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Demetrious Johnson’s side quest in the realm of submission grappling is all set to continue, as the reigning ONE flyweight MMA world champion was recently revealed as one of the competitors in the stacked Masters Division in the IBJJF Pan Championship 2024.
The organization posted the announcement on its Instagram page:
“Check out this lineup of Masters competitors signed up for the Pan Championship 2024! So many legends and some new additions! We can’t wait to watch them all in action. There are only four days left to register, visit IBJJF.com to sign up today.”
Johnson will compete in the male featherweight class (154.60 lbs) for Master 2 in the brown belt category. This isn’t the first time that Johnson has joined an IBJJF tournament, though.
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‘Mighty Mouse’ won the gold medal in the Master 2 featherweight division at the IBJJF Masters Worlds in August 2023 in Las Vegas.
Demetrious Johnson won all six of his matches in the tournament with one win coming via submission due to an armbar.
Brazilian legend and former ONE bantamweight MMA world champion Bibiano Fernandes is also part of the Masters division in the IBJJF Pan Championship 2024.
Fernandes is in the black belt Master 3 category for male featherweights.
The IBJJF Pan Championship 2024 will run from March 19 to 24 at Osceola Heritage Park in Florida.
Demetrious Johnson gives his take on BJJ
Brazilian jiu-jitsu and submission grappling is such a niche sport that it often becomes too intimidating for newcomers to join. While some fighters take to the discipline as easily as possible, others aren’t as lucky.
Demetrious Johnson, however, believes there’s one way to quickly fall in love with The Gentle Art.
During a Q&A session on his YouTube channel Mighty, the MMA legend said:
“Just try it. Find a gym that you feel comfortable training at, and just go and have fun. I took the kids ice skating today, and they loved it. It was absolutely amazing, and when we did that, it was their first time going ice skating as an eight-year-old and a 10-year-old. But they had fun. So yeah, I think the biggest thing is to find a gym where you're comfortable, ask questions, and just have fun in jiu-jitsu. I tell people the only way you're going to get better is just to ask questions.”
Check out the video here:
