Demetrious Johnson responds to Alexandre Pantoja's callout at UFC 310: 'The champ ain't coming back'
12/08/2024 04:00 PM
Demetrious Johnson isn't plotting a comeback.
That's the message the former UFC flyweight champion passed along after he got called out by Alexandre Pantjoa following his win over Kai Asakura on Saturday night. The victory served as Pantoja's third straight title defense but with wins over the majority of the fighters occupying spots near the top of the UFC's rankings, he doesn't have many challenges awaiting him.
So Pantoja turned his attention to Johnson saying "I'm the GOAT here. If you want to prove you're the GOAT, come back" but now "Mighty Mouse" has responded with an emphatic thanks but no thanks.
"My Black ass ain't coming out of retirement," Johnson said on his YouTube channel. "Why would I do that? The bank account is sitting nice and good. 38 years old, 11 consecutive title defenses. The champ ain't coming back."
Johnson retired back in September after giving himself more than a year to sit on that decision just in case he decided he wanted to fight again. When that self-imposed time limit expired, Johnson knew that he was ready to hang up his gloves and call it a career.
He already scoffed at former opponent Adriano Moraes predicting that he would eventually return to action and Johnson hasn't changed his mind just because Pantoja called him out.
"Guys I'm retired. I have no interest to fight anymore," Johnson said. "I'm so happy for Alex Pantoja. I'm happy he got his third title defense. I'm so happy for him. I always thought he was an amazing athlete. He's the greatest flyweight in the world right now. I think the greatest flyweights in the world right now are all at American Top Team. You have Alex Pantoja, Adriano Moraes and then you also have Kyoji Horiguchi. Those three guys are probably the best athletes in the world.
"I am not the best flyweight in the world anymore. My Black ass is retired and I'm happily retired. I ain't going to be no motherf*cking Jose Aldo. I ain't going to be no motherf*cking Donald Cerrone coming back to fight. There ain't no point to coming back to fight. What am I going to prove when I come back to f*cking fight?"
Johnson revealed that he was already offered a hefty payday to come back to fighting but even that didn't entice him to plot a return to action.
"You know what the beautiful thing about the position I'm in is?" Johnson said. "I've been offered $2 million dollars to come and do one fight. One fight and what do you guys think I said? I said no. I said absolutely no. It wasn't with the UFC. It wasn't against Alex Pantoja. I'm not going to tell you who it was with but I got offered $2 million dollars to fight and there comes a point in time in an athlete's career where you sit back and you'll be like why am I fighting? Is it to be the best in the world? Shit, I was the best in the world for six years. Not just in America but also in Japan and I went up a division. I went to 135 instead of 125.
"Then you sit back when I made that decision 'I don't care to fight anymore,' I gave myself a full-blown year to see if I'm going to miss it. [To see] if it's my identity and I didn't miss it."
Rather than take punches for a living anymore, Johnson prefers his new occupation providing for his family with a thriving YouTube channel and other businesses outside of fighting.
He believes that's his new measure of success rather than constantly answering challenges from the next guy in line trying to usurp his throne.
"What I thought was more badass than being the best fighter in the world, I think it's more badass to build an empire," Johnson said. "If you're an athlete and you are winning and you are relying on the money you are making from winning, once you lose that fight, half your pay is gone. Once any champion loses, half their pay is gone. It's just gone like that.
"That's the beautiful thing that made me want to retire is that I don't want to rely on my body or me being the best in the world in order to pay my bills and invest and build my empire."
