Demetrious Johnson maintains he won’t return to MMA, says “there’s literally nothing left” for him to prove

Demetrious Johnson is staying retired and not a force in the world will make him return to the cage.

In an interview with MMA Fighting, Johnson said there's nothing left for him to prove in mixed martial arts and no amount of callouts will force him out of retirement.

The MMA legend said:

"Absolutely, that’s why my black a** is like, 'I’m done.' There’s literally nothing left for me to do in mixed martial arts. I truly felt that. Let’s look at the landscape. I come back and I’m still the champion."

Johnson is one of the greatest MMA fighters of all time and is the only fighter to capture gold in both ONE Championship and the UFC.

From 2012 to 2018, Demetrious Johnson ran the UFC's 125-pound division and had a record 11 straight title defenses. He then moved to ONE Championship in 2019 and claimed the ONE Flyweight MMA World Grand Prix title in his third fight in the promotion.

Johnson ultimately captured the ONE flyweight MMA world title when he knocked out Adriano Moraes in their world title rematch at ONE on Prime Video 1 in August 2022.

In September this year, Johnson officially announced his retirement from MMA in an emotional send-off at ONE 168: Denver at Ball Arena.

Although fans and fighters alike stressed that Johnson could still dominate in the sport, 'Mighty Mouse' maintained that he was enjoying his current set-up and would only compete in Brazilian jiu-jitsu.

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Demetrious Johnson says there's no point to return to MMA

With a legacy he's built in almost two decades, Demetrious Johnson said there's no point to return to MMA.

Johnson said in the same interview with MMA Fighting that he's focused on competing in the IBJJF and on his business ventures outside of martial arts:

"For me, I just don’t like mixed martial arts competing. I get enjoyment out of doing it in jiu-jitsu and going like IBJJF and doing that stuff. So for me, I just don’t see a point in coming back. Like, what if I were to come back to fighting, what would I do?"

Watch Johnson's entire interview below: