Taking a quick break from his relentless training camp in preparation for UFC Bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz at UFC live this weekend, Demetrious “Mighty Mouse” Johnson spoke to our fight correspondent Dustin De La Torre about his camp and preparations for his first title shot as well as what we can expect come Saturday night in Washington D.C.
By Dustin De La Torre
FHTV: How did you and Matt Hume get connected? What does he bring to the table to your fighting game?
DJ: Matt Hume is one of the world’s greatest, he keeps helping me evolve my MMA game. We just spent a solid two hours working new Muay Thai moves. Matt also always makes sure I am back in the gym about a week after my fight…he never wants any of his fighters to get stagnate. I am just one of the lucky guys that started at AMC Pankration since the beginning and I plan on ending my career under the AMC banner.
FHTV: You always hear about guys switching gyms to switch up their training and to pick up new things. Have you ever considered moving to a new gym to expand your game?
DJ: Nope this is where I have been at my whole life; I have no desire to switch it up and see no reason to. Matt Hume has taught me so much that I could not picture myself with anyone else. We also always get guys from all over the world coming to train with us since Matt is such a well known trainer in the MMA community. We just had Bibiano Fernandes as well as many others.
FHTV: You mentioned a few Japanese fighters talk about your first fight in the UFC, a fight in which you took on Japanese legend Kid Yamamoto.
DJ: It was awesome. Kid came from Japan where Matt saw him fight a lot. So when we went into the fight we knew a lot about Kid. We were able to use all of Kid’s fights from the internet to look at and scout him. It was great to take out such a great fighter like Kid and add his name to my resume.
FHTV: Did the size of the UFC octagon play a difference in your game considering that the WEC octagon is a lot smaller?
DJ: I really did not notice the difference actually. I move a lot but not enough to notice a difference in cage size.
FHTV: After fighting Kid you were then pitted up against then bantamweight kingpin Miguel Torres? Tell us about that fight.
DJ: The game plan with Miguel was to stand and bang with him. The first round went pretty well until I fractured my fibula on a kick. That caused me to revert back to my wrestling. In my mind I knew I had to out wrestle him and I knew my wrestling would nullify his great ground game.
FHTV: What did you think about all that was made regarding the scoring of that fight?
DJ: I think I won the stand up aspect of the fight and ground control. I had that. He did reserve me a few times but he failed to submit me. The controversy comes from the fans who did not like the scoring of the judges and I can not control that. My job is just to fight and do my best and put on a great show.
FHTV: You are now slated to fight Dominick Cruz in Washington D.C on October 1st for the Bantamweight title belt. Before we talk about the fight do you think there may be any politicians trying to make a name for themselves with a political agenda and cause some controversy with the UFC in town?
DJ: As far as I know I don’t think so. I think Washington D.C is excited to have us there. I know for sure the fans in that area cannot wait for us all to go out and put on a great show.
FHTV: What do you expect to see out of Dominick come fight night and what part of his game do you look to exploit?
DJ: Come fight night I expect Dominick to use his great footwork and unorthodox striking to try to control the fight. Without sharing too much you can expect me to take the fight to Dominick. He has fought the best of the best beating Joseph Benavidez twice, Scott Jorgenson and Urijah Faber.
FHTV: You mentioned he has fought a few wrestlers and you yourself came up as a wrestler. Do you see your wrestling being superior to his?
DJ: I think with his great footwork and kick boxing it makes his wrestling even that much stronger. The Transitions between his striking to takedown defense is so good.
FHTV: People tend to forget this is MMA and get too caught up in the hype that this guy is a Division 1 champion wrestler and forget that this is a MMA fight not a wrestling match.
DJ: I totally agree with you. When you go to shoot there are a lot of different things such as a big punch, flying knee or a submission attempt.
FHTV: What was the initial thought when you saw Joe Silva’s or Sean Shelby’s number come up on your phone with a possible shot at Dominic on the line?
DJ: It was just like anything else. I was excited but I knew I had a tough fight ahead of me. I have put in a long training camp specifically for this camp. I am going to try and take it to him come fight night on October 1st .
FHTV: Would you like to thank any of your sponsors?
DJ: I would like to give a huge shout out to XBOX, my camp, my gym AMC Pankration and Universal for sponsoring my shorts. Also you guys at fighthubtv.com. Come October 1st I will go out there and do my best, expect to see fireworks between Dominic and I.
