Demetrius Johnson, aka Invincible Mouse, is an American mixed martial artist who has been fighting in the flyweight division since 2012.

Mixed martial artist Demetrius Johnson

During the years of participation in professional fights The little mouse has established himself as a fighter with amazing physical data and the ability to win battles, regardless of the tactics imposed by opponents.

Childhood and youth

Demetrius Chrisna Johnson was born on August 13, 1986 in Madisonville, Kentucky, but later moved with his mother to Washington, in the city of Parkland. As a child, the life of the future fighter was not easy: the boy's father died before he was born, without even leaving behind a photo, Karen Johnson's mother was deaf and mute. The second husband of the woman was a bad man and treated his stepson badly.

Sports interested Johnson as a child: he wrestled and ran, and in running during his school years, the young man repeatedly achieved success.

After graduating from school, Demetrius began working 40 hours a week at a woodworking factory, but workloads and lack of time did not make him give up training. He did not leave work at the factory until 2011.

This period of the athlete's biography was also difficult - in addition to work and hard training, he had to take care of his mother, who suffered from bone cancer.

martial arts

Johnson began to get involved in mixed martial arts around the same time as working. The man held his first amateur MMA fight in 2006, and already in 2007 he fought in a professional ring - the fight ended with Demetrius's victory at the 17th second of the 1st round.

After that, the athlete won 8 fights in a row, and also won the Alaska Fighting Championships, which secured him a contract with the WEC. On April 24, 2010, Demetrius fought his first fight in World Extreme Cagefighting in the bantamweight division, but Brad Picket turned out to be stronger. After 3 rounds, Piket won by unanimous decision. Six months later, Johnson rehabilitated, bringing the first defeat to Nick Pace.

On October 28, 2010, World Extreme Cagefighting merged with the UFC and as part of the merger, all fighters were promoted to the Ultimate Fighting Championship. After spending 3 more victorious fights, Johnson in 2011 went against Dominic Cruz for the UFC bantamweight title, but this time the victory went to the opponent.

A year later, Demetrius fought Ian McCall. After 3 full rounds, the judging decision was announced, according to which Johnson won. However, UFC President Dana White later announced that an error had occurred and that the bout was actually a draw. 3 months after the first fight, Johnson took revenge, in which he nevertheless won a clear victory.

Moving from bantamweight to flyweight, Demetrius in the fall of 2012 went to battle with Joseph Benavidez, whom he defeated by majority decision. On December 14, 2013, a rematch took place between the fighters. Johnson ended the fight with a powerful knockout in the first round, becoming the first person to knock out Benavidez.

June 14, 2014 Demetrius Johnson fought Russian athlete Ali Bagautinov. By unanimous decision, the victory in the battle was awarded to Demetrius, and on July 10, the Russian was accused of using erythropoietin and was suspended from the competition for a year.

On April 23, 2016, Johnson's opponent was Henry Cejudo, an American fighter of Mexican origin, Olympic champion freestyle wrestling. After 2 minutes 49 seconds, the Olympian was credited with a technical knockout thanks to the knees used by Demetrius on the body.

Johnson met Cejudo again on August 5, 2018. Their fight at UFC 227 was considered the second most important and the intensity of the fight lived up to the expectations of MMA fans. The fight lasted 5 rounds, during which the fighters seized the initiative from each other.

It was difficult to identify a clear leader, and the opinions of the judges were divided - one was in favor of Johnson, but the other two were on the side of Cejudo. Demetrius, who previously successfully defended the title 11 times in a row, parted ways with him, and Henry became the second UFC flyweight champion. The fight itself was named "Best Fight of the Night".

Personal life

Unlike childhood and youth, the personal life of a fighter has developed well. On May 11, 2012, Demetrius Johnson married Destiny Bartels, whom he had known since high school- they met while working part-time at the Red Lobster chain restaurant.

According to the man, his wife is the best thing in his life, the only person who always believed in him and supported him in everything. This mutual understanding is well illustrated by the fact that the girl even agreed to wait on her honeymoon until her husband completed the training cycle to prepare for the fight.

The couple has three children: in 2013, son Tyreen was born, in 2015, another son, Maverick, and in August 2018, daughter Tanit was born. The fighter’s attachment to the family is clearly indicated by his account in "Instagram"- in it, Johnson posted a lot of photos of his wife and children, both together and separately.

