JRE MMA Show #131 with Demetrious Johnson

Demetrious Johnson (0:13)

Good to see you. Good to see you too.

Joe Rogan (0:15)

Good to see you thriving out there in the world.

Demetrious Johnson (0:17)

Just trying to do my best.

Joe Rogan (0:18)

Dude, you're killing it. It's beautiful. It's beautiful. That comeback win was fucking fantastic. Thanks, man. It was great to see.

Demetrious Johnson (0:24)

Thank you.

Joe Rogan (0:25)

How the fuck are you still so good? You haven't slipped at all.

Demetrious Johnson (0:30)

Honestly, I think it's just the training, my mindset, the team around me, and just honestly trying to get better every single time I step in the cage.

Joe Rogan (0:39)

The lighter weight classes, though, I've always felt like there's a short window of excellence. You know, like even in boxing, it seems like it's like nine, ten years at peak form, but you defy that.

You know, you really do, man. You're still as good as ever.

Demetrious Johnson (0:57)

It could be because I'm black. Give you my genetics. I have no idea.

Joe Rogan (1:00)

It can't just be that. There's a lot of people that are also black that haven't been able to do that.

Demetrious Johnson (1:06)

Yeah, that's true.

Joe Rogan (1:07)

I think what you're saying is it's also technique. Your technique has always been paramount. You know, it's always like the forefront of everything.

Demetrious Johnson (1:14)

I honestly believe it's probably just my upbringing in mixed martial arts, right? And even, you know, I was talking to people the other day, and I said I started when I was 18, like in martial arts. If you count, some people don't count wrestling as martial arts.

Joe Rogan (1:28)

Oh, you should.

Demetrious Johnson (1:28)

Right? I do.

So I started in middle school, and then once I got out of high school, I didn't go to college to wrestle. I jumped right into mixed martial arts. So I think, you know, Matt, he made me do one fight at MMA, then the next fight was boxing, mixed martial arts, then kickboxing, back to MMA, shoot boxing, and then he was like, hey, you gotta do this grappling tournament, and you need to submit everybody. Don't come back if you don't, right?

Joe Rogan (1:58)

He's a hard man.

Demetrious Johnson (1:59)

Yeah, and, you know, at the time when he was doing that, I didn't know what he was prepping me for, right? I honestly didn't. Like, I was working full-time, and I was still an amateur, but I would do these things he told me to do, and then now when I get into my fights or when I do things, I'm able to, you know, go back to my beginning and be like, okay, I faced this before, and I'm able to just keep getting better.

My foundation is so solid that that's what's been able to keep me on top for so long.

Joe Rogan (2:32)

Well, I think that really helped you in that mixed fight with Rod King, because that was a wild proposition. I was like, whoa, this is gonna be interesting. Props to him for taking that, because he had to know after round one who was crowned for it.

Demetrious Johnson (2:51)

So when they offered that to me, I was on the couch with the wife.

Joe Rogan (2:55)

Which explained to everybody what the rules were.

Demetrious Johnson (2:58)

The rules were, the first round, so if you guys don't know who Rod King is, he's one of the best, probably the best Muay Thai fighters in the world. People put him at pound for pound.

Joe Rogan (3:08)

He's a fucking beast.

Demetrious Johnson (3:10)

He just walks through these people.

Joe Rogan (3:11)

So the first round was Muay Thai.

Demetrious Johnson (3:15)

I could not grapple. I could not, you know...

Yeah, so right here, when they... when he broke me up, I was trying to lock him up like a body lock. I could take down.

Joe Rogan (3:26)

Was it a three-minute round or a five-minute round?

Demetrious Johnson (3:27)

Three-minute round, right? And so the first round was Muay Thai, and the second round was MMA. The third round was going to be Muay Thai, and the fourth round was MMA.

So I knew the first round was going to be, you know, very difficult, but right there, as you see I'm trying to hold him, I can't, like I literally was over my hands and not trying to grab him as I would if it was MMA.

Joe Rogan (3:50)

Were you allowed to clinch? Because Muay Thai involves a lot of clinch work. What was the rules there?

Demetrious Johnson (3:55)