’ve got other things that I’ve been working on. I’ve been working on my transition out of Mixed Martial Arts, working on my gaming career, I’m gonna put my full attention on that, and also my kids. Their school got locked down, so now they’re being homeschooled. So a lot of my attention is on making sure we’re homeschooling the kids this year. They’re gonna be homeschooled for the year 2021.

ES: So it’s another challenge…

DJ: Yes it’s another challenge, I have other challenges other than Mixed Martial Arts on my plate right now, so when people are like ‘Man, are you excited to get back to fighting?’ I’m like yeah, I’m excited to get back, and I have the opportunity too, but it’s not top priority for me right now. My children are my top priority, my wife and my gaming, and then so forth.

ES: Eventually when you resume one of the priorities in your life, which is fighting, it’s going to be the longest you’ve ever been away from active competition since turning professional. Your last longest break in competing was between the John Dodson fight in 2015, and the first Henry Cejudo fight. That was a 7 and a half month gap.

Now you last competed in November, it’s almost August. It’s almost 9 months and counting since you last competed. Also, when you step into competition again, it’s going to be 8 years since Demetrious Johnson was a challenger. How do you prepare for a fight with such a long gap and such a long time since you were a challenger? What’s the difference sort of aspects that you would condition yourself in before heading into competition?

DJ: At the end of the day, I think it is all about mentality and your mental capacity. I always see myself as a challenger, even when I was defending my belt for six years straight, I always saw myself as a challenger. The only difference with being the champion or the challenger is that the challenger comes out first and the champion comes out second. That’s about it, from my opinion. 

The long layoffs feel hard, I’m doing my best to stay active. I think this may be the hardest layoff because a lot of gyms are still open, right? Like the American Top Team in Florida is still open, there’s many gyms that are still open. AMC is not open, one of the gyms that we train at the YMCA. YMCA is closed, so I haven’t swum since like February, which is one of my key workouts. It’s useful for cardio and active recovery. 

I haven’t punched, kicked, grappled since February. So, who knows how long it’s going to be for me to get back to punching and kicking and grappling. But let’s say gyms are not back up till next February. It’ll be one full year with no contact in mixed martial arts, whatsoever.

There are athletes out there who are doing it, but at the end of the day, I’m okay with it. This is part of my life, this is the route I chose, and I’m totally happy with it, because I’ll never get this time with my children- waking up with them, cooking them breakfast, washing dishes, doing homeschool with them, playing Fortnite with them. I’m never gonna get this time back, so this time right here, its value and I’m enjoying it and people are like ‘I hate it’ and I’m like- you have the wrong mindset.

ES: Demetrious Johnson, you are making the best of what you have and looking at the silver lining even in this dark cloud. However, you would have one eye on your opponent even with living your life on your own terms. Moraes is someone who has lost just 3 times in his professional career, and all 3 have been split decision losses. Now, do you see him as the biggest challenge you will encounter in your career?

DJ: I think he brings certain challenges to my career that I haven’t faced before. He’s a big guy, he’s pretty tall for the weight class. He’s got great grappling, but every opponent is tough, you know. I think at the end of the day, I think power is more dangerous than slick grappling, in my opinion. When you’re fighting a guy like John Dodson, all he’s got to do is touch you once, and it’s lights out, you know what I mean? I think power is more scary. I think I have to be more aware of how good he is in grappling, which I respect.

He’s had some great fights with Geje Eustaquio, and styles make fights. You look at the Geje Eustaquio vs Adriano Moraes fight one, two and three. He out-grappled him. Geje did phenomenal on his feet. And then you look at how great Geje did on his feet against a great striker like Yuya Wakamatsu. He got lit up. Yuya Wakamatsu is very, very athletic, so I think my skillset, when compared to Adriano Moraes, I match up pretty well with him, and I can’t wait to see what happens.

ES: You’ve praised Moraes’ grappling skills. However, he has come out and said he will be going for a beautiful KO when he faces you in the fight. What do you make of that in terms of preparing for him, considering that he has not won a knockout for the last 5-6 years? 