Demetrius Johnson now

Demetrius continues to be a "flyer" and maintain the shape necessary for the flyweight by MMA standards: with a height of 160 cm, the athlete's weight is 56.7 kg.

On October 28, 2018, an event took place that the tabloids called a "historic exchange" - the UFC and the Asian ONE Championship league came to an agreement to exchange the Invincible Mouse for.

Now Demetrius does not hide that he is pleased with this situation: the fighter never liked the harsh and tactless methods of promoting fights in the USA. Johnson is a calm and non-confrontational person, so the mutual accusations and provocations characteristic of American athletes greatly disappointed him. In Asian countries, according to the fighter, mutual respect is the basis of communication with people, and a duel is just a way to test your strength.

Whether the transfer will affect Johnson's career, and if so, how, time will tell.

Awards and titles

• UFC Flyweight Champion
• Eleven successful title defenses
• Longest winning streak in flyweight division
• Award " Best Fight evenings"
• Performance of the Night Award
• Pain Reception of the Evening Award
• Best Knockout of the Night Award
• Longest streak of successful title defenses

After the injury of Cody Garbrandt (11-0), TJ Dillashaw (14-3) began to actively lobby for the idea of ​​his fight with Demetrius Johnson (26-2). The former champion is ready to come down in weight for the big fight. This idea appealed to Dana White, who was rumored to have made an attempt to arrange a fight in August. But the idea did not please the Mighty Mouse. Demetrius previously stated that such a fight is not a "super fight" as TJ is no longer the champion in his weight. Johnson himself is waiting for a contract to fight Ray Borg (11-2).

In a recent interview with Dana White, "Mouse" does not want to fight Dillashaw, calling such a position "madness". The UFC president is surprised that Johnson is turning down the opportunity to take part in the first PPV night and "really big fight." White has nothing against Ray Borg, but believes that the candidacy former champion UFC looks more preferable. Dana confirmed that if TJ comes down in weight, he will be a contender for a title fight with Demetrius if he wants to. White added that "Mouse" does not organize fights, and the UFC intends to organize this fight no matter what. According to the President, Dillashaw has already begun to drive weight.

Today Johnson, breaking the information space. Demetrius gave the full picture of the UFC's negotiation and subterfuge in an uncharacteristic critique of the organization. "Mouse" remembered everything to the bosses - poor promotion, lack of interest from PPV battles and much more. Your attention is the full text of Johnson's message.

« For many years I was a man of the company and silent, accepting any fights. I did everything that was asked of me, always remaining humble and grateful for the opportunities that mixed martial arts gave me. This sport brought me up that way. Unfortunately, the bad attitude from the UFC and their threats forced me to finally speak out. I have decided to speak out now because I feel that my dignity and reputation, as an ordinary person and as a fighter, can be tarnished by the organization. An organization for which I have shed so much sweat and blood for the last seven years of my life. If I am required to express my opinion, thereby motivating the rest of the fighters to unite and start fighting for a fair distribution of income, then so be it.

UFC Matchmaker Mick Maynard that I have no choice, it will be Borg not Pettis. There is no other option. It was the team of Dana White and company. It meant that my only chance to get on the PPV, as a flyweight fighter, was to fight Ray Borg. I said "OK" but that wasn't really fair because I have a good chance to fight on PPV after Cody Garbrandt said he wants to come down in weight and fight me, I would love that fight.

We told Mick that it would be fair if I accepted the Borg fight but would get PPV from future fights in my weight class. Mick agreed and said that it would be really fair and he did not see any problems in this situation. A little later, Maynard spoke with Sean Shelby and Dana White. They rejected the idea of ​​my flyweight PPV percentages. Besides, I was left with no other options, only a fight with the Borg with no choice. I accepted this fight and decided to deal with the disgusting attitude from Shelby and White after I break the title defense record. Mick thanked me for taking the fight in this situation and with this attitude from Dana and Sean.

I wanted to be told the reason why I will not receive pay-per-view payments in the future. Sean Shelby called me and explained that small fighters do not sell well, and the UFC cannot make a star out of any of us. Sean said that my fight with Cody would not be for sale. I did not agree with this. It seems to me that the Garbrandt fight will be in demand if it has at least a small fraction of the marketing efforts that are given to other big fights.

