“Focusing on just my development as an athlete” - Demetrious Johnson shares preparations for world title bout

MMA icon Demetrious Johnson described his trek to a second world title shot in a promotional video released by ONE Championship this week.

Over the past few months, Johnson has been making preparations for his rematch against Moraes with a new goal in mind. He spent most of his training hours focused on developing himself as a full-fledged athlete, which oftentimes meant going back to his roots as a mixed martial artist.

The former UFC flyweight champion told ONE Championship:

“Getting ready for Adriano Moraes, it’s kind of like, the same thing, so I’m focusing on just my development as an athlete - that’s what I think got me so successful in mixed martial arts. I focused on developing my skillset and searching for knowledge."

Johnson added:

“I have gotten stronger, but I’m like, why don't I take some of that time away from strength and conditioning and actually put forth more to my craft, which is mixed martial arts, which is fighting.”

Catch the full video below:

In their 2021 meeting, Johnson did well to try to engage with his Brazilian rival. He tried to shorten the distance by cutting corners and switching up his stances to keep Moraes on the backfoot. Moreas, however, got the best of him when Johnson got too over eager for a takedown.

Taking the loss like a true veteran without making excuses, Johnson survived to fight another day. The Washington native is looking forward to his rematch so that he can let all his hard work do all the talking.

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Demetrious Johnson elaborates on rediscovering Brazilian jiu-jitsu ahead of rematch with Moraes

If it weren’t for the loss, Demetrious Johnson wouldn’t have rediscovered his passion for Brazilian jiu-jitsu. As part of his preparations for his rematch with Adriano Moraes, Johnson went local to fortify his skill set in the art of submission grappling.

In the same interview with ONE, the 35 year-old veteran said:

“I started training back in the gi in jiu-jitsu, found an amazing professor and honestly that’s been a breath of fresh air. I met him back home in Washington, I have to take all the skillset I learned in Arizona and and the grappling I’m learning everyday in grappling in the gym and hone it in and fine-tune it in this specific fight against Adriano.”

Demetrious Johnson expects to finish the fight on the ground. It’s going to be intriguing to see how well Moraes answers to Johnson’s improved ground game, adding more excitement to an already hyped-up rematch.