Demetrius "Mighty Mouse" Johnson refuses to come back out of retirement
....and I really respect the guy for that. I think too many fighters in the UFC "retire" only as a PR move or some sort of bargaining chip to get a better contract with some other organization. I am disappointed when some people retire but I'm more disappointed when the unsurprisingly come back out of retirement only to be a shell of their former selves.
In a recent interview Demetrius Johnson, who I will refer to as DJ from this point forward, said some pretty profound things about rumors of him coming out of retirement as well as just much more meaningful statements that I expected that he would.
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First off, I was never a fan of the flyweight division. For the most part the guys, who are 125 lbs maximum- I think - just aren't heavy enough to get any destructive power behind any of their strikes even though they are quick like spider-monkeys and throw a ton of punches and kicks. Despite the usual fast pace, it just isn't that exciting to me to watch two guys that are the size I was in 6th grade, throw hundreds of punches mostly to no avail. Unless there are submissions, flyweight fights very frequently go to decisions and that is kind of boring to me.
There has never been a flyweight champion that was more dominant than DJ though, and he and his cauliflower ears were basically a fix every time that he fought.
Even though his fights were as exciting as someone that weighs as much as a child can make them, I never really got excited about them when they were upcoming. These are some of the lowest-selling Pay-Per-View events that UFC has ever aired, and they normally were reserved for the dead months like February and March for a reason. In a card that features a flyweight bout, there has to be a ton of other big names on the cards or nobody would tune in. I'm not throwing shade at Johnson's legacy, he is one of the best pound-for-pound fighters of all time, there is no denying that. He set a benchmark that is extremely unlikely to ever be one-upped with his 11 straight defenses of the title in UFC.
The only way that up and coming fighters right now can get true street cred is to call out the GOAT, and this is exactly what Alexandre Pantoja, who you might not even know is the current flyweight champion, has been trying to do. Johnson lets the trash-talk just fly right by him and doesn't seem that affected by it and I think that is a good thing.
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DJ is a happily retired family man who regularly comments about how he is extremely happy that he hung up the gloves in after successfully defended his ONE title in September earlier this year. After the fight he announced that it was his final fight and he was done... for good.
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A couple of side-issues I want to briefly discuss
Demetrius Johnson was traded to ONE Championship from UFC when he was still in his prime. This showcases that the people over at UFC perhaps agree with me that the flyweight division simply isn't a pull for the crowds and even though he was an unstoppable force, he wasn't a profitable one. However, over at ONE, he brought in fans that weren't watching prior to his involvement. This is the way forward for ONE and why they manage to be successful financially because they don't try to acquire washed-up oldies from UFC, instead they take under-appreciated assets such as DJ and make him prime time. I found his time in ONE to be much more exciting than his time in UFC.
Secondly, if you are not watching ONE Championship but are a fight fan, I strongly suggest that you at least give it a try. I am starting to actually enjoy it more than UFC because UFC has become a bit too much about the money and puts so much bullcrap in-between fights and this makes the events take entirely too long. Other than that the fight format is something that appeals to me and it may appeal to you as well.
There has been a lot of pressure on Johnson to prove that he is the GOAT and his response to this has been rather perfect. I'm paraphrasing there but he said something along the lines of "if Pantoja , or anyone else, wants to say they are the GOAT that is fine with me. Do the people believe that he is though? That's up to other people to decide and if they choose to eliminate me from the picture because I wont prove it, that's fine with me."
He recently got a call from his agent telling him that there was an offer of guaranteed $2 million to come out of retirement for one more fight and Johnson immediately turned it down. Understand that $2 million for the little guys is a lot of money since these fights rarely result in a bigger purse than 4-5 hundred thousand. The interest just isn't there.
Johnson summed up his position perfectly when he said "There's no amount of money that could bring me back out of retirement,"..."a lot of people in mixed martial arts, they let the sport retire them, right?"
That is so true. Many MMA legends have stuck around well beyond their use-by date and end up destroying their legacy and the fond memories because of it.... I'm talking to you Anderson Silva!
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Johnson currently competes in mostly unpaid Jiu Jitsu tournaments that have very few people in attendance even though the events often are free to attend. He also weighs in at 154lbs. His non fighting weight is around 160. I would imagine that this is a huge factor for him. He can finally enjoy some good food.