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P4P great Demetrious Johnson shares his unfiltered thoughts on Paul vs. Tyson: ‘I’m not here for a circus’

P4P great Demetrious Johnson shares his unfiltered thoughts on Paul vs. Tyson: 'I’m not here for a circus' Demetrious Johnson is not a fan of Jake Paul fighting Mike Tyson. Tyson and Paul were originally scheduled to…

Demetrious Johnson is not a fan of Jake Paul fighting Mike Tyson.

Tyson and Paul were originally scheduled to face each other inside the 80,000-seat AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas on Saturday, July 20. However, their highly anticipated clash was postponed after Tyson experienced a medical emergency during a cross-country flight last month. Fortunately, the incident was attributed to nothing more than an ulcer flare-up. Still, Tyson was forced to take a break from training, prompting promoters to push the fight from this summer to November 15.

Johnson, on the other hand, thinks they should just scrap the whole thing altogether, or at the very least, find an opponent for ‘The Problem Child’ who isn’t 30+ years his elder.

“He’s 58 years old,” Johnson said of Tyson during an appearance on The MMA Hour. “I don’t know what his health history is, and I think the biggest thing is you have someone who is 58 years old trying to push his body to the absolute limit, moving. I don’t know if he’s sparring or anything like that. I love Jake Paul, I just think there are so many f*cking boxers out there that he can fight and build, pad his record with. I understand Mike Tyson is a big name and Netflix wants to do it, but I don’t think they should revisit it.

“There are plenty of guys out there that Jake Paul could fight. KSI is one of them. He could fight T-Wood [Tyron Woodley] again. He could fight Mike Perry, ‘Platinum.’ He could fight Jorge Masvidal. There are so many guys! He could fight Anthony Pettis. There are so many guys who are younger than Mike Tyson but a little bit older than him that he can beat and have a big name.

“But I just think him fighting Mike Tyson, the guy is 58. I don’t want to see Mike Tyson get hurt. For what? … This is the stupidest f*cking thing that’s happening right now. You’re telling me there is literally nobody out there that can fight Jake Paul that’s his age, that is 8-0 as a boxer?” (h/t MMA Fighting).

Tyson is one of the biggest names in the history of boxing, amassing a 50-6 record with 44 of his wins coming by way of knockout over the course of his two-decade-long career. Along the way, he captured the undisputed heavyweight world championship, carrying the crown from 1987 to 1990.

‘Kid Dynamite’ returned to the boxing ring in 2020 for an exhibition bout with fellow legend Roy Jones Jr., but the clash with Paul will be his first professional boxing match since a 2005 loss to Kevin McBride.

“If they want something that’s big, get a very good boxer that’s really good and have [Paul] fight him,” Johnson argued. “His skills should sell enough. I’m not here for a f*cking circus. I’m here for, are you legit or not? Fight a legit boxer who is 8-0.

“Let’s have a legit boxing promoter like Eddie Hearn give us somebody. ‘Hey, who do you think would be a good fight for Jake Paul? Who?’ Ask Eddie Hearn that and see if he can get the guy to sign on the dotted line and have a fight.”

Demetrious Johnson has the perfect opponent in mind for jake paul

So if Demetrious Johnson doesn’t want to see ‘The Problem Child’ throw hands with Tyson, who would be a suitable opponent? Well, ‘Mighty Mouse’ has the perfect candidate in mind: current BKFC star and the King of Violence, ‘Platinum’ Mike Perry.

Demetrious Johnson wants to see Paul vs. Perry

“One of the things Mike Perry does very well is he puts a lot of damage on his opponents with bare knuckles,” Johnson said. “With those gloves, I don’t know if he can do the same type of damage, because cutting someone in the face and all that stuff, I don’t think he could do that. But I would watch.

“I’m more excited to see Mike Perry vs. Jake Paul in a boxing match. Netflix, f*cking sign it. Mike Perry vs. Jake Paul. … That’s a way better-selling fight than Jake Paul and Mike Tyson. Let Mike Tyson enjoy his retirement. Don’t bring that man back to fighting. Let him enjoy the rest of his life and let Mike Perry and Jake Paul fight.”

Paul and Perry have teased a potential clash for some time with ‘Platinum’ even serving as the backup for Paul’s fight with former UFC star Nate Diaz last summer. Recent rumors suggest that a date has been discussed for what feels like an inevitable showdown between the two, though no announcements have been made.

P4P legend Demetrious Johnson believes boxing has been far more exciting than MMA this year

P4P great Demetrious Johnson believes boxing is much more exciting than what’s going on in the world of mixed…

P4P great Demetrious Johnson believes boxing is much more exciting than what’s going on in the world of mixed martial arts these days.

Over the last several months, fans of the sweet science have been treated to a plethora of noteworthy clashes, starting with Francis Ngannou’s sophomore appearance inside the squared circle, followed by a stunning scrap between Ryan Garcia and Devin Haney.

And, of course, you can’t talk about boxing without mentioning the 12-round war between Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk.

Meanwhile, in MMA we’ve got Conor McGregor out partying six weeks ahead of his long-awaited return, Jon Jones refusing to fight Tom Aspinall, and Ronda Rousey still crying about a decade-old loss.

Speaking with The MMA Hour host Ariel Helwani on his MightyCast podcast, ‘Mighty Mouse’ suggested that there is much more to be intrigued with in boxing than anything the UFC or PFL is putting out.

“Right now I feel like boxing is more exciting than mixed martial arts,” Johnson said. “There are points in time when mixed martial arts is having its peak, but right now you just have Ryan Garcia vs. Devin Haney. Then you got Francis Ngannou who just got knocked out by Anthony Joshua and we had Tyson Fury vs. [Oleksandr] Usyk where Usyk just beat him and became the [undisputed] heavyweight champion. That fight was absolutely amazing from round one to round 12. I was on the edge of my seat.”

“Right now, we’re sitting here waiting for… in ONE Championship we got a couple of things like Kade Ruotolo making his debut in MMA, but I think the story we’re waiting for in MMA is Islam [Makhachev] taking on Dustin Poirier.”

Though Demetrious Johnson isn’t wrong, there’s still plenty in MMA to be excited about

Demetrious Johnson certainly has a point, but that’s not to say the UFC hasn’t put out anything to be excited by over the last several months. We’re a mere six weeks removed from the promotion’s landmark event in Las Vegas that delivered us Max Holloway’s insane buzzer-beating KO against Justin Gaethje and Alex Pereira’s viral finish of Jamahal Hill.

In June we’ve got the UFC’s debut in Saudi Arabia featuring the return of undefeated Chechen monster Khamzat Chimaev and Conor McGregor’s welterweight showdown with Michael Chandler at UFC 303 which, according to Dana White, has already smashed the record for highest gate in promotional history.

Demetrious Johnson echoes claims Anthony Joshua could beat Francis Ngannou in MMA: ‘It’s an easy fight’

Demetrious Johnson once said that he believes Anthony Joshua could beat Francis Ngannou in an MMA fight and is…

Demetrious Johnson once said that he believes Anthony Joshua could beat Francis Ngannou in an MMA fight and is standing by his statement.

Just a few months ago, Joshua and Ngannou went toe to toe in a boxing match at an event called “Knockout Chaos”. Things went pretty badly for the former UFC heavyweight champion, as Joshua would make easy work of him and put him away in the second round with a vicious overhand right.

Ngannou’s performance inspired some controversial takes, and Demetrious Johnson made waves when he claimed that he could see ‘AJ’ defeating the former UFC star inside the octagon. Now, in a recent appearance on The MMA Hour, Johnson is sticking by his opinion and breaking it down for the media and fans alike.

Demetrious Johnson defends his Anthony Joshua vs. Francis Ngannou take

“It’s not like Francis is some world-class kickboxer,” Johnson told Ariel Helwani. “You look at all Francis fights; he does have some submission wins, he does have somewhere he takes somebody down.”

“But if I can take a guy like Anthony Joshua, who is an athletic specimen, who understands range and distance, and I train him for six months — six months — to defend a takedown, check the leg kick, and just box. You’re not going to have 16-ounce gloves. The distance doesn’t change at all. … So if I can take somebody who is athletic, which Anthony Joshua is athletic, it’s an easy fight.”

According to Demetrious Johnson, Joshua’s advantage is due to the stylistic matchup between the two men. Johnson feels that Ngannou doesn’t have the style to pose an impossible challenge to ‘AJ’, and other heavyweights definitely do have a style that would present major issues to the boxing phenom.

Demetrious Johnson still unsure on retirement from MMA I have to be passionate UFC — Mandatory Credit: ONE Championship

“Now, here’s the flip side: How would it go against Anthony Joshua vs. Jon Jones? Different animal,” Johnson said. “Jon Jones would go out there and force the clinch. He would go out there and force the wrestling exchange. Maybe Francis Ngannou would do that, but I don’t think Francis would do that. From the years I’ve seen him fight, that’s how I view that fight. I’m not saying Francis is going to get destroyed, but I do believe [Joshua] has a chance of beating him because he just knocked him the f*ck out in a boxing match!”

