Demetrious Johnson will reach out to multiple UFC legends when making his decision about retirement.
Johnson (25-4-1) retained his flyweight title against Adriano Moraes this past Friday in their trilogy rubber match which headlined ONE Fight Night 10 at 1STBANK Center in Broomfield, Colo., right outside Denver.
After the fight, Johnson asked the crowd if they wanted to see him fight again, and received a loud cheer in response. The 36-year-old said he’d have to speak to his wife first before making the decision, and also plans on consulting the likes of Georges St-Pierre and Khabib Nurmagomedov on what went behind their decision to walk away.
“Taking to my peers, talking to Urijah Faber, I’m going to reach out to (Georges St-Pierre), I’m going to reach out to Khabib Nurmagomedov,” Johnson said at the ONE Fight Night 10 post-fight press conference. “I’m going to talk to these guys. I’m like, ‘Why did you guys stop?’
“Those guys could have kept on fighting, and there comes a point in time – I’m 36-years-old, and do I just keep on doing this and giving other athletes the opportunity to beat me and add to their legacy? There’s a lot of stuff I’ve got muster up.”
Johnson, who defended his UFC flyweight title a record 11 consecutive times, explains that his decision to continue fighting will purely stem from how he’s feeling.
“The reason why I have these feelings, week four and week five was probably the hardest time in all my training camp,” Johnson said. “Like, back in the day when I would fight my world title fights, I remember when I was getting ready to fight Wilson Reis, I would have nightmares that Wilson Reis would get my back. I didn’t have nightmares when I was getting ready to fight Adriano. I was having nightmares about what am I do after I’m done fighting.
“And so I like to listen to my feelings and try to understand like, ‘OK, why am I having nightmares about what am I gonna do after fighting when I have an opponent to train for?’ So that’s where all these feelings harbor from. And I was like, ‘This might be my last fight,’ and just take a step back as an athlete, and look at what am I gonna do after fighting. Because I can keep on fighting. I mean, that’s true, but it takes a lot of energy away from other projects that can take care of me after I’m done fighting. So that’s where that comes from.”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for ONE Fight Night 10.
