Joe Rogan was impressed by Demetrious Johnson’s ability to outgrapple a bigger opponent in a jiu-jitsu tournament.
In late March, ‘Mighty Mouse’ temporarily stepped away from the MMA scene to continue his side quest in submission grappling. Johnson’s latest test was at the IBJJF Pan American Championship, where he competed in the Master 2 featherweight division as a brown belt.
The reigning ONE flyweight MMA world champion conquered his division at the tournament and challenged himself by competing in the absolute (openweight). Johnson went viral during his second run, as he was matched up against a 6’3” 250-pound fellow brown belt.
Despite being a foot shorter and nearly 100 pounds lighter, Johnson utilized his technique advantage and submitted the much larger opponent. ‘Mighty Mouse’ received praise worldwide for the performance, including Joe Rogan, who had this to say during a recent episode of JRE:
“Mighty Mouse took on a guy that was 250 pounds in a jiu-jitsu tournament, and he tapped him. The dude was heavier than him by 100 pounds. The guy was enormous, the guy was so much bigger than him. He’s great at everything too…Look at the size difference. Look how big that dude is. Mighty Mouse is so slick. There it is and the managed to stay on top, which is really crazy. It’s crazy that he couldn’t get [Mighty Mouse] off him, that’s technique… It’s crazy that he got on top of this guy and then got his back.”
Watch Johnson submit his bigger opponent below:
Joe Rogan praises Demetrious Johnson for competing in jiu-jitsu tournaments while continuing MMA career
Demetrious Johnson last fought in May 2023, defeating Adriano Moraes by unanimous decision in a trilogy bout. ‘Mighty Mouse’ also retained his ONE flyweight MMA throne, adding to his resume as one of the greatest fighters of all time.
During the previously mentioned podcast, Joe Rogan had this to say about Johnson competing in jiu-jitsu while being an MMA world champion:
“Pretty wild that he’s even willing to do this while competing. I think he’s the champion over at ONE FC still. So, he’s still doing MMA, still doing high-level championship fights, and he’s fighting in the gi, in the gi tournament, which is just nuts.”
Before his last fight against Adriano Moraes, Demetrious Johnson teased the possibility of retiring, regardless of the result. Luckily for the fans, ‘Mighty Mouse’ has not made an official decision, creating hope for another action-packed world title defense later this year.
Watch Rogan’s entire JRE podcast episode with Joey Diaz below:
