“I’ve really fallen in love” - Demetrious Johnson beams about budding jiu-jitsu career
ONE flyweight MMA world champion Demetrious Johnson is not the kind of athlete who rests on his laurels, but he continues to thrive, even outside the ONE Circle.
After adding another accomplishments in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu last year, winning all six of his matches in a near-40-man bracket at the IBJJF Masters Worlds and getting the gold, he also sets up his own brand, 'Mighty'.
And now, he's concentrating on his newfound love of BJJ, as 'Mighty Mouse' shared while speaking in an AFK with Ninja podcast recently.
He said:
"Right now, I’m just focused on jiu-jitsu. Jiu-jitsu is a thing that I’ve really fallen in love with."
He explained:
"You know, I’ve been fighting since I was 18 years old, became a champion in UFC, held that for six years, just became the champion in ONE Championship, defending that belt in Denver last year. So right now, I’m married, got three kids, working on building my brand, and I’m just focused on that. Because if you build a brand, the brand outlasts me."
After his epic world title trilogy victory over rival Adriano Moraes in the main event of ONE’s historic debut on U.S. soil last year, it is certain that his next appearance would be a barnburner, in whatever discipline he's going into.
Demetrious Johnson sees Kade Ruotolo as the new 'guard' of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu
As a life long martial artist, Demetrious Johnson knows how to spot a talent, and he sees one in fellow ONE world champion Kade Ruotolo.
'Mighty Mouse' interviewed Ruotolo on an episode of his podcast, MightyCast, and likened the Atos standout to some of the best BJJ practitioners to don the four-ounce gloves.
Johnson said:
"Not in today's age [will you see pure BJJ artists succeed in MMA]. When you go back, when Bibiano Fernandes jumped into the scene, when 'Jacare' and Demian Maia jumped into the scene, they were destroying people with their grappling and they got better with their hands. Then MMA caught up with them and they started having problems."
Even more so, 'DJ' believes that the young prodigy would be even better in the future, if he continues to sharpen his overall game.
Watch the full interview here: