It would appear that ‘Mighty Mouse’ Demetrious Johnson, the reigning ONE flyweight world champion, is not planning to retire after all.
A couple of weeks ago, prior to Johnson’s decisive victory by unanimous decision over his Brazilian opponent ‘Mikinho,’ Adriano Moraes, there were rumors that Johnson was considering retiring from boxing for good. However, the win over Moraes quelled those rumors. However, after an additional rival entered the fray, those discussions were abruptly terminated.
In the immediate aftermath of Johnson’s victory in the main event of ONE Fight Night 10 on May 5 in Broomfield, Colorado, he was confronted in the center circle by the former king of the ONE flyweight division, Kairat Akhmetov, also known as “The Kazakh.”
Watch Johnson in the following episode of The MMA Hour:
Johnson acknowledged during a recent interview on The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani that the prospect of a fight with the Kazakhstani star has piqued his interest. Helwani is the host of the show.
Mighty Mouse is quoted as saying:
“Hmm, kinda, kinda doesn’t. I mean, I just said that being a competitor definitely piques my interest, is that correct? You are aware of his status as a champion due to the fact that he has won his last six fights in a row. Since him and Adriano are tied at 1-1, it piques my curiosity as a competitor.
On the other hand, Johnson claims that in order for him to continue his career as a fighter, it is imperative that it be profitable for him to do so:
“As a businessperson, I have to look at it as though we are asking, ‘What can we make from this?'” Is there anything else that we can do that will result in increased financial gain? Is there anything else that we can do to generate even more interest in this, right?”
Only time will tell if Johnson will actually participate in any action inside the circle once more or if he will simply ride off into the sunset and call it a day.
In the meanwhile, the ONE Fight Night 10 replay is available to view on Amazon Prime in North America. This is useful if you were unable to see any of the action or you simply want to remember one of the most amazing evenings in the history of ONE Championship.