DJ: Well, I’ve been in this for a very long time and I’ve heard that from guys who have more power than he does. I think at the end of the day, him looking that way. There’s no secret that he is longer than me, longer as in bigger than me. So he can sit back and wait for me to cross distance and look for the knockout shot. There’s many ways you can play this fight. But I’ve heard this so many times from Yuya Wakamatsu, from John Dodson, from- I mean the list just goes on- it’s nothing new. 

ES: They always try to get into your head before the fight by trying and predict what will happen?

DJ: Maybe. Maybe it’s fighters trying to create some noise or some wave. Like I’ve said, a lot of people say the same thing. I’m gonna look for beautiful knockout, I’m knock him out, I’m gonna look for a beautiful knockout. You know what? If it happens, it happens, if it doesn’t, it doesn’t. I’ve been in this sport for a long time, I’m 33-34 years old. I don’t care what people say about me.

ES: A decade in the sport really changes the perspective of what opponents and other people think, but has there been any date as to when this fight may happen? Considering that it was to happen in April and then May and now ONE is back and there has been no mention of when the Flyweight belt will be on the line. 

DJ: Yeah. Now, I think, with ONE Championship being back- and they’ve done their first fight in Thailand- it went beautiful. Rodtang defended his belt, beautiful performance, I think there’s still some more hurdles we need to go through when it comes to international traveling, obviously. All those guys who fought on that card are in that country. Thailand. You have a lot of Thai fighters on that card; I think it worked out that way, but I think, for international travel, I think that’s the last thing they want to have.

You see, guys all the time pop up with COVID-19 when going to Vegas to fight on Dana White’s contender series. Yas Island, I mean it happened. Mike Brown, Jorge Masvidal’s coach, tested positive for the coronavirus, and that’s his coach. All it takes is for one person to get over there in Singapore, Japan, China, and they slip through the cracks which is- you know, I hope they don’t- and the virus is back up and running again.

I think ONE Championship is trying to do it nice and right and slow and when they get it right, the phone call comes and the gyms are back up and we’ll get back to work. 

ES: Having held the flyweight title in the UFC for so many years and having competed at ONE as well, you’ve dominated in two different promotions in two different continents. What would you say are major the differences in the UFC and ONE in terms of the audiences, the ring, or the cage- anything you have seen different?

DJ: I’d say the only thing different is that for me, my walkout music. I like rap, cause profanity, you know? But over in Japan, that doesn’t fly cause they have strict television. That’s the one thing I’ve really noticed. Other than that, ONE Championship has a great walkout performance, you get your own. Imagine the PRIDE days. The fans are amazing over there. I love my Japan fans, and obviously, the culture is different.

When I was in the UFC, it’s all about Mixed Martial Arts, you’re fighting with the best mixed martial artists in the world. Over at ONE, you’re fighting with the best kickboxers, Muay Thai, mixed martial artists, submission grapplers and you’re also fighting in a cage or a ring. So it’s a lot more dynamic at ONE Championship than it is in the UFC, cause they are just focused on mixed martial arts, but ONE is focused on all martial arts. 

ES: What have been the difference? You’ve competed for a large part of your career in a cage, and you’ve had to transition to a ring. Would there be any difference to your approach in your fight style or before and during the match?

DJ: I thought there would be, but when I got ready to fight Tatsumitsu Wada, I fought in a ring. I train more in a ring than I train more in the cage, it that makes more sense. So honestly, it’s just different. There’s no way you can compare for it. You spend pretty much 99.9% of your career in a cage, competing in a cage, you’re still going to have that feeling out process of getting into a ring. 

Eddie Alvarez, he’s fought in a ring at DREAM. A lot of my friends and training partners they grew up fighting in DREAM and PRIDE so they are able to acclimate to that.  

ES: As you said, ONE is based on culture, and they promote the values of integrity, humility, discipline. It’s averse to trash talking. This is something you’ve been an advocate of throughout your career. Now, do you think trash talking is a vital selling point for a fight, or can fights be sold purely in terms of martial arts? If so, do you think that it should be encouraged or discouraged accordingly?

