Demetrious Johnson recalls a tragic event in his life that made him rethink his approach to fighting

June 24, 2024

Demetrious Johnson, just like any other professional fighter, lived almost the entirety of his life at the gym, but a tragic moment made him realize that his approach to the sport wasn’t the right way for him.

During his appearance at The Joe Rogan Experience, Johnson revealed that he had a mental shift after his older sister passed away.

He said that life’s fragile mortality made him see things from a different perspective and helped him realize that there is more to life than chasing that next win:

“I was getting ready for a fight, and my sister died. Seeing her pass, seeing the end game of life, being there, seeing her go through the trauma, and then her being gone, and seeing the effect it had on my mom. That was a huge moment in my life.”

He added:

“I stepped back and thought, ‘f*** man, I’m always training for a fight.’ My sister just died, and I can’t go train because I had to go bury her. But there was a weird shift in me, I was like ‘I’m always getting ready for a fight.’”

Johnson has since honored his older sister through bodily art. The reigning ONE flyweight world champion revealed in a previous interview with Ariel Helwani that the massive sleeve tattoo on his left arm was done to commemorate his life’s biggest moments, including his sister’s passing.

Demetrious Johnson found undue stress after his loss to Adriano Moraes

Demetrious Johnson was seen as an unstoppable god throughout his legendary career, but the illusion was shattered when he lost via knockout to Adriano Moraes.

The American icon was the challenger in his first fight against Moraes for the ONE flyweight world title at ONE on TNT I in April 2021. Despite heading into the Circle without the belt, Johnson was seen as the heavy favorite against the Brazilian superstar.

Moraes, though, solved Johnson’s puzzle and knocked him out with a knee strike in the second round. ‘Mighty Mouse’ admitted in the same interview with Joe Rogan that his loss to Moraes changed his mentality during fights.

That shift in ideology was then seen in his mixed-rules fight against Rodtang Jitmuangnon at ONE: X this past March:

“Sitting in the hotel room, I was like why put stress on myself? Why? For what? That was kind of like a snapping period. When I fought Rodtang, everybody was so worried about winning and losing. Why? You’re going to die someday. So why the f*** do you care about winning or losing? Are you having fun?,” said Demetrious Johnson.

Although Rodtang was seen as arguably the most dangerous striker in the world, Demetrious Johnson showed a calm demeanor against the Thai superstar. After holding his own in the first Muay Thai round of the match, Johnson knew that the second would be in his wheelhouse and he submitted Rodtang with a rear-naked choke for the victory.

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