"American fans are going to absolutely love it" - Demetrious Johnson on possible US expansion for ONE Championship

MMA great and ONE flyweight Grand Prix champion Demetrious Johnson recently had an insightful interview with Morning Kombat's Brian Campbell.

In the interaction, 'Mighty Mouse' shed some light on his recent superfight win over Rodtang Jitmuangnon and his fighting future, amongst other topics.

One of the more interesting points of the conversation was DJ's views on ONE Championship's growing influence in the global market. Though ONE started as a sports brand mostly catered to the Asian market, it has transcended the continent and is now reaching the rest of the world. The fact that in 2021, ONE is the No.1 sports property in Facebook organic views proved this point.

ONE is breaking through the American market. Because of this, there's a high chance that the organization might have its first US show, something we speculate might happen this year. On this, DJ said:

"I think the biggest thing that ONE has going for itself, set [itself] aside from all the competitors, is that it has all forms of martial arts. Right? Like, that Hiro Akimoto and Capitan [for the ONE bantamweight kickboxing title] fight was absolutely amazing. Like, that kickboxing fight was dope. And I don't know if there's a lot of, you know, kickboxing on mainstream television nowadays. That's one thing that can set ONE above PFL, Bellator, UFC, [etc]."

The clip above, from the fight between new champ Hiroki Akimoto and Capitan Petchyindee at ONE X, is what DJ was talking about. Demetrious Johnson then further expounded on his point:

"We also have amazing athletes. We have the grappling, we have the Muay Thai with 4 oz gloves, kickboxing, and of course, mixed martial arts. So, I think, once we're able to show that presentation to American fans, I think American fans are gonna absolutely love it."

Fighting almost entirely in his career in front of an American audience, Johnson knows a thing or two about the market. If he says that ONE will thrive in the US, there's a lot of merit in that statement.

Watch the full interview here:

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"It's all about how I feel" - Demetrious Johnson on how long he thinks he can keep fighting at the highest level

Now 35 years old, Demetrious Johnson is just about to reach an age where most fighters' athletic peaks are starting to decline. Despite this, the former 11-time defending UFC flyweight champion still looks to be in top form.

When asked how long he thinks he'll be fighting at an elite level, 'Mighty Mouse' had this to say:

"You know, it's all about how I feel. This last training camp was great. No injuries. The previous training camp [against Adriano Moraes], I pulled my groin. So we actually postponed the fight. You know, it's all because of my body. I don't do drugs, I live a healthy lifestyle, I work out regularly. So, it just all depends."

Demetrious Johnson is one of the few MMA greats that has never marred his reputation nor caused any controversy in his career. Like his fighting style, Demetrious Johnson as a person is as squeeky clean as one can get.

For that reason, he might be fighting at the pound-for-pound level for a long time.