“Fight and force a submission” - Demetrious Johnson says he was locked in to submit 250-pound giant in openweight IBJJF run
Demetrious Johnson wasn't settling for a points win in his openweight run in the 2024 IBJJF Masters Pan Am Championships.
The reigning ONE flyweight MMA world champion defied divisions when he submitted Michael Sante Medina in the openweight tournament of the competition.
The 6-foot-3, 250-pound Medina was nearly a foot taller and a hundred pounds heavier than Johnson.
Despite the size disadvantage, Johnson showed why he's considered one of the greatest MMA fighters ever when he submitted Medina.
In an interview with Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour, Johnson said he was determined to submit Medina since it was what his coaches Matt Hume and Bibiano Fernandes always told him.
"In the gi, I took him down, and he was trying to elevate me and I was just trying to land on him to get my two [points]. For me, I want to submit, it's built into my DNA from Matt. For me, you don't wait. You just submit. Fight and force a submission," said Demetrious Johnson.
'Mighty Mouse' ultimately captured a silver medal in the openweight division but won the gold in the Master featherweight class.
This wasn't the first time that Johnson captured hardware in the IBJJF, though.
Johnson also captured the gold medal in his first BJJ tournament when he triumphed over the rest of the Master 2 featherweight division in the IBJJF Masters Worlds.
Watch Johnson's entire interview below:
Demetrious Johnson enjoying his time off from MMA
Demetrious Johnson has been pondering about an imminent retirement from MMA, but his martial arts knowledge never stopped developing.
The reigning ONE flyweight MMA world champion last fought at ONE Fight Night 10 when he ended his rivalry with Adriano Moraes in their trilogy bout in Denver.
Johnson told Helwani in the same interview that even though he hasn't fought in MMA, his viewpoint on martial arts continuously developed:
"I study the game way more now than when I was fighting because I'm breaking down fights. When I was in the midst of training and competing, I mean I'm still competing, but I'm more focused on breaking down my opponents."
The American legend runs his highly informative 'Mighty' YouTube channel, where he talks about fights and interviews fellow fighters.