Demetrious Johnson knew he’d made the right decision to retire after conversations with fellow UFC legends.
After losing his UFC title to Henry Cejudo in 2018 and fighting six times under the ONE Championship banner, Johnson announced his retirement from MMA last September at the age of 38.
‘Mighty Mouse’ is considered one of the greatest fighters of all time and was unbeaten in the UFC for five years between 2012 and 2017.
Since his retirement, Johnson has been offered several lucrative deals to make a return to his beloved sport, but he’s never contemplated a comeback.
Doubts may have crept in as to whether he made the right decision.
However, advice from veterans and fellow retired UFC fighters Georges St-Pierre and Khabib Nurmagomedov confirmed he had made the correct choice.
“I was a jiu-jitsu champion, I was a ONE Championship champion, there’s nothing left for me to prove here,” Johnson told MMA Junkie.
“Like what, make more money? When I talked to GSP [St-Pierre] before I retired, GSP goes: ‘If you’re worried about money, there’s thousands of ways to make money, Demetrious.
“…Khabib said: What am I fighting for? Money? I can make plenty of money.
“So there comes a point in time where enough is enough. Sometimes when I watch some fighters fight, I’m like: ‘What are you fighting for?
“You made enough money. Do something else.’ But, I can’t tell other fighters what to do.”
Johnson was offered a route back to MMA by current UFC flyweight champion Alexandre Pantoja after the latter submitted Kai Asakura at UFC 310 in December.
“Demetrious Johnson I’m the GOAT here. If you want to prove you’re the GOAT, come back,” Pantoja said in his post-fight interview.
Johnson responded immediately, claiming he had already turned down $2 million to fight again.
“Guys I got offered 2 million dollars to fight!” ‘Mighty Mouse’ wrote on X.
“I turned it down. I don’t care to fight anymore. YouTube video dropping soon.”
Johnson has enjoyed competing in jiu-jitsu tournaments and building his YouTube channel, which has over one million subscribers, since retiring.
“Nope, not at all,” he added, when asked if there’s been any temptation to make an MMA comeback.
“I’ve had offers come in. I’ve had great offers, had a few offers come in, and I’m like: ‘No, I’m good,’ because I feel I try to be a man of my word.
“I told myself that I was never going to take a fight to make money.
“Those days of using my body to make money are over. I’m not going to sign a contract and go fight.
“…I gave myself a year to see if I was going to miss it, miss the press conference, miss fighting, miss competing.
“And as time went on, I fell in love with competing in jiu-jitsu with the gi and I started building the YouTube and started doing the Mighty Cast.
“And doing different things and working on different businesses, I was like: ‘Man, I really don’t miss it.’
“I didn’t want to hold up the division as well.”
Brandon Moreno, UFC’s No.1 contender to Pantoja’s flyweight title, makes a return to the Octagon this weekend in his native Mexico to fight No.8 ranked Steve Erceg.
Moreno lost the 125lb title to Pantoja at UFC 290 in July 2023, having traded the belt with Deiveson Figueiredo for three years.
‘The Assassin Baby’ will hope the Mexican crowd can boost his odds of defeating Australia’s Erceg to put his name in the mix for another title shot.
Amir Albazi, Kai Kara-France and Tatsuro Taira are also ranked among the top five UFC flyweights.
