Former UFC flyweight champion Demetrious “Mighty Mouse” Johnson is eyeing a new challenge — stepping onto the mats at the No-Gi World Championships.
The MMA legend, who is widely regarded as one of the most complete fighters in history, recently trained with Mikey Musumeci in Las Vegas.
During a joint session on his MIGHTY podcast, Johnson revealed that his growing passion for pure grappling has inspired him to shift part of his focus toward no-gi competition:
I’m not done with the gi.
I’m still going to keep on competing in the gi, but I’m going to get more reps in the no-gi just to change it up a bit.
Musumeci expressed full confidence in Johnson’s potential:
I think that he could surprise a lot of people in no-gi.
I want to be a part of his training camp.
I see how much potential he has — like a lot of the people I compete with, I feel like he’ll beat.
For Johnson, who has long integrated grappling into his MMA style, the switch feels like a natural evolution:
I essentially started in no-gi from mixed martial arts.
During training, Johnson’s trademark humility and analytical mindset were on full display.
He frequently put himself in disadvantageous positions to study Musumeci’s movements:
I keep pulling guard. I want to see how they’re passing my guard so easily.
While Johnson hasn’t confirmed his official debut, he hinted that the No-Gi World Championships could be next on his competitive calendar:
Next one might be no-gi worlds, but we’ll see.
I want to get some more grappling in and just try my hand in no-gi.
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