Despite claims he would not be snapping his recent retirement to make a UFC return, former flyweight king, Demetrious Johnson may not be kept away from combat sports for too long according to former middleweight champion, Michael Bisping, who believes there is a world where the Kentucky favorite competes again.
Johnson, a former undisputed UFC flyweight champion and ONE Championship titleholder, confirmed his retirement from professional mixed martial arts back in September, having most recently landed a trilogy rubber match victory over Adriano Moraes back in May of last year in a unanimous decision effort.
However, over the course of the weekend, Kentucky fan-favorite, Johnson was the subject of a call out by undisputed flyweight champion, Alexandre Pantoja following his win at UFC 310 — in which the Brazilian laid waste to Japanese challenger, Kai Asakura with a dominant second round rear-naked choke win.
And responding almost immediately to the call out from Pantoja — who joined both himself and Joseph Benavidez as the pole sitters for the most wins in flyweight history in the UFC, Johnson claimed he had no intention to snap his recent retirement from combat sports.
“Guys I got offered 2 million dollars to fight!!” Demetrious Johnson posted on his official X account. “I turned it down I don’t care to fight anymore YouTube video dropping soon.”
Demetrious Johnson tipped to return by UFC alum, Michael Bisping
However, as far as another former undisputed champion is concerned, Johnson will likely make a return to the Octagon in the future — when the itch becomes too hard to ignore.
“I know Mighty Mouse (Demetrious Johnson) came back out and said, “No, you ain’t getting my ass out of retirement,” Michael Bisping said on his YouTube channel. ” However, I still like it. I still think there might be a world one day where Mighty Mouse could be lured out of retirement.