Mighty Mouse retires — Demetrious Johnson’s best moments, the legacy of a great career

Demetrious Johnson’s legacy in MMA is one of the best to do so. He reigned with the UFC flyweight belt through a record 11 consecutive title defenses, and in 2022, he became the ONE Championship 135-pound champion.

When news broke that the 38-year-old Johnson was retiring from MMA with 25 career victories, praise came from many in the sport. Known as ‘Mighty Mouse’ in the MMA world, he was a trailblazing champion and, in some ways, underappreciated.

ESPN’s Andreas Hale, Brett Okamoto, and Jeff Wagenheim have watched Johnson since he was a young bantamweight, starting at World Extreme Cagefighting in 2010, and through his dominant UFC campaign and eventual championship at ONE. Here are some memories of his career, as well as an assessment of his elite status in the sport.

Mighty Mouse’s place among the GOATs

Okamoto: As in any sport, “GOAT talk” is funny in mixed martial arts because there are no right answers. We can (and will) debate Johnson’s place among the greatest in MMA history until the end of time. I tend to put the various GOATs into separate categories of greatness, rather than ranking them against each other.

There are five MMA GOATs, in my opinion: Jon Jones, Khabib Nurmagomedov, Georges St-Pierre, Anderson Silva and Demetrious Johnson. Jones has the best resume. Nurmagomedov was the most “unbeatable” of the night. St-Pierre ahead of time in flight skill, preparation, mind, etc. Silva is “the greatest” in the same sense that Muhammad Ali is “the greatest,” as art-like in the Octagon. And Johnson? Johnson is the most technically skilled fighter I have ever seen.

And he should be. They compete at the smallest weight, where every technical deficiency is magnified. A dominant heavyweight can still be handicapped, because it’s just a different game when you’re talking about 125 pounds versus 265 pounds. Brock Lesnar has certainly never been a UFC champion in a lower weight class, where execution and second-hand skills matter. Johnson’s fighting IQ, endurance and skill in mixing all martial arts into one cohesive style is arguably unmatched in the history of the sport. If you want someone to run a clinic on MMA skills, Johnson No. 1 Pick.

The reason why you won’t see Johnson at the top of the GOAT rankings is the level of competition he is up against. But there is that context. While he’s in the UFC and breaking records like consecutive title defenses, the knock on his resume is that he hasn’t beaten a “former champion,” which of course doesn’t make sense because there are no “former champions” to beat — because the promotion’s new flyweight division . However, his achievements have always flown under the radar compared to the likes of Jones, who made a career out of dominating the former light heavyweight champion.

When Johnson was traded from the UFC to ONE Championship in 2019, it may have further weakened his case for the GOAT. As seen — reasonably or not — he faced a lower level of competition than his fellow UFC champions, even considered as such when he went to ONE and fought an unknown, out-of-season opponent. His case as the all-time GOAT may have been strengthened had he fought TJ Dillashaw in 2017, but Johnson is sticking to his guns on a financial request that was ultimately denied by the UFC. And the fact that he lost his last UFC fight via split decision to Henry Cejudo may have been even smaller.

However, the fact that Johnson doesn’t have to “chase” fights that could help his GOAT status go well with the way he’s handled his career. He was a student, who was always more interested in the competition than in external praise or praise. He’s comfortable with his position in the sport, almost defiant (especially under pressure to fight Dillashaw in 2017). He is undoubtedly the greatest flyweight of all time, and almost no one can replace him. As for his position among the GOATs, he won’t get many first place votes. Still, if you ask which real martial artist you like the most from a pure skill point of view. It’s Johnson.

Uphill battle for Mighty Mouse

Hale: In the world of combat sports where personality can be more marketable than actual fighting ability, Johnson presents himself as a fighter who never needs to create a character, create a rivalry, or create controversy to generate interest in his fights. The “Mighty Mouse” behaved respectfully and respected his opponent until the cage door closed. After being locked inside with his opponent, he let his fists and feet do the talking.

Johnson struggled to find mainstream appeal as an undersized African-American fighter and was never overly concerned with his popularity. He doesn’t have an entire country rooting for him, he’s not a devastating knockout artist, and he doesn’t display a larger-than-life personality either. One could argue that his persona in and out of the ring caused him to leave money on the table. He could be Floyd Mayweather Jr.’s way. Simply put, Johnson is very good at fighting. He was so good that the UFC considered shutting down the division he had dominated for five years because they couldn’t find a suitable rival for him in the Octagon.

To his credit, Johnson never bothered about his lack of fame and financial gain. In fact, Johnson found new ways to grow as a fighter — leaving the UFC for ONE Championship and winning the 135-pound title in 2022 — and as a YouTube streamer. The “Mighty” channel has over 728,000 subscribers and combines video game streaming sessions with detailed coverage of all things MMA.

All he ever cared about was entertaining inside the cage. If you don’t find him entertaining, you haven’t witnessed the greatest flyweight to compete in mixed martial arts.

Johnson’s memorable and magical moments

Wagenheim: Watching Johnson show off his amazing skills in MMA is always exciting, but along with that excitement comes confusion.

Wait a second, what is “Mighty Mouse” doing there? How did he complete the move?

I was in the cage in Toronto that night in 2012 when “Mighty Mouse” became the inaugural UFC flyweight champion. I remember two things about the fight with Joseph Benavidez at UFC 152: one, it was all-action and breathtaking, and two, it was booed a lot. The failure of these fans to recognize the supremacy they saw left many confused, including an exasperated Dana White, who staged an epic post-fight. “If you don’t like a flyweight fight, please, I’m begging you, don’t buy another UFC pay-per-view,” the UFC president told reporters at a post-fight press conference. “I don’t want your money. You’re an idiot, you don’t like fighting, you don’t appreciate talent.”

If any fans are paying attention to White’s words, they’re missing out on a lot of spectacular moments to come. Johnson was seconds away from a lopsided decision win over Kyoji Horiguchi in 2015, but didn’t opt ​​out. Instead, he scored his 14th takedown of the night and quickly moved to an armbar to get the tap — with one second left in Round 5. “That’s a new record (for a recent submission)!” a breath Joe Rogan said in the broadcast. “You can’t beat it!”

I remember showing my pre-teen son a replay that ended the next day. He became fascinated with spectator sports, and when he watched MMA with me, he was fascinated by one fighter above all others. “Dad, is ‘Mighty Mouse’ fighting this week?” he would ask, full of hope. It was perfect because my son loves superheroes who do things no human can do. We stayed awake at night in 2017 when Johnson made his record 11th consecutive title defense, and when “Mighty Mouse” pulled off his biggest submission – picking up Ray Borg, throwing him to the canvas and, at the same time. movement, clamping on the armbar before they hit the ground! — we just sat there, silently looking at each other. There are no words for what we just saw — or thought we saw. Then it played again, and as the boy and I soaked in the details of the wasted motion of how Johnson, so quickly, got the tapout, we simultaneously said, “Wow!”

I often wish I was watching it not live but on tape, so I could switch the video to slow motion and see the magic unfold frame by frame. Watching it in real time is like experiencing a literary classic through Cliff Notes. You’re just tapping into the deeper core of a larger-than-life 125-pound wonder.