DJ: I think at the end of the day it comes down. I think my true gut feeling is that I always stay humble, have humility, you can win, you can lose fights, and I think that mindset comes from the end goal. You have to have to have an end goal in your career. Like football, basketball, NBA, NHL, anything you do, you need to have an end goal. As long as you are staying focused on that end goal, whether you win, lose or draw, knock him out, submit him, or whatever. Nothing else should matter, everything else is just part of the game. So for me, that’s always been my mindset, nothing’s gonna deter me from my end game goal. 

Now, when it comes to people who want to talk trash and make more money. There’s people out there you know, in North America people want to have conflict, they want to have trash talking and that’s totally fine. Athletes can to go that way, they can make an extra $4-$5 million. It’s just the way- it is same thing. So for me, I have, as a business mindset, yeah have the athlete talk trash if they want to.

Do I encourage it? No. But if that’s what you’re trying to get couple more eyeballs, then go ahead, do it. So I go back and forth. Me as the athlete, I’m not about it. If the guy says he’s going to knock me out, okay, good job. If you do, kudos, if you don’t, you f***ed up. So that’s just like my personality.

ES: Also at ONE Championship, the athletes compete at the walking weight rather than going through a weight cut. Do you feel that makes a major difference in terms of your preparations for it?

DJ: Absolutely! If I had the opportunity to fight at a 125 lbs again, I wouldn’t do it. I’m 33 years old, I’m not gonna put that stress, that wear and tear on my body. I wouldn’t do it.

I still need to cut a little weight. When I was cutting to 125, I was cutting probably 15 pounds, and now I’m cutting 3 or 2 pounds. So I think a lot of the guys, I see a lot of bigger guys at 135, but who knows.

ES: Has there been any change in the way you step into the ring? Do you feel more energized, or is the more power behind your shots, considering that you haven’t undergone the rigors of a weight cut and the regaining of the water weight a few hours before the fight?

DJ: I think the best that I fought in Asia was when I fought in the American time zone. Going over to Asia, I give myself at least 10-11 days to acclimate. But even then, it is still a little tough. It’s just because of the time-zone. I’ve seen the athletes do it, I’ve seen Japanese athletes do it all the time in the US in the UFC. I see that it takes a huge burden on their performance, so the last time I went to fight at ONE Championship with Danny Kingad on TNT time-zone, that’s when I felt my best.

I felt powerful, fast, aware. My coach goes, ‘That’s how you look when you usually fight,’ and I was like ‘Yeah, cause I’m fighting there at a normal timezone, I’m not fighting at like 3 in the morning.’ Like I said, this is the last part of my career. So I’m just enjoying it, trying to get used to it and being an athlete abroad.

ES: You’ve been an athlete with ONE for over a year now, and you’ve seen a host of other athletes. Who do you think has the potential to become a global superstar?

DJ: It’s so hard to say that, because for me, when I look at that, just have a look at it. We all are athletes, we all do the same thing. We all punch, we all kick, we all knee, we all do the same thing. You look at everybody’s Instagram they’re all doing the same thing. Even me, I’m also doing the same thing, working out, throwing kettlebells and stuff.

So, I think it’s more about what athletes can branch out into other things. I’ve got the Twitch and the YouTube channel. I’m also in the UFC 4. I’m not even in the UFC anymore, so I feel it’s more like what an athlete can build a brand outside of what they’re known for. 

When I see athletes who kick and punch, I’m like ‘You close your eyes and he’s doing the same thing.’ What are the athletes doing that separates themselves from the other? So that’s for me to say, because I don’t see what other athletes are passionate about. 

You only can build up so far in Mixed Martial Arts, like that’s my personal opinion until you start. Like look at Conor McGregor, he’s got his whiskey and you look at Dwayne Johnson, actor, now he just bought the XFL and he’s an actor. Now he’s building his brand even further. Kevin Hart- those are the guys I look at. I’m in gaming, I’ve got other things coming in the pipeline, and those are separate from mixed martial arts. 

