“I was finding a job, working anywhere” - Demetrious Johnson opens up about beginning of his martial arts career
ONE flyweight world champion Demetrious Johnson opened up about where he was in his life during the beginning of his martial arts career.
Touching base with Mouse Jones on the podcast, With Mouse Jones, Johnson explained the tough transition he experienced from graduating high school to looking after himself in the real world.
While some teens around his age were partying or hanging around with the wrong company, Johnson remained resolute on the path he wanted to take for himself and not follow the crowd.
Opening up about those in-between years before experiencing his first breakthrough in MMA, ‘Mighty Mouse’ said:
“I was still in Seattle, but it’s actually Tacoma Parkland. I remember I was finding a job, working anywhere, because there’s no money in it. Just got out of high school, working in Red Lobster, Journeys, Taco Bell, I hung gutters, construction, and I remember there were four of us, four amigos. Me, Raj, Bernard, and Isaiah. We all went different paths.”
Watch the full interview with 'Might Mouse' below:
As detailed in the interview, Raj went the gang route and regrettably died soon afterwards, Bernard went the medical route and Isaiah joined the military, while Johnson chose martial arts.
“I went the athletic route and I kept on working so. Kept on working, going to the gym every day, take my classes, and then eventually the coaches were like ‘hey you want to do an amateur fight?’ I was like ‘yeah I’ll do an amateur fight’ then.”
Demetrious Johnson says transition to MMA was like life itself
Demetrious Johnson didn’t become the most dominant flyweight world champion in one night. It took many years of hard work and sacrifice to reach his goals.
No matter how cliche it may sound, without having some consistency and discipline in your life, you will not get as far in life as you’d always hoped.
For ‘Mighty Mouse,’ the transition from high school to working full-time hours to training in the gym wasn’t easy. With a wife and their first baby on the way, Demetrious Johnson had to remain focused and work twice as hard to put food on the table while pursuing his passions.
In the same interview, ‘Mighty Mouse’ said:
“So the transition was like life. You can’t just expect to drop everything and just go do something like try following your passions. You got to continue to grind, working 40 hours a week.”