UFC Betting Sites – The Best MMA Online Bookies
UFC best betting sites and the best MMA odds and gambling news
Flyweight legend Demetrious Johnson announced his retirement from MMA on Friday at ONE 168. An emotional Johnson said goodbye to the sport and became the…
Flyweight legend Demetrious Johnson announced his retirement from MMA on Friday at ONE 168. An emotional Johnson said goodbye to the sport and became the…
The mixed martial arts career of UFC and ONE Championship legend Demetrious Johnson has reached its conclusion. Johnson officially announced his retirement from the sport of MMA following 15 months of uncertainty. His final appearance was a headline v…
The mixed martial arts career of UFC and ONE Championship legend Demetrious Johnson has reached its conclusion. Johnson officially announced his retirement from the sport of MMA following 15 months of uncertainty. His final appearance was a headline victory at ONE Fight Night 10, the Asian promotion’s United States debut in May 2023. After outpointing […]
Continue Reading Demetrious Johnson Announces MMA Retirement, Inducted Into ONE Championship Hall Of Fame at MMA News.
UFC legend Demetrious “Mighty Mouse” Johnson says that Sean Strickland does not deserve the next title shot. The ONE…
UFC legend Demetrious “Mighty Mouse” Johnson says that Sean Strickland does not deserve the next title shot. The ONE MMA world champion recently shared his insights on the UFC middleweight title scene and a potential champion-versus-champion fight involving Dricus Du Plessis and Alex Pereira.
Du Plessis impressed many with his performance against former champion Israel Adesanya at UFC 305 in Perth, Australia. The South African fighter showcased his skills by going head-to-head with Adesanya for three rounds before submitting him with a rear-naked choke in the fourth round. This victory solidified Du Plessis as the top fighter in the 185-pound division and sparked discussions about his next opponent.
Johnson, speaking on his YouTube channel, expressed uncertainty about Adesanya’s future after his two consecutive losses. He suggested that Adesanya might fight the loser of the upcoming bout between Robert Whittaker and Khamzat Chimaev. Despite Adesanya’s current situation, Johnson expressed a desire to see him continue fighting.
For Du Plessis, Johnson proposed a match against the winner of the Whittaker vs. Chimaev fight, dismissing UFC CEO Dana White’s suggestion that Sean Strickland should be next in line for a title shot. Johnson was not impressed by Sean Strickland’s previous fight against Paulo Costa and suggested Sean Strickland seek other opportunities.
In an interview with RG, he explained:
“I think we see him fight the winner of Khamzat and Robert Whittaker. I know Dana White went out there and said the winner of this fight is gonna fight Sean Strickland. I don’t know if I want to see that fight. I think Sean Strickland could do something else, because when he fought (Paulo) Costa, I didn’t think it was a very exciting fight.”
Johnson also commented on Alex Pereira, the current light heavyweight champion, who had previously held the middleweight title. Pereira hinted at returning to the middleweight division after Du Plessis’ victory over Adesanya. However, Johnson advised Pereira to focus on defending his 205-pound title against Khalil Rountree at UFC 307 and potentially against Magomed Ankalaev before considering a move back to middleweight for a champion-versus-champion fight.
‘Might Mouse’ said:
“I don’t want to see that, right? Maybe if he gets past (Rountree and Magomed) Ankalaev – if he beats those two guys, then I’d love to see him come down to 185. But I think right now you leave Alex Pereira against Khalil, and then you have the winner of Robert Whittaker versus Khamzat taking on DDP.
In the flyweight division, Johnson praised Kai Kara-France for his first-round TKO victory over Steve Erceg, suggesting that Kara-France deserves a title shot against reigning champion Alexandre Pantoja. With former champion Deiveson Figueiredo no longer in the division, Johnson believes Kara-France’s recent performance warrants a chance to compete for the belt.
Demetrious Johnson explained:
“He’s on a successful run, big knockouts in the division. I think right now, this would be a good opportunity to have Kai Kara-France fight Alex Pantoja. I think right now, when you look at the division, you don’t have (former champion Deiveson) Figueiredo in there anymore. He’s at 135. Kara-France just knocked out Steve Erceg, a guy that Pantoja couldn’t finish. So I think you give Kai Kara-France the opportunity to fight for the belt against Alex Pantoja.”
In the main event of this past weekend’s UFC Fight Night in Abu Dhabi, a new top bantamweight contender emerged. Umar Nurmagomedov was able to leapfrog the majority of the top ten at 135-pounds by defeating Cory Sandhagen over five rounds. Many have expected for a long time that Nurmagomedov just needed the opportunity to […]
Continue Reading Demetrious Johnson Discusses Bantamweight Title Picture After UFC Abu Dhabi: ‘I Can’t Wait To See All Three Of These Guys Lock Horns…’ at MMA News.
In the main event of this past weekend’s UFC Fight Night in Abu Dhabi, a new top bantamweight contender emerged.
Umar Nurmagomedov was able to leapfrog the majority of the top ten at 135-pounds by defeating Cory Sandhagen over five rounds.
Many have expected for a long time that Nurmagomedov just needed the opportunity to show that he was an elite level talent and that finally happened him for on Saturday night.
With Sean O’Malley set to defend the bantamweight title in the main event of UFC 306 next month against Merab Dvalishvili, the shadow of a new contender looms overhead and makes for some exciting options.
In his review of the main event, former UFC and current ONE Championship flyweight king Demetrious Johnson said that he’s excited to see how this division plays out in the coming months.
He was left very impressed by Nurmagomedov’s performance and believes that he should be the next in line to face the winner of the upcoming title fight.
“Mighty Mouse” spoke about how either option of O’Malley or Dvalishvili taking on Nurmagomedov in a title defense makes for an engaging match-up.
Whichever way it ends up unfolding, Johnson is excited to now have another name in the mix at the top end of bantamweight.
“I like him [Nurmagomedov] taking him [O’Malley] to the ground, I don’t think he’ll be able to get Merab down, I’m not sure. But, I think this match-up, whoever wins this one fighting Umar, I think it’s the right thing to do and I can’t wait to see all three of these guys get the opportunity to lock horns each other or one of them fights the other one.”
Continue Reading Demetrious Johnson Discusses Bantamweight Title Picture After UFC Abu Dhabi: ‘I Can’t Wait To See All Three Of These Guys Lock Horns…’ at MMA News.
MMA great Demetrious Johnson has taken a step back from the sport that he made his name in as of late. Despite still being the flyweight titleholder in ONE Championship, he has become completely focused on competing in jiu-jitsu, which was always something he wanted to do toward the end of his career. Johnson has […]
Continue Reading Former UFC Champion Demetrious Johnson Explains Why MMA Is ‘So Much Easier’ Than Jiu-Jitsu at MMA News.
MMA great Demetrious Johnson has taken a step back from the sport that he made his name in as of late.
Despite still being the flyweight titleholder in ONE Championship, he has become completely focused on competing in jiu-jitsu, which was always something he wanted to do toward the end of his career.
Johnson has been able to stimulate himself by learning to compete in grappling tournaments in the gi having never focused on this area in the past.
He’s already achieved some great success at the brown belt level and was recently promoted to a black belt following his dedication to grappling.
In fact, Johnson isn’t just swapping his MMA training for jiu-jitsu, he believes that his new pursuit is even harder…
During a recent appearance on the Unsubscribe Podcast, Johnson explained his reasoning for believing MMA is easier than competing in jiu-jitsu.
“Mighty Mouse” thinks the intricacies of training and competing in the gi specifically makes it much harder to adapt to or avoid certain difficult positions that require a lot of practice.
“Fighting (MMA) is so much easier than jiu-jitsu… Gi is a lot harder. No gi is f***ing easy, in my opinion,” Johnson said. “Because like, If I’m going with Kody and let’s say he has some form of curriculum in the gi, if he grabs me, I have to break his grip. He’s attached to me, we become one. In no gi, I can just push him and create space and move.
“If I put him in like, a Lasso, or a Worm, or a Squid guard and he’s never been exposed to it, he’s like, ‘What the f*ck is this!?’”
Johnson also said that another part of his reasoning is the difference in how fighters must prepare to compete in the two sports.
He believes that being given a specific opponent in MMA that can be studied and preparation catered for for makes everything a lot easier to plan and predict. That’s compared to stepping into a tournament against multiple unknown competitors.
“The unknown sucks. It’s like, ‘Okay, I’m going to a tournament with 30 motherf*ckers.’ I don’t know what you’re going to do. It is what it is, we’re gonna run it and see what happens. (MMA) is like, ‘Okay, I’m fighting you, I have three months to prepare for you. I can watch all this tape on you. I know what your tendencies are, I know what your mistakes are, I know what you’re strong at. Alright, light work, easy.’”
Continue Reading Former UFC Champion Demetrious Johnson Explains Why MMA Is ‘So Much Easier’ Than Jiu-Jitsu at MMA News.
Whether it’s in the Octagon or at the gym, Alexandre Pantoja hopes he’ll have the chance to fight Demetrious…
Whether it’s in the Octagon or at the gym, Alexandre Pantoja hopes he’ll have the chance to fight Demetrious Johnson one day.
Considered by many to be the greatest flyweight of all time and one of the P4P best fighters in MMA history, ‘Mighty Mouse’ holds just about every major record in the UFC’s 125-pound weight class. During his reign at the top of the division from 2012 to 2018, Johnson scored 11 consecutive title defenses and is a nine-time performance bonus winner, taking home an extra 50k for his work against the likes of John Dodson, Joseph Benavidez, Kyoji Horiguchi, Henry Cejudo, and Ray Borg.
So it should come as no surprise that ‘DJ’ is at the top of Pantoja’s list of dream fights.
“That’s a dream fight for me, of course,” Pantoja told Ike Feldman of Give Me Sport. “I’ll wait for him. Maybe we can fight in the UFC or maybe I can go to the gym and we can fight together, but that’s someone I want to train [with], fight [with], or something like that. I’ve had the chance to train his Henry Cejudo, trained with [Marlon] Moraes, and I miss Demetrious Johnson. I hope this can happen one day.
“That would be pretty huge for me. I respect the GOAT. I think I’m too far from his legacy, but I try to do my best every day.”
Pantoja, of course, is the UFC’s reigning flyweight world champion, having dispatched fan favorite Brandon Moreno to capture the crown in July 2023. Since then, ‘The Cannibal’ has bagged two title defenses, defeating Brandon Royval and Steve Erceg in his last two outings.
Unfortunately, if Pantoja ever hopes to score a fight with Demetrious Johnson, he’ll likely have to jump ship to ONE Championship, the promotion that ‘Mighty Mouse’ currently calls home.
After dropping the flyweight title to ‘Triple C’ at UFC 227, ‘DJ’ was shipped off to ONE in exchange for former Bellator and ONE world champion Ben Askren. Upon arrival in the Singapore-based organization, Johnson scored three straight wins en route to his first ONE flyweight MMA title opportunity against then-champion Andriano Moraes. Johnson came up short in their first meeting but bounced back 16 months later, finishing Moraes in their ONE on Prime Video 1 rematch with a highlight-reel flying knee knockout.
Johnson closed out his first career trilogy against Moraes at ONE Fight Night 10 in The Mile High City—Denver, Colorado—landing a decisive decision victory to retain the title and take the series 2-1.
Though Johnson has left the door open for a return to MMA, ‘Mighty Mouse’ is closing in on retirement, but remains active in the world of combat sports, regularly competing and taking home gold at various IBJJF grappling tournaments around the country.
