Marc Raimondi is joined by Demetrious Johnson as they discuss his potential last career fight in his trilogy with Adriano Moraes.
Margaret Mundy for ESPN with you today with one of the greatest of all time how about this Demetrius Johnson former long time UFC Flyway Champion current one it’s a feather what’s the the the one it’s you’re the 135 Champion it’s called flyweight in one but it kind of throws me up because the weight classes are a little bit off so you’re the one phantomweight Champion correct lightweight champion flyweight Champion but it’s 135. it’s 135 so in America it’s Banning weight but it depends what organization you go with but yeah it’s it’s fly away sometimes I still get confused when I start jumping to different weight classes so don’t worry well hopefully when you’re cutting weight you’re not confused and you know exactly where you need you need to pay I don’t Mark any hit don’t worry about that that’s good okay I’m glad to hear that uh of course uh you have this big fight Trilogy fight against Adriana Morris on May 5th in Colorado just a massive fight uh you know I think probably one of the biggest fights in one championship history on top of that the first ever uh event in the United States for one Championship uh you know you’re in the main event of that how cool has this uh this experience been and the lead up to this fight that’s been great you know I think the lead up to the fight’s been like any other fight um you know we fought nine months ago so nine months is pretty much you know surgery and then you’re back in the cage with the person again um so for me it’s it’s another another fight another car now we’re in America which is amazing so my wife and kids and the family can come watch me fight and see what I do for a living and then I’m I’m blessed and I can’t wait I want to ask a little bit about Adriana Mariah’s uh he’s a guy from American top team uh he beat you the first time you came back and you knocked him out you know getting revenge the second time how good is this guy I mean how would you stack him up with some of the guys that you’ve already fought in your career because you fought you know who’s who yeah I would say he’s up there I mean every single person I fought has always brought some to the type of challenge even Chris carry also you know a lot of people so Chris Curry awesome was that good I was like he was on a five fight win streak in the flyweight division so let’s put some respect on that guy’s name you know they all had their there are challenges that they bring to the fight obviously fighting at 135 and won a championship the guys I’m fighting are a lot longer they’re bigger than me to where when I fought the guys and you know the UFC at 125 they were like five three five five four so the range was a little bit different even I was on the shorter end of it but but not by that much further I think the longest other guy I thought was Tim Elliott so every single person brings a different Challenge and I think with Adriana the challenge she brings is that he’s a long opponent he has great Jiu Jitsu he loves the counter counter uh counter attack and he also is very uh patient so you know you look at the second fight you know I was a lot more patient across and distance not exposing myself like I did in the very first fight um I was still trying to get to him in the first fight but you know took a little too much risk and and paid for it and the second fight I took a little more risk some risk and paid for it in a different way but it ended up kind of being working in my favor as you can say so you know everybody you know has some something that challenges me what is what has been your experience with you know competing outside the UFC and and uh and I feel like there are there are more great Fighters outside the UFC now than there ever have been whether it be you know Juan or Bellator or pfl it feels like all over the world there are really you know these great fighters who are not necessarily in the UFC is that has that been your experience as well yeah one thousand percent I think at one point they were the Prime from the crop they had the the best talent and I think you know you look at the landscape of all the organization in the world those great fighters in every organization now I mean you look at you know bellator’s 135 pound you know what Apache makes rafting on Sergio Pettis now pit bulls going there I mean that is a deep Division and then you you know you look at you know what championships uh you know you look at their abandonment division with uh fabric store and drives you know absolute killer I mean there’s there’s great competition outside of you know the UFC I I think every organization has a banger division this is your uh this will be your first time fighting in the United States since 2018 when you know you you lost the UFC title to your pal Henry cejudo uh in Los Angeles any any emotions anything cool about coming back to the States and Performing for one yeah I think just the biggest thing is my wife and kids and all my family members get to see me you know they were never going to travel over to Singapore that’s a long flight 18 hours and then the time zone changed they were never going to do that my wife did but I I could never imagine my children doing that or even my mother-in-law my father-in-law is then he went to Japan that’s only 10 hours so that’s kind of like the biggest thing for me no emotions attached to it because this is my job this is you know how I make money and yeah I’m super pumped about it you are already in Colorado you told me before we we started rolling um why is that why why did you want to get there so early yeah well let’s see from my research that I’ve done there’s two ways to get acclimated to the altitude one you either come super early like you know two weeks before or you come with a very very very last second and trick your body that way you can’t really know what’s going on that’s what I heard from cyclists Grand cycling and mixed martials are two different sports and so you know I did my rounded media in New York