Demetrious Johnson reveals how Henry Cejudo inspired him to examine next career steps
At ONE Fight Night 10, Demetrious Johnson will face off against Adriano Moraes in their huge trilogy matchup. It will mark one of the biggest fights of the American's career.
‘Mighty Mouse’ is no stranger to world championship main events, but this one has the extra bragging rights of a trilogy. If he is able to defend his flyweight world championship and produce back-to-back wins over his Brazilian opponent, he'll largely erase the memory of his second-round knockout loss to Moraes the first time they met.
With the fight already being the culmination of their incredible set of fights and the main event for ONE Championship’s first-ever event in the United States, it doesn’t get much bigger than Johnson versus Moraes 3.
Despite that, ‘Mighty Mouse’ has added another narrative to this fight during his interviews in the buildup. In a recent appearance on The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani, Johnson revealed that the timeframe of when he wants to hang up the gloves has reduced significantly, alluding to the fact that this could be the last time we see him compete.
He went on to explain that this change in plans for his career was somewhat motivated by his training with Henry Cejudo, who returns the day after ONE Fight Night 10 at UFC 288.
Johnson said:
“I got inspired by him the first time we trained together. I was like, dude, you've been out for three years; how do you make a living? And he goes, I'm hustling, man, I'm making good money. I don't need to come back to fighting. I'm coming back because I want to.”
He added:
“There has come a point in time where I need to force myself, okay, we've relied on my body and my athleticism to pay my bills. It's time to start looking at other avenues to bring in revenue to sustain my lifestyle.”
Watch the full interview below:
With what could be the final fight of his legendary career, Demetrious Johnson will face Adriano Moraes for the third and likely final time at ONE Fight Night 10 on May 5. The entire event will air live and for free via Prime Video for North American viewers.