Demetrious Johnson recently put a stop to his MMA career after announcing his retirement from the sport. But guess what? Fans still want to see more of him and after UFC flyweight king Alexandre Pantoja called him out, the frenzy increased even more. Mighty Mouse recently shed some light on the callout, while highlighting the reason behind so much fanfare surrounding his current status in the MMA community.

It’s been a while since Johnson fought in the UFC, which is the premiere MMA entity in the world. Dana White‘s promotion has played an instrumental role in MMA’s mainstream popularity. Fighters often lose their following when they leave the UFC, but that hasn’t been the case with ‘Mighty Mouse’, which he credited the “new wave of fans” during an exclusive interview with EssentiallySports’s Andrew Whitelaw.

On that note, he feels very privileged to be in that position despite last competing in 2022 and retiring from the sport in 2024. “I think it’s awesome to be relevant in a sport where… I haven’t got punched in the face since almost two years now,” Demetrious Johnson stated. “I think the reason why I’m relevant is, you know, there’s a new wave of fans coming into mixed martial arts just because of how big it is now.”

Given that he’s in the conversation for the greatest of all time, Johnson mentioned that the new MMA fans are slowly finding out his classic highlights, which included flashy moves like the flying armbar on Ray Borg, which has been immortalized in MMA history. That is one of the biggest reasons, according to the flyweight legend, for his continued relevance in the sport.

“There’s things that I’ve done in mixed martial arts with the flying armbar… I think people are going back like, ‘Who’s this mot—–cker? Where is he at now?’… That’s why I think it’s keeping me relevant to this day,” ‘Mighty Mouse’ further added during the exclusive interview with EssentiallySports. But the question that remains now is – will he ever entertain cashing in on his relevance for a fight against Alexandre Pantoja? Well, it doesn’t like he will.

Demetrious Johnson maintains his retirement status despite being called out by Alexandre Pantoja

When Alexandre Pantoja called out Demetrious Johnson, Dana White kind of liked that idea. After all, it’s surely the biggest flyweight fight in MMA right now. However, ‘Mighty Mouse’ has no interest in it at all. The former 11-time defending UFC champion even revealed receiving a 2 million dollar sum to make his MMA return before the Pantoja callout, but he didn’t mention who the concerned party was. Johnson turned that offer down.

“Guys I’m retired and I have no interest to fight anymore. I’m so happy for Alex Pantoja and I’m happy he got his third title defense. I’m so happy for him,” Demetrious Johnson stated last December. “I’m happily retired and I ain’t going to be no moth—–king Jose Aldo. I ain’t going to be no motherf—–g Donald Cerrone coming back to fight. There ain’t no point to coming back to fight.”

Whether he returns or not, Demetrious Johnson has carved a hall-of-fame-worthy career that may never be replicated. He plans to compete in combat sports, but mostly in jiu-jitsu. However, MMA is a crazy sport and anything can happen. Hence, it remains to be seen what lies ahead for Johnson in the months and years to come. So, what do you think about Johnson’s relevancy in the sport? Will we ever see him compete inside the Octagon again? Tell us in the comment section below!