The UFC failed to promote me properly. before my last fight, where I repeated the record for the number of belt defenses, we hoped for a sufficient number of reposts from the UFC social networks, from their Facebook page. None of this happened - the posts appeared a few days before the fight in the week of the fight. Two posts. Compared to other fighters that they actively promote on social media and media platforms, they didn't do their job of promoting me at such a momentous moment for me. In my recent conversation with Dana and Sean, I was confirmed that the UFC has no plans to make an effort to promote me.

Also, I want to point out the issue of promoting the entire flyweight division, even though Dana claims otherwise. I'm willing to bet that UFC marketing doesn't apply to our division. For 3 years, 3 new divisions appeared in the UFC, for two years (from 2012 to 2014) the organization focused all its marketing efforts on the growth of women's MMA. I understand it. But three years have passed since the opening of these divisions, but the company continues to do a minimum in terms of marketing for other weight categories. As a fighter, I keep a close eye on the progress of my fights. I can say that it is quite difficult to find any effort in what has been done for my promotion, outside of TUF 24. And even these efforts, in comparison with other fighters, fights and seasons, were minimal. The UFC chooses not to promote me as the best fighter in the world and perhaps one of the greatest fighters in history. I can't imagine others sports organizations in the world who will sacrifice best player in their league or in their sport, and will not try to sell more of their product at the expense of his name. look at my achievement list, look at my list of stoppage wins, look at my list of bonuses for the best performances of the evening. Ask yourself if the UFC really couldn't sell my fights if they put deprivation dollars into my promotion?

It's completely unrelated, but after I took the Borg fight, Cody Garbrandt got a back injury and TJ Dillashaw said he wanted to fight me. Dana told me he wanted me to fight him. But I did not agree and I had several reasons. First, Dillashaw has never fought at flyweight and is unlikely to make the weight. If he doesn't make weight, I won't be able to break the record for most title defenses. Secondly, I was told that my fight with Garbrandt would not be for sale, so the fight with TJ would not be profitable either. Thirdly, Dillashaw is not a champion and was knocked out by a guy I beat twice. After all, I had already agreed to the fight with Ray Borg, which the UFC demanded so much, depriving me of the opportunity to receive PPV percentages.

After I shared my thoughts with Dana, he angrily told me that I would fight TJ. Again, no other options, despite my career and what we talked about before. He said that if I didn't fight Dillashaw and rejected the Borg fight, he would get rid of the entire flyweight division. He said it was for T.J. that I was taking his chance away from him. The fact that Dana thinks I should do something in my career for T.J. speaks volumes about White's priorities.

I'm sorry, Dana, but this is Demetrius Johnson's career and my goals are to fight the best flyweights; break the title defense record; fight the bantamweight champion (Garbrandt - approx .. My career was not built for Dana's sidekick, who is neither a bantamweight champion nor a flyweight title contender.

In the end, I did not agree to this fight. The next day, Dana went to the media and said that I didn't want to fight Dillashaw, obviously trying to pressure or intimidate me, possibly ruining my reputation. I released a short statement letting the fans know that I did not agree to fight TJ, but had already agreed to fight Borg as required by the UFC.

In an interview, Dana talked about how my reluctance to fight TJ is “crazy”, about the fact that he is the one who does the fights, and this is the fight that he wants to have. He made it look like I was afraid or avoiding a fight with Dillashaw.

Mick talked to me, trying to change the opponent from Ray to TJ. I told him that Dillashaw, I think, needs at least one fight in the flyweight division to prove that he can make weight and win here. After that, he can fight me if I'm not busy with Cody by then. The matchmaker thought it made sense.

Later, Mick called again. On Dana's instructions, he asked me to fight TJ and cancel the Ray agreement. I told him that we were afraid that TJ would not make weight and the fight would not be a title fight, because of which I would not be able to break the title defense record. Meek said he would guarantee that Dillashaw would make the weight. I told him that if he gives me such guarantees, and TJ and the UFC are so picky and put me in such an uncomfortable position, then it would be fair to do the following - if TJ does not make weight, the fight will be canceled and I will receive my guaranteed fee and T.J.'s guaranteed fee. Mick said that Borg would be on the same card and, if anything, he could replace Dillashaw if he didn't make weight. I asked him who exactly should I prepare for? After all, he just guaranteed that T.J. would make weight.