“Francis has been very successful in the boxing world in MMA,” Demetrious Johnson continued. “He boxes people. When he beat Stipe Miocic, yes, he threw some leg kicks. That’s very easy to manage. It’s not like an Edson Barboza legkick. But he and Stipe were going back and forth. Stipe actually rocked him.”

“I would go on to say Anthony Joshua is a better boxer than Stipe Miocic. Not a better MMA guy, but in mixed martial arts, I say it all the time: MMA is the easiest sport to become a world champion in. It truly is. you have people who are very good at one thing and have so many holes and deficiencies in their game.”

Francis Ngannou’s coach weighs in on the Demetrious Johnson take

Francis Ngannou’s own coach, Eric Nicksick, wasn’t even very optimistic about the thought of an MMA bout between his star pupil and Anthony Joshua. Nicksick actually agreed with much of Johnson’s sentiments about the situation and even lent his own analysis.

“There were things I think we needed to do better,” Nicksick said. “So if this was an MMA fight, what did we see anecdotally that would have changed that same outcome if it was in MMA? We would have gotten slept, whether it was four-ounce gloves or not.”

“So it tells me we have to show the element of level change, we have to kick the lead leg out, we have to do other things to keep the distance, cut the cage off, and then blast-double that motherf*cker and put him on his back. Then it’s in our realm. So what [Johnson is] saying is absolutely true.”

What do you think of Demetrious Johnson’s opinion about how an MMA fight would play out between Ngannou and Joshua?

Demetrious Johnson details how the UFC would pay fighters based on their social media traffic

Demetrious Johnson was one of the UFC’s most dominant athletes when the promotion was still finding its footing in…

Demetrious Johnson was one of the UFC’s most dominant athletes when the promotion was still finding its footing in the world of social media.

‘Mighty Mouse’ is considered by many to be one of the P4P greatest fighters in the sport’s history, scoring 11 consecutive title defenses — a UFC record that may very well stand the test of time. But despite all of his accolades, Johnson never brought home the paychecks like that of other champions during his legendary run.

In fact, Johnson’s reign over the flyweight division was so significant that the promotion has even considered shutting it down altogether.

Fortunately, that didn’t happen, but Demetrious Johnson has since found a new home in ONE Championship. There, he reigns as the promotion’s current flyweight MMA titleholder and completed the first trilogy of his career, winning back-to-back bouts against former champion Adriano Moraes.

Looking back on his time with the UFC, Johnson spoke about the promotion’s early days on social media and pushing athletes to expand their individual brands online with a series of incentives.

“When Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook first came out, the UFC would bring us to the ‘Fighter Summit’ and say, ‘You guys need to build your brand. It’s free. It costs you nothing. The more people want to see you fight, the more money you’re going to make because you’re going to make money in pay-per-view points, etc., etc., if you become a champion, if you become a partner,’” Johnson said on his YouTube channel.

“The UFC was very good about doing that. Back then they would send you laptops. Back then they’d give you incentives, I think it was like quarterly. Whoever had the most traffic in their thing. First person would get $25,000. It would go like $12,000 then $5,000, maybe $1,000. They’d give us a lot of incentives to talk about the fights and boast it, and they kept on doing it for I think a year or two. Fast forward to what it is today, I think they’ve seen the payoff of them slowly investing in telling the fighters to do that” (h/t MMA Fighting).

Demetrious Johnson recalls how hard the UFC wanted to push Cain Velasquez

The UFC held Fighter Summits between 2009 and 2011, right around the time that Cain Velasquez rose to prominence and captured the heavyweight title with a stunning first-round knockout of Brock Lesnar at UFC 121.

“I’ll never forget at the UFC Fighter Summit they pulled a picture of Cain Velasquez and were like, ‘You see this man? This man is Mexican-American. We are trying to break into the Mexican market so we want this man to do very, very well. You need to follow this man’s footsteps and try to get your community behind you. That way, it brings more eyeballs to the sport,’” Johnson said.

“I always tell my friends and my wife, any check I can get without getting punched in the face is a good check. It’s a good check because I’m getting paid for not me being in the gym, training hard, and fighting, but by me being a personal persona and going to shake some hands, doing whatever it may be.”

Demetrious Johnson reveals how much money he made from being in UFC video games: ‘It’s pretty dope’

Demetrious Johnson made a pretty nice chunk of change from the UFC’s popular series of video games. When he’s…

Demetrious Johnson made a pretty nice chunk of change from the UFC’s popular series of video games.

