According to Demetrious Johnson, the staredown he had with Kairat Akhmetov at ONE Fight Night 10 was all in the sake of business.
At ONE Championship’s historic event on May 5, “Mighty Mouse” finished off his legendary trilogy with his division opponent Adriano Moraes by winning by unanimous decision to keep his ONE flyweight world championship. After the arduous bout that lasted for 25 minutes, Demetrious Johnson was joined inside the Circle by Kairat Akhmetov, who is now rated second in the flyweight division.
The two men confronted one another in a staredown, which helped build anticipation for what may be Demetrious Johnson’s next battle inside the Circle. However, during his chat with Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour, ‘Mighty Mouse’ stated that the staredown was merely a little of business.
“Business, business, business. It’s all business. Like, if we did get into shoving and all that other stuff, then I think I’d be upset because I’m trying to set a good example for my kids, my two kids are standing there, and my wife’s standing there. I think I’d be pissed because of that.
At this time, Demetrious Johnson has returned to his house and is taking advantage of some free time before he makes a decision on the next step he will take with regard to his career in combat sports. After dominating the sport for nearly two decades, the multiple-time world champion may decide to hang up his gloves for good and retire. If Johnson does decide to continue his career after being inducted into the Hall of Fame, one of his goals will most likely be to end Kairat Akhmetov’s winning streak of six consecutive fights.
In North America, you can watch the replay of ONE Fight Night 10 on Amazon Prime Video if you want to catch up on any of the action you may have missed or simply remember what was widely considered to be one of the most momentous evenings in the history of ONE Championship.