ES: Deiveson Figueiredo is currently the UFC Flyweight Champion and after his fight you put a tweet supporting Joseph Benavidez. Do you think Benavidez’s chances are done at the gold, and do you think Benavidez is too powerful for Flyweights?

DJ: I don’t think he’s too powerful for Flyweights. He fought Jussier Formiga and Formiga beat him and Joseph Benavidez knocked out Jussier Formiga a couple of times. It’s like I said, styles make fights.

I know how bad Joseph wants to be champion, but at the end of the day, that’s not the end-game goal. The end-game goal is to retire and have something to show for. There’s so many guys who have competed in mixed martial arts and they’ve had phenomenal careers, and when they are done they have nothing to show for it. They have nothing to show for it. They have no investment, no house, no retirement. For me, that’s- that’s why I sent that message out to Joseph. Like Joseph, you’re still a legend. You never wore gold on your waist, but you’re still a legend. 

Let’s say, Figueiredo goes out there and loses the belt- which I don’t think he is. People are going to remember Joseph Benavidez more than they remember the champion. Like Urijah Faber is going to be remembered as one of the most successful bantamweights of the world. And he’s never worn the gold, cause he was f***in legend, he was smart about his career, about how he carried himself, and he’s got other stuff that’s built his career. That’s why I said Joseph is a legend. I like Joseph, he’s always been kind to me, and that’s no disrespect to Figueiredo.

He’s a phenomenal champion, very powerful guy, very athletic, very skilled, not only in the standup but also in the grappling, but I’ve known Joseph for a very long time. And I don’t want him to put his head down that he might never get a chance to be a champion again, because it’s not always about being champion. 

ES: Cejudo has often hailed you as the MMA GOAT and he has retired from the UFC. Do you see him making a return? And if he does make a return, are you open to a trilogy fight against him?

DJ: Well obviously Henry Cejudo is retired, and it will take him the right amount of money to bring him out retirement, and I totally understand why he retired. It’s like I said, everybody has their end-goal, so he must have reached his end goal. Flyweight Champion beat the MMA GOAT, beat the best bantamweight champion of all time, Dominick Cruz. So what’s left, like what’s left to do?

You guys will pay me more money, okay I’ll stay and fight. But if you guys aren’t paying me more money, then I’ll just go and do something else! So I get where he’s coming from. Like he’s said, I’ll fight Alexander Volkanovski for the featherweight belt.

So I understand what he’s trying to do, he’s trying to do stuff that brings him more money or he’s trying to do stuff that gets him excited. Just like GSP, he’s like ‘I was the Welterweight Champion, I was the Middleweight Champion, but I don’t care about anything else. But Khabib Nurmagomedov wants to fight? That might interest me.’ These guys are in a place where they can pick and choose what they want to do instead of being like ‘Oh, I have to fight’. 

ES: Henry beat you and then he moved up and won the belt over there. You fought at Bantamweight in your early days in the UFC. Has moving up a weight class at ONE Championship ever crossed your mind?

DJ: To 145? Yeah, it’s crossed my mind. But the champion up there- Bibiano Fernandes. And I have no interest whatsoever in fighting him. He’s my friend. If I move to 145, it’ll just be me being lazy, not wanting to have to cut weight. It’s crossed my mind. If it happens, it happens.

ES: So it’s not on the agenda. And if you win the Flyweight belt against Moraes, you would have achieved a title in another promotion, and virtually everything that there is to achieve. And considering that you mentioned an interest in gaming- how many more years do you see yourself competing at the top of the game as a martial artist?

DJ: I’ll be 34, so I might go to 38, 4 more years maybe. If my body is not able to cooperate with and push it, I’ll just call it. We done, let’s do something else. That’s how I’ve always viewed my career. 

ES: You’re saying that you are going to be around for another 4 years. Is there a chance that you will change your promotion, or will ONE Championship the last promotion that you will be part of?

