Demetrious Johnson

Demetrious Johnson (born August 13, 1986) is an American professional mixed martial artist.

He currently competes in ONE Championship, where he is the current ONE Flyweight Champion (135 lb).

He is the inaugural and former UFC Flyweight Champion.

Known for his quick striking and elusive movement, Johnson co-holds the record for the latest finish in UFC history with a submission win at 4:59 of the fifth round against Kyoji Horiguchi.

Johnson also holds the record for most finishes in UFC flyweight history with 7.

Johnson is widely regarded as one of the greatest MMA fighters of all time and is even considered to be the greatest mixed martial arts fighter of all time.

ESPN, MMA Weekly, and various UFC personnel have called Johnson one of the greatest mixed martial artists in the world.

Johnson has been referred to by many as, ‘the greatest Flyweight Mixed Martial Arts fighter of all time.’

Born in Kentucky, Johnson grew up in Parkland, Washington, where he attended Washington High School and was a stand-out athlete in wrestling, track, and cross country.

In wrestling, he placed 3rd and 2nd in the state in his junior and senior years.

Although he only participated in track and cross country to improve his cardio for wrestling, he competed at the State Championships in both sports.

Johnson did receive scholarship offers for wrestling but he did not want to leave his family behind.

Ultimately, he did not take up any scholarship offers and instead attended Pierce College for two years while working on the side.

Johnson originally began training in mixed martial arts (MMA) as a hobby, continuing for two years before being invited to AMC Pankration, where he would meet MMA pioneer Matt Hume, who had been scouting Johnson and organized the event where Johnson made his MMA debut.

He began his career in MMA as an amateur in 2006, winning via first-round knockout.

Johnson then appeared on multiple local shows and won his next 8 fights, including five in a row by submission.

After winning his professional debut, Johnson fought at the Alaska Fighting Championships in Anchorage and won via head kick KO, which earned him a deal with the WEC.

He made his World Extreme Cagefighting debut at bantamweight against Brad Pickett on April 24, 2010, at WEC 48 in Sacramento, California.

Johnson showed good kickboxing throughout but was unable to defend the many takedowns executed by Pickett.

Johnson lost via unanimous decision.

Joe Rogan predicted during the fight that, should the WEC implement a flyweight division, Johnson would be highly effective, as he was a relatively small bantamweight.

Johnson was expected to face Clint Godfrey on September 30, 2010, at WEC 51.

However, Godfrey was forced off the card and replaced by WEC newcomer Nick Pace.

Johnson defeated Pace via unanimous decision, handing Pace his first MMA loss.

Johnson defeated Damacio Page via third-round submission on November 11, 2010, at WEC 52.

After Page controlled the action in the first round, Johnson was able to dictate the action for most of the second and third rounds before submitting Page via guillotine choke.

Johnson later said, "He was basically drowning, and I was the shark that came up and got him from underneath."

On October 28, 2010, World Extreme Cagefighting merged with the Ultimate Fighting Championship.

As part of the merger, all WEC fighters were transferred to the UFC.

Johnson faced Japanese superstar Norifumi "KID" Yamamoto on February 5, 2011, at UFC 126 in his UFC debut, Johnson won via unanimous decision.

Johnson was scheduled to face Renan Barão on May 28, 2011, at UFC 130.

However, Johnson faced Miguel Torres after Torres's opponent, Brad Pickett, was forced off the card with an injury.

Despite breaking his fibula early in the second round from a checked leg kick, Johnson used his superior wrestling to control Torres and won a 29–28 unanimous decision victory, even though he was swept into full mount a record-breaking 6 times during the fight.

Johnson fought Dominick Cruz on October 1, 2011, at UFC Live: Cruz vs. Johnson for the UFC bantamweight title, losing by unanimous decision.

Johnson was briefly linked to a bout with Eddie Wineland on January 28, 2012, at the UFC's second event on Fox.

However, Johnson was pulled from the bout to take part in a four-man flyweight tournament to determine the UFC's first UFC Flyweight Champion.

Johnson faced Ian McCall on March 3, 2012, in the first round of the Flyweight Tournament at UFC on FX 2.

This fight was the first flyweight bout in UFC history.

The fight with McCall went all three rounds, was turned over to the judges' score cards and announced as a majority decision win for Johnson.

Later, in the post-fight press conference, UFC president Dana White announced that the athletic commission made a mistake when scoring the match and that officially the bout was scored a majority draw (28–28, 29–29, and 29–28 Johnson).