Demetrious Johnson claims his brain has gotten healthier throughout his 15-year fight career after a surprising study
09/10/2024 05:01 AM
After 15 years of dominating the sport, this past week one of the greatest fighters of all time, Demetrious Johnson, announced his retirement from MMA and not because of brain health issues.
Demetrious Johnson is widely regarded as the greatest MMA fighter of all time because of his entirely well-rounded skillset and his sheer dominance in the UFC flyweight division for over seven years.
This past Friday at ONE 164 in Denver, Colorado, ‘Mighty Mouse’ became the first fighter in ONE Championship history to be inducted into the Hall of Fame, after competing under their banner seven times and having won the bantamweight title.
Demetrious Johnson claims his brain has gotten healthier throughout long career
At 38 years old, the former UFC flyweight champion’s retirement didn’t come as a massive surprise, however, he has showcased that he is still able to compete at the highest level.
Known for his incredibly clever fight IQ, Johnson didn’t take much damage throughout his 15-year MMA career and only suffered one knockout loss throughout 30 fights.
With that, ‘Might Mouse’ has revealed that through studies and tests his brain has gotten healthier throughout his career instead of deteriorating which is generally what happens to fighters.
Johnson’s brain health has been consistently monitored for over a decade by the Cleveland Clinic, which is sponsored in part by the UFC.
“I’ve been part of a brain study for fighters since 2012, where the Cleveland Clinic want to get athletes in who do combat sports, they want to see the life span of a brain to see how it deteriorates or how it evolves over the course of the years,” Johnson began to explain on Six Feet Under with Mark Calaway.
“After doing testing from 2012-2023, (the doctor) looks at my brain scan and goes, ‘Demetrious, your brain has not aged one bit out of your entire career and you’ve gotten smarter, you read more eloquently, you enunciate your words better than you did in 2012, you’re lucky’,” Johnson continued.
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Dana White claims Demetrious Johnson will be inducted into UFC Hall of Fame
The UFC’s decision to let Johnson leave the promotion in the sports first ever trade in which they received Ben Askren, will go down as one of the biggest missed beats ever.
Since leaving the UFC, ‘Mighty Mouse’ has made it clear that he had his issues with the promotion, especially in terms of pay. Despite that, UFC CEO Dana White recently claimed that the 38-year-old will ‘absolutely’ have a place in the UFC Hall of Fame.
“If you go back to when he was here, I was defending him from the fans, you know? Who’s defended Demetrious Johnson more than me? Good for him, incredible career he had, I’ve never had a problem with Demetrious Johnson,” White told Grind City Media.
