“I gotta keep on fighting” - Demetrious Johnson admits he had doubts about retiring before pulling the trigger

MMA legend Demetrious Johnson announced his retirement from the sport of MMA at ONE 168: Denver, which went down on Sept. 6, 2024. Although he believes he has nothing else to prove, Johnson had to confront his own personal demons before making an official announcement.

The renowned figure, who is also commonly regarded as one of the MMA GOATs, shared his thoughts on his Mightycast podcast recently. He spoke on his thought process and how he cast all doubts aside to make the decision to retire.

The 38-year-old superstar said:

"It's just been an amazing career. There was a part of me that was like, 'I gotta keep on fighting, keep on fighting.' But what's the point?"

He added:

"For me I'm like, I got my wife, got my kids, got YouTube. So yeah, man. It was good."

Check out the his comments below:

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Demetrious Johnson excited to see things move forward in ONE flyweight division

In addition to his personal reasons, Demetrious Johnson also felt that retiring was necessary to keep the ball rolling within ONE Championship's flyweight division, where there are lots of strong contenders aiming to claim the title for themselves.

Johnson shared this in length at the ONE 168: Denver's post-event press conference on Sept. 6, after he made his retirement official, as he highlighted how he no longer wanted to hold things up in this bustling division for too long.

When asked, 'Mighty Mouse' said:

"I'm happy that now the flyweight division can move on. Chatri [Sityodtong], the matchmakers, can start putting together next, you know, a flyweight championship..."

In retrospect, Demetrious Johnson spent the last five years of his spectacular career with ONE. He finished his run as a world champion with a 6-1 record in the promotion.