Demetrious Johnson believes mixed martial arts is the easiest sport to achieve one’s dream of becoming a world champion.
With nearly two decades of experience in the sport, ‘Mighty Mouse’ has established himself as one of, if not the greatest pound-for-pound fighter in the history of the sport. Johnson carried the flyweight title under the UFC banner for six years before moving on to ONE Championship where he claimed the crown with a stunning fourth-round knockout of Adriano Moraes in August 2022.
When he’s not dominating the competition, Johnson is a regular on social media, offering his own unique take on all things combat sports. Recently, ‘Mighty Mouse’ caught fight fans a little off guard when he claimed that winning a world championship was easier in mixed martial arts than any other sport.
“That’s the thing about boxing,” Johnson said on TikTok. “Mixed Martial Arts is the easiest sport to become champion in. When you fight boxing, it’s boxing. Every person you fight in boxing is going to be good in boxing… when you fight mixed martial arts, you’re gonna have people who have significant big holes in them, right?
“You have a guy like Alex Pereira…6-1 and he becomes a champion in mixed martial arts. You can have no wrestling experience and become a world champion. You look at Brock Lesnar, he became a world champion and he had no stand-up experience whatsoever.
“That’s why I feel MMA is the easiest to become a world champion…you can have deficiencies and still become a champion. In boxing, you can’t. You have to be a good boxer to become a world champion, you just have to.”
I imagine this will upset some MMA bitter enders, but Mighty Mouse is very much correct. https://t.co/7RrBKK68M0
— Luke Thomas🏋️♀️ (@lthomasnews) August 28, 2023
No Matter Where He Is, Demetrious Johnson Dominates the Competition
Of course, not everyone was quick to discredit Johnson’s hot take. After all, if you’re going to get the opinion of someone on the subject, who better than the man who holds the record for the most successful title defenses in UFC history?
In 2012, Demetrious Johnson etched his name in the history books by becoming the UFC’s first-ever flyweight world champion. He went on to defend the title a stunning 11 times over the course of six years, defeating the likes of Joseph Benavidez, John Dodson, Kyoji Horiguchi, Henry Cejudo, and Ray Borg. In 2018, ‘Mighty Mouse’ was finally bested by Cejudo in their UFC 227 rematch via split decision.
From there, Johnson made history again by being the first athlete to be traded by the UFC. Johnson was sent to Asia-based promotion ONE Championship in 2018 in exchange for former ONE and Bellator welterweight titleholder Ben Askren. It didn’t take long for Johnson to make his mark in ONE, winning the ONE Flyweight World Grand Prix tournament before capturing the flyweight world title at ONE on Prime Video 1.
He has since defended the title against Moraes in a trilogy bout, scoring a unanimous decision victory at ONE Fight Night 10, and even made promotional history by competing in ONE’s first-ever hybrid-rules fight with Muay Thai superstar Rodtang Jitmuangnon.
Transcription by MMA News
