On his decision whether to retire, Demetrious Johnson will consult with a number of UFC greats – namely Urijah Faber, Khabib Nurmagomedov and Georges St-Pierre.
This past Friday, Johnson (25-4-1) defeated Adriano Moraes in the trilogy rematch that served as the main event of ONE Fight Night 10 at the 1STBANK Center in Broomfield, Colorado, just outside of Denver.
When Johnson asked the crowd whether they would like to see him fight again after the match, they roared in approval. The 36-year-old stated that he would have to chat with his wife first before making a decision and also planned to speak with people like Khabib Nurmagomedov and Georges St-Pierre about the circumstances surrounding their decision to leave their respective careers behind.
At the ONE Fight Night 10 post-fight news conference, Johnson said,
“Taking to my peers, talking to Urijah Faber, I’m going to reach out to (Georges St-Pierre), I’m going to reach out to Khabib Nurmagomedov. I’m going to talk to these guys. I’m like, ‘Why did you guys stop?’”
“Those guys could have kept on fighting, and there comes a point in time – I’m 36-years-old, and do I just keep on doing this and giving other athletes the opportunity to beat me and add to their legacy? There’s a lot of stuff I’ve got muster up.”
Johnson, who set a record by successfully defending his UFC flyweight belt 11 times in a row, says he will only decide to compete if he feels like it.
The reason for these emotions, according to Johnson, is that weeks four and five of his training camp were arguably the most difficult. “Like, back in the day when I would fight my world title fights, I remember when I was getting ready to fight Wilson Reis, I would have nightmares that Wilson Reis would get my back. I didn’t have nightmares when I was getting ready to fight Adriano. I was having nightmares about what am I do after I’m done fighting.”
“And so I like to listen to my feelings and try to understand like, ‘OK, why am I having nightmares about what am I gonna do after fighting when I have an opponent to train for?’ So that’s where all these feelings harbor from. And I was like, ‘This might be my last fight,’ and just take a step back as an athlete, and look at what am I gonna do after fighting. Because I can keep on fighting. I mean, that’s true, but it takes a lot of energy away from other projects that can take care of me after I’m done fighting. So that’s where that comes from.”
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