This is a duel between the best promotion in the world and the number one in the rankings. best fighters in the world or amateur tournament where I don't know who will be the opponent until I arrive at the fight? Obviously there were no guarantees, they just wanted to force me to do something that would be wrong for my career. And they knew it. Their "guarantees" meant nothing, and they did not want to vouch for the fact that they would reimburse me for the damage received during training camp for a fight that may not take place. The fact that Ray Borg is going to be a stand-in shows a lack of respect for what we go through in preparation for fights at this level.

Mick returned with Dane and Shownu, talked to them, then told me that they did not agree with my request, and I had to fight TJ without guarantees and without financial "insurance" if Dillashaw could not make the weight. This is a typical broken promise and a natural mockery that accompanies my entire career in the UFC.

Summarize:

• Demetrius agreed to their peremptory demands to fight Ray Borg. Ray Borg also agreed.
• The UFC refused to give him PPV percentages in any future flyweight bouts. Previously, they also did not give PPV interest. Dee Jay's request was fair, and the division matchmaker agreed with it.
• Johnson offered fair terms to the UFC for the Dillashaw fight to take place, but they refused.
• Dana and Sean said they were not interested in promoting DJ and promoting the "small" divisions. They say "Mouse" will get PPV money from the Dillashaw fight but overlook the fact that there are a certain number of sales that need to be made that can't be made if they don't promote Demetrius properly like they did in his past fights. .
• If TJ doesn't make weight, Johnson won't be able to break the record for most title defenses. But he is refused to pay in this situation. Dana presses him through the media to get what he wants, not what is best for the fighter or the sport.
• A track record is not enough to advance fights.

Date of birth: 08/13/1986
Height:160cm
Weight: 57 kg

Demetrius Johnson is a famous American mixed martial artist. He participated in many MMA fights, became the UFC champion, performing in the flyweight division. Ranked third in the respective weight class within the UFC.

Biography of Demetrius Johnson

An outstanding athlete was born in Kentucky, USA on August 13, 1986. Demetrius was a student at Parkland Washington High School where he wrestled. He took part in state sports championships.

Your career in professional sports Demetrius got his start in 2007 when he knocked out his opponent in the first round in his debut fight. He also participated in several other local tournaments and won eight fights in a row. Then he received an invitation from the WEC, and had his debut fight in April 2010. His opponent was Brad Pickett, although Johnson showed excellent kickboxing, he lost this fight by unanimous decision of the judges.

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Already in September of the same year, he had the opportunity to rehabilitate and face off against Clint Godfrey as part of the WEC 51 tournament. But Godfrey was forced to withdraw from the fight and his place was taken by Nick Pace, whom Johnson easily won. Even through the WEC, he was able to defeat Damasio Page. The fight lasted until the third round, and in the first round Page was clearly superior to Johnson, but having gathered strength into a fist, the American fighter seized the initiative and defeated the enemy in the third round. After this victory, Demetrius signs a contract with the famous American organization UFC. After signing the contract, Johnson holds a series of fights with famous fighters, such as:

• Norifumi Yamamoto;
• Miguel Torres;
• Dominic Cruz;
• Eddie Vinland;
• Ian McCall.

Fights with these fighters led Johnson to the final, in which he faced Joseph Benavidez on September 22, 2012. Johnson won the bout on points to become the lightweight champion.

After taking the championship belt, the American fighter faced off in the ring with John Dodson. The fight was not easy, and Johnson almost lost it, but, ultimately, the judges awarded him the victory.

Johnson's fights with John Moraga were quite interesting. The first fight took place on April 13, 2013, but the fight was not completed and was rescheduled for July 27, 2013. The fight lasted five rounds, and throughout all the rounds Moraga dominated, by the end of the fight, Johnson was able to pull out the victory and defended his champion title for the second time. For the third time, Demetrius defended the championship title by defeating Joseph Benavidez. In June 2014, he defended his championship by defeating Ali Bagautinov. And finally, in a duel with Chris Cariaso, he became a five-time UFC lightweight champion.

Personal life

Demetrius Johnson had a rather difficult childhood, he lived with his mother and stepfather, who did not show much love for a non-native child. He never saw his own father. He considers his wife the brightest person in his life, and claims that without her his life would not be complete. On May 11, 2012, the couple officially registered their relationship, and already in July 2013 they had a child.

