Demetrious Johnson saw his historic reign as UFC flyweight champion come to an end at the hands of Henry Cejudo roughly one year ago.
Since losing his title to Cejudo at UFC 227 in August 2018, Johnson made the move to ONE Championship in pursuit of newer career goals, and he’s not looking back.
Ask Johnson (29-3 MMA) about a rematch with the man who took his UFC title, and “Mighty Mouse” just more or less shrugs.
“No, I don’t think about getting the losses that I have back,” Johnson told MMA Junkie. “That would mean I’d be thinking about my loss to Dominick Cruz in 2011, and then when I lost to Brad Pickett. Losses happen, man. When you try to look at a loss as a setback or a bump in the road, then I’m not thinking positive. I have an end goal, and I know my goal, where I want to end up at the end of my career, and sometimes those losses open a pathway to a different door, and this is it.
“I was able to get out of North America, get over to Asia and have my final career be for ONE Championship. If it happens, it happens, but I’m not worried about (a Cejudo rematch).”
Since becoming the simultaneous UFC flyweight and bantamweight champion, Cejudo has been on a callout spree, giving himself the “Triple C” name for his three championships (two in the UFC and Olympic gold). He has called out a Hall of Famer, former champions and even women’s flyweight champ Valentina Shevchenko. He put a large target on his back, with a plethora of both 125 and 135-pound contenders gunning for his gold.
Even Johnson, who is notoriously known not to care about PPV numbers and pre-fight hype, can appreciate what Cejudo is doing.
“I see what ‘Triple C’ is doing,” Johnson said. “It’s funny. My buddy came over to my house, and he was like, ‘What the hell is this man doing?’ I was like, ‘What are you talking about?’ He told me that intergender whatever, and I just laughed. I think it’s hilarious, but I’m happy for him. At the end of the day, he’s doing what he wants to do, and he’s creating a lot of buzz for himself and the division.
And hey, man, you can’t hate on him. He’s trying to make moves and get paid.”
