"I'm still striving to learn" - MMA great Demetrious Johnson says he's constantly adding tricks to his game despite retirement

Mixed martial arts icon Demetrious Johnson will go down in the history books as one of the all-time greats of the sport.

It's hard to imagine anyone ever replicating the success that he has achieved in the flyweight division throughout his incredible career that spanned almost 14 years.

At ONE 168: Denver, 'Mighty Mouse' made the decision to walk away after feeling like there was nothing else left for him to accomplish.

Demetrious Johnson left MMA on his own terms because the fact of the matter is, he was still competing at the very highest level.

The former ONE flyweight MMA world champion spoke in a recent interview with MMA Fighting about how his passion for learning and improving never went away, even after he called time on his career this past September:

"Even to this day, I'm still in the gym. I just spent four days in Phuket, and three days in Canada, working on new things in the jiu-jitsu realm in the Gi. So I'm still striving to learn and I think you can see it in my fights. Like who does that, in 11 straight title events, do a flying armbar from the back? It's like, I didn't have to do that, right? You see when I fight Adriano, I'm moving and boom and flying knee. I was still getting better."

Watch the full interview below:

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Demetrious Johnson made the right call for himself

Demetrious Johnson could still be competing against the best flyweights in the world if he wanted to but his heart was no longer in it.

In recent times, he has dedicated his focus to other pursuits which don't involve him pushing himself to the limit in the gym everyday and taking damage.

Johnson no longer needs to put that strain on himself after everything that he has achieved. So while it's sad to see him walk away, it's great that he was even in a position to make that decision for himself.