Dana White reacts to Demetrious Johnson's retirement, clears air on their feud: "I’ve never had a problem"

Dana White and Demetrious Johnson have not always publicly seen eye to eye. 'Mighty Mouse' was famously involved in the first major trade in the history of mixed martial arts when the UFC shockingly traded him to ONE Championship for Ben Askren in 2018.

The UFC CEO reacted to news that the long-time flyweight champion announced his retirement from the sport on Friday.

Speaking to John Morgan of Grind City Media, the promotional frontman stated:

"Yeah, I didn't know that and yeah, listen, if you could go back to when he was here, I was defending him from the fans. Who's defended Demetrious Johnson more than me? Yeah, no, good for him. You know, incredible career he had and yeah, I've never had a problem with Demetrious Johnson."

When asked if Johnson, who is widely considered one of the greatest mixed martial artists of all-time, will be inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame at some point, White responded:

"Absolutely"

Check out Dana White's comments on Demetrious Johnson below:

Johnson holds the record for most consecutive title defenses in UFC history and is tied with Jon Jones for the most title defenses. While his departure from the promotion was less than ideal, he will fittingly be honored with an induction into the UFC Hall of Fame.

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Demetrious Johnson once called out Dana White over pay-per-view points

Demetrious Johnson's departure from the UFC shocked fans as he was widely considered one of the greatest fighters in promotional history. He discussed his move to ONE Championship on his YouTube channel, while calling out Dana White over his comments regarding pay-per-view points, stating:

"They specifically said, 'we do not give pay-per-view points to flyweight guys, but if you're a lightweight or you're a welterweight, middleweight, heavyweight, I've been told that once they became champion, they got $500,000 flat and it went straight in their contract that they got pay-per-view points every single time. For me, it was never that. If I would've got pay-per-view points every single time I defended my belt, 11 consecutive title defenses, you put me on three Conor McGregor cards, yeah."

He then reacted to a clip of the White claiming he wanted up front money over pay-per-view points, adding:

"When Dana White says I didn't want pay-per-view points, that's not true. I asked for pay-per-view points... [Going to ONE] was the best decision I have ever made in my whole entire career. If I could do it again, I would do it ten times again... Let's look at CM Punk. This guy comes in and gets a base salary of $500,000. There were also potential pay-per-view bonuses and other financial incentives included in his contract. I had to defend the f**king belt [11] times and I couldn't even get this."

Check out Demetrious Johnson's comments on his UFC departure below:

Johnson added that he doesn't harbor any hard feelings towards the UFC CEO, noting he is happy and successful in life. He was able to thrive at ONE Championship, capturing and defending the flyweight title while also winning the division's World Grand Prix in 2019.