“To cement my legacy” - Demetrious Johnson talks importance of winning ONE world title

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Demetrious Johnson [Photo Credit: ONE Championship]

It would be hard to argue against Demetrious Johnson being listed as one of the pound-for-pound greatest mixed martial artists of all time. His dominance over the years has been quite the journey for fans and fellow fighters, but ‘Mighty Mouse’ is far from done.

On August 26, Johnson will help usher in a new era of ONE Championship when the promotion makes its official debut on Amazon Prime for ONE on Prime Video 1. The highly anticipated card will feature Demetrious Johnson in the main event facing division rival and reigning ONE flyweight world champion Adriano Moraes.

While appearing at the ONE Championship x Amazon Prime press conference in Los Angeles to officially announce the partnership and a slate of events, Johnson fielded questions from the press. One media member asked Johnson if a win over Moraes would be like “icing on the cake” of his MMA career.

“For me winning the title is just going to cement my, I guess you can say my legacy, but I like to let the community decide what my legacy is, right? Because everybody's like, 'Man, you're the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world.' I don't think that, you know. I get beat up at the gym all the time from our coach.”

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Demetrious Johnson has something to prove in rematch with Adriano Moraes

Humble as ever, Demetrious Johnson said that the rematch with ‘Mikinho’ is another opportunity to add a world title to his collection while the MMA community will ultimately decide his legacy.

“But for me, it (is) just going after a title, to try to win another title and add it to my collection.”

Johnson may not concern himself with legacy; the flyweight all-time great is eager to prove that he can defeat Moraes after suffering the first knockout of his career in their April 2021 meeting at ONE on TNT 1. Attempting to land a takedown from a body kick thrown by Moraes, Johnson found himself on the canvas. Working to get to his feet, Moraes delivered a brutal knee to DJ’s chin, knocking him unconscious.

It was a shocking turn of events for Johnson, who entered the bout as a heavy favorite, with some sportsbooks giving 7-to-1 odds. Needless to say, the oddsmakers will have the impending rematch much closer on paper.

“For me, my challenge is I haven’t beat him yet, so I have a challenge in front of me. I have to go prove I can beat this man,” said Johnson while speaking to ONEFC.com

Watch Johnson's career in ONE below:

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