Don’t look for Demetrious Johnson to close ranks with his fellow UFC champions. The current flyweight kingpin recently spoke to Submission Radio about Jon Jones, following his latest run in with the law. Jones was arrested on felony charges on April 27th, following a hit and run accident that left a pregnant woman with a broken arm. Following the arrest, UFC president Dana White and owner Lorenzo Fertitta took a trip to Albuquerque, New Mexico, to visit Jones and ultimately to strip him of his light heavyweight title. For “Mighty Mouse” that was the right move:
“When I first heard the news I couldn’t believe it,” Johnson told Submission Radio. “Just because it’s like….you know, Jon Jones hit and run, marijuana in the car, you know pregnant women, broken arm. And I was like, ‘well this can’t be good’. So with that being said, it’s a very unfortunate situation. I obviously do think the UFC did the right thing. The UFC is probably one of the best organizations in the world when it comes to mixed martial arts, and it’s taking care of its athletes. And this hasn’t been the first time Jon Jones has been in trouble with the law. I mean let’s not forget, the man crashed the 400,000 dollar Bentley that the UFC bought him. You know I ain’t got a 400,000 dollar Bentley, but they bought him one and he crashed it. So I think they did the right thing by stripping him of his title, suspending him, and letting him take care of things that are important, which is him getting himself sober – 110 percent sober – and him focusing on life again and taking care of his family and leaving the drugs alone. So I think they did the right thing. I think with him trying to defend his title in more than a week, it just wouldn’t have helped him in that cause of trying to get healthy.”
Johnson also responded to criticism of his performances and calls for him to be a more exciting fighter, saying “It’s hard but I don’t let it get to me. You know, I have a family, a beautiful wife and a life to be worrying about, [rather] than to let other people’s thoughts or comments get to me. At the end of the day you just gotta keep on doing what’s best for you and that’s being positive and surrounding yourself with very positive people, and that’s what keeps me motivated and keeps me going.”
But that doesn’t necessarily mean that the criticism has gotten any easier to handle: “It comes and goes. I mean it doesn’t matter if I was a champion or not, negativity is always going to be there. Depending on my status in the sport doesn’t make it easier to deal with it, it’s just the type of person I am and the people I surround myself with. Because you know, they all see me as Demetrious Johnson; which is the kid who grew up in Kirkland and who’s just trying to make it in the world today. That’s how I surround myself with positive people. So I don’t hear that stuff. The only time I hear the negative stuff or people having to talk about it is during the media interviews and if I snoop online. But other than that, in my day to day life I don’t hear the negativity at all.”
While Johnson is looking forward to the opportunity to fight John Dodson (if Dodson beats Zach Makovsky) he said that he’s currently waiting to see how several fights in the division shake out before getting too fixated on one opponent.
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