City and I was like I might just go to Colorado so I’ve been out here for six days so tonight we’re gonna push it hard to see what my body’s gonna do and I still got two weeks left so now it’s just you know it’s the normal day out like I’m just looking forward just to get through the days and then fight and get back home to my daily routine with the wife and the kids so but we’re out here early just to get our buddies accumulated to the to altitude have you felt it like have you felt the difference in the in the elevation oh yeah absolutely I mean we uh trained last yesterday I lifted and just moved around and then the day before I felt it but I’ve started filming my body acclimate more because like I’m working on my squeezes and you know my heart rate gets like 180 but they don’t drop down to like 121 120 between the restaurant so my buddies I came in and really really really really good in shape uh for this camp like this Camp I ate my diet was on point by trying to put more muscle on but you lose it once you stop eating your you know your 145 grams of protein a day and 65 grams of fat and a cup and a half of right I mean I was dialed in on my diet to get bigger because I you know I don’t have to I’m not gonna have to cut the 135 for the rest of my life and I like to be bigger just to you know be bigger um so I came in a super good shape and now you know my recovery is a lot faster so we’re gonna push it at night and see what happens there’s probably not much of a cut even right even if you are kind of building muscle oh God yeah it is it’s I mean I mean this Camp I got up to like 140 47 waking up at 1 45 waking up but I was also my like I said my diet was dialed in like every meal I had besides breakfast had like six ounces of protein like whether it be chicken steak um salmon whatever it is I made sure I had I bought the scale out six ounces six ounces six ounces and when you had that much calorie intake protein intake your body just starts to hang on to all that that nutrition and yeah I was feeling great and so when I was able to get my body that much um calories and stuff I can push harder in the gym in the training and everything so it’s just totally different but now I’m like having the six ounces because I don’t have you know my scale and all that good stuff so now it’s my weight’s like 141 waking up and I had foco de Chao last night Brazilian steakhouse I had dessert we had olives it was bombing so I’m eating good so when I talk to him he goes he goes Demetrius you can probably make 125 you just don’t want to and I was like you got it I don’t want to and then Maurice is a big guy right I mean he’s I’m sure he’s probably walking around that heavier than you are right now I would I would I guarantee that I would assume but like when we talked you know like we’re totally cool there’s no bad blood whatsoever we talked he says he doesn’t get over 145 so um but yeah I mean he’s tall he’s like five eight I’m five three so there’s a huge Heist difference but people are built different you know I’m I’m 5’3 you know the 125 pound champion in one I think he’s like five two but I’m just more dance you know I’m just I guess thicker I don’t know could you see yourself ever going back to 125 at any point God no absolutely not what it does to your kidneys your liver absolutely not and and I’m at a point now like I don’t eat I don’t need to like why would I want to go to 125 so I’m the bigger guy or like I would just fight at this if a guy beats me because it’s big or good for you I don’t care but I’m not going out of 125 error again you mentioned uh in some interviews last week that you know maybe maybe you’re a little bit closer to the ends of the uh of the chapter than the beginning of the chapter as far as MMA goes could this be the last one it’s it’s definitely it could be potentially yeah um you know I talked to my wife and about it and she says you know don’t don’t make a clear-cut answer now and I talk to somebody else too who doesn’t even fight and he says when you’ll know when you know right and he says go on vacation with your wife and kids and and just think about it right and I was okay that’s that’s my plan so after this fight win lose your draw I’m gonna sit down and you know and after the final of the fight uh divulge more on you know my my training fight on this stuff but yeah I I don’t see you know I’m 36 now I’ve accomplished everything in a sport the only thing I can say the only two things I’ve never accomplished in this Sport and now I’ll write this to the Grave is one I never got on a massive pay-per-view with Conor McGregor until I get that red painting night where you make five to six million dollars and two I’ve never became a champion that’s only two things I’ve never been able to accomplish in a sport of mixed martial arts the championship thing not too concerned about that I mean I think you know electricity fences is way harder and the Conor McGregor one or not it doesn’t have to be essentially kind of everyone but just on a massive pay-per-view were you making like you know just that you sell 800 pay-per-view points you do the you do the math it’s just you know it’s just massive those are the only things I had like on my list of accomplishments that I’ll say I wish I would have done it um just that one ‘s not is that one still I think I mean that could come to fruition right even if it’s not the big money right now seems like Fighters going over to boxing right and making a lot of money in boxing I mean that’s true too but I would have to find a counterpart that has a name like Jake Paul to be able to bring that type of you know magnitude you know what I mean unless I got a Jake Paul but I I thought that would happen um so that’s those are two things like on my list of like things I wanted to accomplish was we’re in a world Grand Prix because I grew up watching that in Pride and dream like I never forget you know the critical countdown with uh apparently Silva that was open weight Grand Prix Eric Bentley cello curl cop Josh Burnett I mean I’ve seen some of those I mean I look at those posters almost