- Demetrious Johnson was thrilled to have witnessed how Ryan Garcia mauled Devin Haney to a dominant decision win
- Conor McGregor also congratulated “King Ry”
Demetrious Johnson and Conor McGregor heaped praise on Ryan Garcia’s sensational performance against Devin Haney.
DJ was blown away
Johnson tuned in as Garcia dismantled Haney in their lightweight showdown this weekend. Everytime “King Ry” dropped Haney, “Mighty Mouse” was blown away in awe.
In an Instagram post, Johnson admitted that he was “shocked” by how good Garcia was. The former UFC champ also noted that Haney never engaged in a war with Garcia and the referee was evidently letting him recover well everytime he got knocked down.
“This is where Ryan Garcia does his best f**king work, when he just takes it to his opponent… I’m shocked how well Garcia did. When you look at Haney’s fights in the past, he’s very good at slowing the fight down, getting behind his jab and making his opponents miss,” Johnson said.
“Devin would never commit, he would get close and wait and wait and wait, but then Ryan Garcia would turn his back and he’ll keep beating up the flank which is an illegal shot. Eventually, he would get there and throw a hook and Ryan Garcia would block it,” he added.
“The thing that was very frustrating about this fight is that the referee kept Haney in that fight, I felt that each time Garcia would hurt Haney, Haney would be hanging on to him and then the ref’s like ‘stop holding him,’ it’s like dude, you just gave him [Haney] like 15-20 seconds of rest, you stopped Ryan’s momentum to finish,” he pointed out.
In the caption, Johnson said he should probably drink beer before a fight just like what Garcia did during the weigh-ins.
“I was WRONG about @kingryan, I gotta start drinking before every fight now!,” Johnson wrote.
Conor congratulated Ryan
Like Johnson, McGregor also raved about Garcia’s dominant win over Haney. In a post on X, “Notorious” mentioned that he already knew Garcia had the ability to succeed when they met backstage after “King Ry’s” loss to Gervonta Davis in 2022.
“Yup Jesus and the sesh! Ya’s know fuck all, peasants, stay out of our ear! Well in Garcia. An amazing fight from two champions! Have now fought each other 7 times! That’s incredible. Some are just born to fight! Some aren’t. If you aren’t be sure to be a good gatherer cos I be hungry. God speed to both men and teams in this crazy world and congrats Ryan Garcia! Tonight is your night, I knew when he fought Tank that this guy was electric,” McGregor said.
“Even in defeat. I went backstage after he’d been stopped to the body last time out,” he continued. “Only his close people were present. A win or a loss will never make or break a person to me. When you know, you know. Fighters know. The real know. God knows! Now the real fight happens for the young man, too! Stay strong kid, believe in the Lord’s guidance and keep it tight like frogs ass in Versace lad hahaha yes! Well in! Jesus is King so don’t go against what he tells you personally and internally. Keep it right and good luck lil’ bro. Drink responsibly @ProperWhiskey and @ForgedStout everynight 💯👑.”
Garcia dropped Haney three times and was deducted a point after throwing a punch on the break of Round 7. The fight went the distance and Garcia was declared the winner via majority decision. He would’ve been the new WBC super lightweight champ if he hadn’t went over the weight limit.
Nevertheless, Garcia is now back in title contention and is one of the top names in the division once again. As for Haney, the defeat to Garcia was the first of his professional boxing career.