DJ: Nah. ONE Championship will be the last promotion I’ll be part of, like if everything goes as according to plan, with me just staying healthy. When I mean according to the plan, means if I stay healthy I’m good. Like once I’m done, I do not want to come back. You see, the athletes, they quit, but then they come back because they miss it. But when I’m done, I have so much I can do. With just time with my family, kids, gaming. I think I’ll be ready to hang them up. 

ES: What would you rate as the best moment in your career?

DJ: I’ll probably say defending the belt 11 times in the UFC, the wizbar. The reason I say that is people have been watching Mixed Martial Arts since Don Frye days, Royce Gracie days. And for me to pull off a submission like that for people who haven’t seen it before? I mean it is in the game, people still talk about it to this day, and it was like what, 3-4 years ago? It’s still the best submission of all time and I’m like thanks, I do it all the time in the gym.

I’m just trying to keep my belt. I think that’s the fight, that’s what made me legend status that people give me. So I’ll probably say that defense and that submission. 

ES: If you had a chance to do over one fight, which would be the one that you pick?

DJ: Probably Dominick Cruz, I think that would be a fun fight to do over. It’s because he’s so good, he’s got fun angles, I respect him; he sees the game differently. He has no ego; he is very straightforward, so I think I would enjoy that chess match with him again if we were ever to redo that. I think it’d be a fun fight.

ES: Demetrious Johnson is one of the greatest of all time. But who would feature in the GOAT’s Mount Rushmore of MMA fighters- with the catch being that you cannot feature on your own Mount Rushmore? Four can feature on Mount Rushmore.

DJ: I’ll give it to Jon Jones. I’ll give it to Bibiano Fernandes. I think he’s done a lot in this sport, even though he hasn’t fought over in North America, I think he would have been a UFC Champion- actually, I believe that. I think his grappling is way too good. His standup is good. He hits hard, so I think he’ll be on Mount Rushmore.

I’ll say Gegard Mousasi. When he’s on, he’s on. I think he’s one of my favorites to watch. When he’s not lazy and he wants to fight, I think he always shows up and then fourth. That’s- its hard. I think Aung la Sung. I think if he ever got a chance in North America, he’d would very well.

I think he had a fight in Bellator; he had a couple of losses, I believe. I think Aung la Sung with Henri Hooft, the way he’s been fighting. I think he would very well in North America. I mean Jon Jones, he’d f***ing beat everybody. There’s not one guy who’s come close to hearing Jon Jones. He’s good. Even GSP can be up there too, but I would like to see GSP fight more.

Khabib Nurmagomedov.

Actually, can I change Mount Rushmore?

ES: It’s up to you, Demetrious. It’s all yours!

I’m gonna push Mousasi to the side, and I’m gonna put Khabib there. I think Khabib is one of the best to do it. Especially he’s undefeated, he’s fought the best of the best. Obviously I would like to see him compete more, but his injuries plagued him throughout his career. He’s very humble, I love that about him. So that would be my Mount Rushmore. You got Jones, Khabib, Bibiano, and I forgot the fourth.

ES: That’s how tricky it is, actually. What would you say is the inspiration behind the nickname ‘Mighty Mouse’ what prompted you to adopt that moniker?

DJ: Well, my nickname was ‘Black Ice’ because I was slick and nobody liked it. And then my coach gave me the nickname ‘Mighty Mouse’ with my structure, skin tone, ears. I love superheroes. It just worked out to be. One of my old coaches, my friend, named me ‘Mighty Mouse’ and I just came out for my fight as ‘Mighty Mouse’ and everybody loved it.

ES: and it just stuck throughout your career?

DJ: It stuck throughout my career and I loved it.

ES: And that’s all we got time for today. Thank you so much for chatting with us, Demetrious, and taking time out of your busy schedule. We hope to see you back in action at ONE Championship soon, but we’re not really complaining, considering we get to see a lot of your streaming activities.

DJ: Yup, thank you so much I truly appreciate it. Thank you to all my Indian fans!