MMASucka Radio had the opportunity to speak with UFC Flyweight Champion Demetrious Johnson this week. “Mighty Mouse,” who will be headlining this Saturday’s UFC on FOX 8 card from Seattle, WA, took the opportunity to bounce on a few different subjects.
The first topic broached was on Johnson recently becoming a father. Johnson was very excited, and discussed how being a new dad will affect his career going forward.
It feels good man, it’s very exciting. Me and Stephanie, we’re blessed with a beautiful, healthy little baby boy. We’re just excited for the next chapter of our lives…
Obviously, it just changes for me to want to provide for my son, make sure my career can provide for my family, which it already has so far. Making me train hard, make sure I can keep providing for my family, honestly.
Since “Mighty Mouse” was taking the time to do this interview between practices, Sucka radio made sure to ask him the cliche question of how last minute preparations were going.
This morning’s training camp was run pretty good, it was a good intensity. We’re just fine-tuning everything, making sure the body’s good, burning calories, making sure everything’s going good, techniques looking good, making sure I’ll be spot on July 27th, this Saturday…
It’s making sure my body’s still burning calories, I gotta make sure I get my weight down. Just keeping my body active, so when I get in there Saturday, it’s not my first hard work out, it’s been building up to that.
Of course, the next logical topic was Johnson’s rehabilitation and recovery from his shoulder injury, which scuttled the initial attempt at having the fight versus John Moraga at the TUF 17 Finale.
The recovery process… I did 6 weeks of physical therapy, took 6 weeks off, and then prior to that 6 weeks I got surgery on my shoulder. Dr. Topein went in there and basically frayed off rough edges of my labrum, which takes away the pain when I’m training. I’ve felt really good this whole training camp, got some good sparring in, maybe the best sparring I’ve ever had.
When asked for his thoughts on John Moraga’s accusations of being a boring fighter who “likes to bounce around a lot,” Johnson took it all in stride, with a small dig for good measure.
That doesn’t bother me at all. All the guys I beat, Joseph, John Dodson, obviously I gave those guys fits and I believe those guys are way better fighters than John. I think that’s my style, and I think he doesn’t understand why I do it. It confuses people, and I’m setting stuff up. I’m looking forward to going out there and using my skill set and picking my angles on it. Maybe he talks a lot about my bouncing around because he doesn’t know how to deal with it, and we’ll find out on July 27th.
DJ did not entirely disrespect his opponent though. Demetrious made sure to let the world know that he respects Moraga’s accomplishments and feels that if the UFC thinks he is worthy of a title shot, then he must be a legitimate threat.
Absolutely, he’s won two fights in the UFC by finish, so I have to give him some credit. Obviously the UFC thinks he’s good enough to fight me, so we’ll find out July 27th, it’s only a couple days away.
Of course, it wouldn’t be an interview with “Mighty Mouse” without talking video games. Since Johnson is sponsored by Microsoft, it’s only natural that the talk would turn to small-screen interactive entertainment. Demetrious, as mentioned earlier, is a new father, but you would be amazed at what you can do while holding a baby.
So far, I’m playing Halo 4 right now as I”m talking to you. The video games have not been taken away all the way yet. The biggest thing I’m looking forward to now is Castlevania: Lord of Shadows 2. I’m a huge fan of that, I played the first one, it was just an awesome storyline about the Belmont clan and how Dracula came to be, and how the Belmonts are cursed with it. I’m kind of interested to see how that follows up. Other than that man, that’s it. Although I would say Dark Souls 2, but that comes out in March 2014. And obviously the new console, the X-Box 1. Other than that, there’s not much that really catches my eye.
Jeremy and Demetrious discussed other topics as well, and it’s certainly worth it to check out the full conversation. To listen to the whole interview, check out this week’s edition of MMA Sucka radio, featuring the full interview with UFC Flyweight Champion Demetrious “Mighty Mouse” Johnson, as well as hosts Trevor Dueck and Jeremy Brand sitting down with Sherdog’s Jordan Breen.