When he’s not busy collecting gold medals and world championships, ‘Mighty Mouse’ is an avid gamer, playing everything from old school classics like the Mega Man X series to newer stream-friendly offerings like Grand Theft Auto V, Street Fighter, and Elden Ring.

Maybe we can get him to throw on some classic Castlevania one of these days.

Aside from playing video games, Demetrious Johnson has also been featured in a few — namely the UFC series from EA Games, the studio behind Madden, EA Sports FC, Battlefield, Dead Space, Dragon Age, and Mass Effect.

In a recent video on his YouTube channel, the former UFC flyweight world champion shared insight into just how much he made by allowing his likeness to be used by the video game franchise.

“The very first check I got for being in the UFC video game was $25,000,” Johnson said. “Now, a lot of you guys are like, ‘That’s it?’ but think about this. $25,000 just to be in a video game. I don’t think Ryu or Ken have ever gotten a check for $25,000. The next one that came out was UFC 3 and for this bad boy, the next check I ended up getting was $12,500. It’s a lot lower, but I was okay with that because the timeframe of the checks were coming every year or quarter. I wasn’t too worried about it because again, it was free money coming to me.

“After my Ray Borg fight, they offered me the opportunity to be on the front cover and that’s when they came out with the Icon Edition [of the game] with me on the front. For me to be on the cover, I signed an agreement and got a whopping $10,000. It’s pretty dope.”

Demetrious Johnson was featured in UFC 4 despite no longer being signed with the promotion

By the time UFC 4 was released, Demetrious Johnson was already long gone from the UFC, having been sent to ONE Championship as part of a history-making trade between the two global combat sports organizations.

Today, Johnson still sits as the ONE flyweight MMA world champion, but that didn’t stop EA from putting him in their next game due to his immense popularity with consumers.

“I leave the UFC,” Johnson continued. “I’m not part of the company anymore, but my character is still in the game and you guys are playing as my character. Now, the next check I get in the mail is another whopping $25,000 for being in the game and it’s absolutely amazing.

“To me, it’s something where your likeness is being used and I think it’s cool that the UFC or EA keeps paying the athletes for their likeness and that people are using me.”

In total, ‘Mighty Mouse’ banked just over 70k for allowing EA and the UFC to use his likeness.

“Me being in the game from 2014 to 2024, I have made is $72,500,” Johnson said. “I think it’s amazing for me to make that kind of money without getting punched in the face.”

Alexandre Pantoja eyes ‘Dream’ fight with Demetrious Johnson after UFC 301: ‘I have all the respect for him’

Off the back of his close unanimous decision win over challenger, Steve Erceg over the course of the weekend…

Off the back of his close unanimous decision win over challenger, Steve Erceg over the course of the weekend at UFC 301, undisputed flyweight champion, Alexandre Pantoja has admitted he hopes to land a fight with former divisional star, Demetrious Johnson in the future.

Pantoja, the current undisputed flyweight titleholder, headlined in his first outing in his native Brazil since joining in the promotion over the course of the weekend, landing a close, albeit debated decision victory against Perth native, Erceg – successfully defending his flyweight crown for the second time since his reign began last summer.

Pantoja UFC 301 title — Mandatory Credit: Alexandre Loureiro/Zuffa LLC

As for Johnson, the former undisputed UFC flyweight champion and current ONE Championship gold holder, has still yet to return to mixed martial arts competition since he defeated Pantoja’s compatriot, Adriano Moraes in a trilogy rubber match back in May of last year.

Pantoja UFC 301 — Mandatory Credit: Alexandre Loureiro/Zuffa LLC

And sharing his thoughts on Pantoja’s victory over Erceg, Johnson, recognized as arguably the greatest mixed martial arts fighter of all-time, questioned if the Brazilian likely should have actually retained his crown on home soil.

Alexandre Pantoja eyes Demetrious Johnson clash

However, off the back of Johnson’s comments, Pantoja has noted his desire to actually share the Octagon with the veteran star in the future – describing a future pairing as a “dream” matchup for him.

Adriano Moraes Demetrious Johnson ONE on Prime Video 1 1920X1280 63

“I think that’s the dream for me,” Alexandre Pantoja told MMA Fighting of a fight with Demetrious Johnson. “I don’t like to say I have dreams because I want to live everything I have in my life. I think [to] live is better than [to] dream.”

“But if I dream about something, it’s to fight with Demetrious Johnson,” Alexandre Pantoja explained. “I have all respect for him. If he don’t wan’t to fight, maybe I go to the gym and train with him, make hard sparring.”

Who wins in a potential clash: Alexandre Pantoja or Demetrious Johnson?