Demetrious Johnson learned he could take a punch by eating a few from Rodtang

Reigning ONE flyweight world champion ‘Mighty Mouse’ Demetrious Johnson may have previously underestimated his ability to take a solid punch to the chin. But all doubt was erased after stepping in the cage with one of the most dangerous men on the planet.

Johnson recently appeared as a guest on ONE Championship Muay Thai fighter Liam Harrison’s podcast. There, he talked about being able to take a solid hit from ONE flyweight Muay Thai world champion Rodtang ‘The Iron Man’ Jitmuangnon, and how it proved to himself that he is one tough cookie.

‘Mighty Mouse’ said:

“With that first fight [with] Adriano, getting knocked out and then coming back to fight Rodtang -- fighting him, one of the most dangerous strikers on the feet in ONE Championship, it’s kind of like, you know I could take a shot.”

Catch the full interview below:

Johnson went on to say that surviving against Rodtang gave him the confidence to finally take the ONE flyweight world title from rival Adriano Moraes last year. He added:

“I took a clean shot from Rodtang, I was like, ‘Okay, I could take a shot,’ and then coming back to fight Adriano the second time, I was like, ‘Okay, well, we know what’s going to happen.’ We wanna push the pace and try to make him fight me and see what happens.”

In that second fight with Moraes, Johnson came in full of confidence and was fearless. Because of that, he was able to score the infamous flying-knee KO and capture ONE gold.

Demetrious Johnson and Adriano Moraes will run it back for the third and perhaps final time when they meet at ONE Fight Night 10 in a few weeks’ time.

The event will be broadcast live from 1stBank Center in Colorado on Friday, May 5, and will stream absolutely free to fans in the United States and Canada with an active Amazon Prime subscription.