every day when I go to the gym the The A Team man or eight man um open weight Grand Prix or middleweight Grand Prix so I’ve always wanted to accomplish that and you know I never had the you know on my list to become a world champion in an organization outside of North America like in one Championship so I accomplished that but that was like something I didn’t really care about but those were the two things I would say that you know the things I never accomplished was champ champ and just that that multi-million dollar peer-review payday something that that payday could happen I don’t think that I don’t know I mean I wouldn’t because I mean like because like you said I mean you have done everything right I mean you’re you’re you’re you’re one of the greatest of all time that’s no hyperbole you know you have 11 consecutive title defenses in the UFC which is uh the record uh I mean you’re like you said you went to go over to one and you’re the champion there now I mean there isn’t a whole lot left to kind of take off but as you mentioned you know that big payday maybe you know maybe like I think Nate Diaz is probably gonna get a big payday coming up against uh Jake Paul as you mentioned and you know Francine gone who is possibly going over to boxing seems like that’s kind of a trend right now yeah you know I I should have more of a growth myosis sort of fixed mindset about oh it never happened but you know if it happens it happens you know like I said I have a list I had a list of things I wanted to accomplish I didn’t even have a list of things I wanted to accomplish and make small shots besides the world Grand Prix if it happens I’ll be truly grateful if it doesn’t like damn like if I met when I my kids are you know 18 21 they say Dad if there’s something you wish you would accomplish in your mixed martial arts career what were they it would be those two things like not wish but I was like damn I wish I think pay-per-view because Champion that’s you know I don’t I mean that’s there’s only a few many people who’ve done that so I’m not too excited so I’ll save a viewpoints fair enough um did you do most of your camp in Arizona or were you were you back home in Washington um I was back home so I did um I think a week and a half two weeks in Arizona with Henry and then I was back home at AMC paint creation and now we’re finished up I guess you say Camp here in um Colorado it’s kind of uh it’s kind of heartwarming to see you know you and Henry as friends after the two battles you guys had in the Octagon I know I know that it was never really uh there was never any personal Bad Blood between the two of you but you know competitive certainly both of you guys are great competitors and uh I was just wondering like how did this friendship kind of take off with you and Henry well we’re both cool people we could start there um and I just reached out to him you know we gotta have we got a vacation house in Arizona and I’ve always had a lot of respect for Henry uh of what he’s going to accomplish in mixed martial arts and in wrestling and so I just literally reached out to him I was like Hey dude I was like hey I got a house in Arizona I love to come mix it up with you and train and he goes yeah let’s do it like we can work together we’ve even talked about doing podcasts together and other business ventures together and you know I always tell them I was like I want to you know I have a huge interest in making sure I want to see him win like I he’s a junior good person I like him a lot him and his wife his beautiful daughter so yeah great friendship and we like to train train together we like to share you know I just talked to him I think three days ago we’re talking about like our fight coming up and and we have the same motive like we’re both we’re both businessmen and we’re both competitors and when the businessman when we talked business we’re like man we try to get this money to take care of these kids man like we’re trying to retire one day even though he retired but he came back and he’s gonna fight again he’s got some stuff dropping on his YouTube channel so make sure you guys follow that um where we talked about like why the reason why he came that he’s coming back and then there’s a competitor there’s a competitive side of us where we’re like you know how he says you know how he’s going to approach this fight without Joe then he even asked me he goes what do you think about this I was like dude I think that’s a great idea and I was like you remember yeah I gave him some Sound Advice tips and then he did the same thing for me I’ll tell him I was like man what do you think about this and he goes I think you know I don’t think I think there is but I don’t think there is somebody or two martial artists who fight each other who actually confining each other on how we should approach our fights and actually take that advice from one another you know what I mean like teammates that’s a different story but like we’re both we’re both printing me as he would say but now we’re good friends where it’s like hey what do you think about this I’m like dude you got you got the skill set remember X Y and Z he goes That’s Right Demetrius okay all right I’m gonna make a pill with it today all right so um yeah it’s great I’m truly grateful that I reached out to him and it’s been awesome I mean I guess there’s got to be like something relatable between the two of you because so few people in Combat Sports have accomplished the level that you guys have accomplished you know whether it’s him winning you know titles in the UFC and I don’t know if a gold medal in wrestling you know you know you having the record for most high defenses like very few people are in that rarefied air right so maybe there’s a commonality yeah absolutely commonality and we both want this same goal like we’ve like you said you know like he’s accomplished everything you can and makes martial arts right he has I mean you think he beat me became flyweight Champion defended it beat Marlon rice won that belt defended it so what left like if you look at the standpoint like what left is there for him to do he could go up to 145 by Alex volkanovski and Yaya Rodriguez for that belt you can do that but at the end of the day you know he he says if money talks like he’s doing this for for money I mean I think there’s something wrong with that either I think a lot of people get mixed well they only do it for money yeah why are you going to work every day for money right so um yeah and I think we share that commonality where we’re trying to make as much money as possible while retire and and right off into the sunset how would you uh and last question on Henry’s I don’t want to give him too much uh publicity in your interview but uh Henry’s always fascinating to me because uh he’s he plays like this character right in front of the cameras like I interviewed him last week and he was like half in character and half not and was like drive me a little bit crazy and I told him that um but it’s like I know that the real guy is like is a is a good guy and like uh you know uh uh a competitor and like you know the sport is is his Focus but uh do you see the king of cringe when you’re in the gym when you talk with him or just no no no it’s it’s funny because we were talking and we’re talking about like this is the business side of us and he was like man you know I started that cringe to get people to follow and I was like you didn’t have to do that and he was yes I did because it took too long right like you even look at my story I was always the guy who come show up blow the bricks off people and go off and do my own thing never really caught on then all of a suddenly I don’t know what caught fire why you know now I’m the person I think probably because I don’t I just this is who I am you’re gonna get what you get I’m a nerd I’m gonna go play video games tonight you rather ride or die with me it is what it is and that I think that’s where I my popular kind of took off and maybe maybe it could be one Championship you know promoted me the correct way I don’t know what it is but I feel like this is where I’m at now is probably the biggest I’ve ever been for Henry he’s told me this time we’re like people like uh who the hell is this where’s cringe at like I’m expecting cringe and he had to struggle with that I’m like dude you’re at the point now where he can be that that sales person where he was like I’m gonna beat you out your jizzling you nothing and still be the same person but he’s just gotta kind of you know merge the two together but you know but he’s there’s no cringe we laugh and it’s always a good time always smiles when we’re training together okay so so last thing uh sell me sell me your Trilogy fight uh don’t have to be cringy or anything please actually don’t be don’t be the king of cringe but sell me this Trilogy fight why is it big why is it important for one first fight in the United States for them why is it important for me to Demetrius Johnson why is it important for Adriana Morris yeah I won’t even say why it’s important for me and hrmas I mean I mean life should have gone for us but I’ll tell you why this is big for one Championship so ladies and gentlemen if you are trying to look at the Pinnacle of Sports organization when it comes to Combat Sports look no further May 5th Amazon Prime one Championship coming here to North America one fight night 10. Adriana take on demetrons to the trilogy if you want to see the the highest level of Muay Thai mixed martial arts kickboxing submission wrestling tune in to Amazon Prime May 5th don’t miss it and it might be the last fight ever for Demetrius Johnson and it could be my black ass last fight forever we’ll see you know like I said 36 man you can’t do this forever so you know when I look at when I look at my other kind of parts of a GSP you know they walked away from the sport they could have kept on fighting you know I mean and that’s the thing too like doesn’t have to be on top like I’m at a point in my career where I’m satisfied like I can truly say like I’m truly satisfied I still train my ass off I still fight I I’m still good I mean it’s there just has some point in time where you just got to think about that so um everybody’s like oh man you think I was like you come watch me train you you can dictate that right I always love with people like oh man you have one foot out door and I was like there’s something wrong with that I’m sure when GSP pot I might go visit me he had one foot out the door already he was like oh come back and make this bag and see what happens so stay with him to beep when he thought Justin Gates he had one foot at the door too and and I’m sure other great athletes who’ve uh retired from not just mixed martial arts but boxing or whatever I’m sure they have they have these contemplations in their mind too so it’s not wrong with that what’s up post MMA uh world look like for you a lot of video games some Esports oh well I’m awesome Esports there’s no money in Esports anymore that was a big bubble and then also just burst um you know I talking to the the videographer right now learning about cameras we’re talking about what next lens I’m gonna get um do some grappling um I’m just gonna just you know see what happens you know like I said this this could be my last fight or it might not so I’m literally gonna sit down and contemplate like hey you know what’s going on do I want to do it or what’s what do we want to do sounds good Demetrius always great talking to you just to uh piggyback on that again May 5th first ever won Championship card the United States big Trilogy fight Demetrius Johnson versus Adriana rice three for the the one flyweight Championship hfc took me a few minutes but I think I got it now hey baby hey hey it’s a new lingo I know people trust me girl like man you’ve been a week fighter now I’m like no I’m flying I’m like oh but it’s 135 I’m like different organization and like but it’s 135 right here it’s been waiting I’m like this conversation is done so don’t worry about it thanks DJ appreciate it man likewise thanks for watching ESPN on YouTube for live streaming Sports and premium content subscribe to ESPN Plus