It sounds as if Demetrious Johnson is seriously contemplating the possibility of retirement. The 36 year old faces Adriano Moraes for the third time at ONE Fight Night 10 next week in what could be his final fight.
It appears Johnson wants to spend more time with his family and he also hinted that he might be dealing with some injury issues heading into the flyweight title fight that will headline ONE Championship’s US debut,
“I think after this fight’s done, I’ll be more transparent of why I say this might be my last fight or this horse’s last ride or whatever. But I think to like divulge it all and stuff right now, it just wouldn’t be the right time.”
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Pinnacle of the sport
The reigning ONE Championship flyweight champion is still at the pinnacle of the sport. If age is starting to catch up with Johnson there is no sign of it in his recent performances, he has won four fights out of five since signing for the promotion.
Johnson says he still feels confident in his ability but isn’t sure whether he is willing to continue making the sacrifices required to train for fights,
“I still feel I can go out one or two or three years but I want to see what happens. Like I feel like fatherhood, I love my children, I love my wife, I love being here for them (and) I feel sometimes that training camps take me away from that.”
Johnson knows it comes with the territory when you are one of the world’s best mixed martial artists. But he isn’t sure how much longer he can continue doing it for,
“It’s my job. But, you know, there’s part of me it’s like how much more?”
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New experience
For once he will not be fighting in Asia. ONE Fight Night 10 is set for Broomfield and will be Johnson’s first fight in the US since the split decision loss to Henry Cejudo at UFC 277 in 2018.
His entire family will be there and Johnson is excited that his children will be seeing him fight live for the first tine,
“I think personally, the biggest thing is just having my children there. They’ve seen me fight on television, obviously. So that’s probably the coolest thing.”
His children never see him train so Johnson is glad that they will finally get a chance to see exactly what it is their father does for a living,
“For them, there is this excitement to see me compete. Because like I said, they don’t come to the gym. They don’t train. It’s just cool to have them be there, to see me compete because they don’t see me train.”
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No pressure
He has already lost to Moraes once. Johnson beat him in the rematch and with the two men sharing a win apiece a trilogy match was always going to happen.
It should be a huge fight for Johnson but it sounds like he is more focused on his family than his fighting career at this stage,
“For me, no pressure because at the end of the day, regardless if I win, lose, draw, I’m going to go back home, take care of my kids.”
Johnson has always performed on fight night and there is no reason to suspect things will be any different on May 5th. But it sounds like the former UFC flyweight champion and reigning ONE Championship flyweight champion will be announcing his retirement afterwards regardless of the outcome.