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- current UFC champion flyweight, the leader of the pound-for-pound rating, and today the most stable fighter in the promotion. An incredibly smart and versatile athlete, he can fight both in the stance and on the ground. It is characterized by high speed, good endurance and excellent technique. It adapts very well to each opponent.

Biography of Demetrius Johnson

Demetrius Johnson was born on August 13, 1986 in Madisonville, Kentucky but grew up in Parkland, Washington. His father died two months before Demetrius was born, so he was raised by a deaf mother, Karen Johnson, and an abusive stepfather. Johnson himself claims that as a child it was very difficult for him to live in such conditions. His interest in sports appeared in his school years - Demetrius was engaged in track running, cross-country running, and also wrestling. In competitions, he always took high places, even competed at the Washington State level a couple of times.

After school, Johnson got a job as an auxiliary worker at a woodworking factory, but did not give up playing sports. Working 40 hours a week, he managed to train for about 10 hours a week. Around that time, he began to get involved mixed martial arts, but in parallel he was engaged in gym as well as CrossFit. Until his victory over Miguel Torres at UFC 130, Demetrius combined training with work in a factory. Johnson's coaches say the athlete's success is partly due to his incredible physique and ability to grasp everything on the fly. In that fight, he got away from several attempts at painful holds purely intuitively, without much training in defense against these techniques in the gym.

In those days, Demetrius had to combine training with work, he also helped his mother, who was diagnosed with bone cancer. A typical day for the future champion looked something like this: get up early, go to work, then Johnson would visit his mother, take her to the hospital if necessary, take her back, return to work, then, in the evening, go to train, and only then return home.

Johnson is very strong emotionally: despite everything he has experienced, he is an incredibly positive, cheerful and cheerful guy. Relatives say that they would never have thought that he had gone through such serious trials if they had not learned this from himself.

A year and a half after debuting in UFC Johnson defeats Joseph Benavidez via split decision to become the promotion's first flyweight champion. For 6 years, he lost only to Dominic Cruz, this was even before the introduction of the flyweight. He has already held ten successful defenses, equaling in this indicator with the legendary Anderson Silva. It seems that no one and nothing can remove the mouse from the throne. Recently, an entire season of the Ultimate Fighter show was devoted to finding a worthy opponent for Demetrius - champions of local promotions were gathered in order to identify the best and give the lucky one a title shot immediately after the end of reality. Nevertheless, Johnson passed the next test without any problems and retained the belt, and six months later, at UFC on FOX 24, he defeated Wilson Reis, approaching setting an absolute UFC record for the number of successful champion belt defenses.

Demetrius Johnson deservedly leads the pound-for-pound ranking. When watching his fights, one gets the feeling that he is the perfect fighter without weaknesses, he is excellent, fast and accurate in the stance, moves well, controls the distance, hits both with his hands and feet, if he wants, he enters the clinch and works with his knees, takes the opponent to the ground and beats there, or performs a painful or suffocating reception.

Despite their excellent fighting qualities in the octagon, and human outside of it, the promotion does not seek to promote its hard worker - the champion, and unfortunately, Johnson's tournaments have almost the lowest ratings of all UFC events. However, the Mighty Mouse himself is actively working with his fans, in addition to being constantly active in social networks, he runs his own twitch channel because, in his own words, he loves video games and interacting with his fan base.

Personal life of Demetrius Johnson

Demetrius Johnson is married to Destiny Johnson (nee Bartels). She also grew up in Washington. The couple met in high school when they both worked part-time at the Red Lobster diner. The champion has repeatedly said that his wife is the best thing that happened to him in his entire life. She was with him from the very beginning, since when no one believed in him, she always supported him and was sympathetic to the fact that training took up a large part of his time. They got married on May 11, 2012 in Hawaii. Destiny even agreed to postpone her honeymoon to give her husband the opportunity to have a full training camp for the fight with Ian.

The Johnsons have two sons - Tyreen was born July 19, 2013, and Maverick - 15
April 2015. It's funny that in both cases Demetrius defended his belt 8 and 10 days after the birth of his sons. Destiny tries to help her husband in everything - once she even mentioned that she advised the champion not to let people from her old job into her life who never loved Demetrius, but decided to establish a connection with him after he became a champion. Demetrius himself claims that the only thing thanks to which he got out of his past life and became happy - this is the love and support of his wonderful wife.