Demetrious Johnson has walked back his controversial opinion on a hypothetical MMA fight between Francis Ngannou and Anthony Joshua.
After 1000 days away from the sport that made him famous, Ngannou returned to brutally KO Renan Ferreira in the first round of their PFL Super Fights: Battle of the Giants main event in Saudi Arabia on Saturday night.
The former UFC heavyweight champion took his 6ft 8in opponent to the floor and survived a triangle attempt before finishing the fight with nasty ground and pound.
It was his first fight since he was brutally knocked out by former two-time heavyweight boxing champion Anthony Joshua when they clashed in March.
Demetrious Johnson predicted Anthony Joshua would beat Francis Ngannou in MMA
In the aftermath of Francis Ngannou’s second-round KO loss, Johnson rubbed salt into his wounds by suggesting that the same thing would happen in MMA.
‘Mighty Mouse’ sparked debate among fans with his controversial take.
“Does Anthony Joshua beat Francis Ngannou in an MMA fight? I think he does,” Johnson said on his YouTube channel.
“It would just be another striking match. AJ understands his distance. He understands the void. He has better hands than Francis, and he can make Francis even whiff and miss again.
“Unless Francis is going to change his tactic and go clinch him and wrestle him. But AJ is very athletic. He is smaller, he’s more limber. I think he’d be able to stuff the shot and be able to give it to Francis Ngannou.”
Since then, Joshua has suffered a shock KO loss to Daniel Dubois.
‘Dynamite’ battered AJ from the first bell before putting him to sleep in the fifth round of their IBF heavyweight title clash at London’s Wembley Stadium last month.
Post-fight, Johnson slightly backtracked on his Ngannou vs Joshua MMA prediction by tweeting: “And my dumb ass said he would beat Francis Ngannou in MMA.”
After watching Ngnanou maul Ferreira on the floor, the former UFC flyweight champion fully took back what he said about a potential MMA matchup with Joshua.
Johnson wrote: “Yeah he would of beat the bricks off AJ.”
Demetrious Johnson recently announced his retirement from MMA
Fight fans will have to get used to hearing Johnson speaking about fighting, rather than watching him compete as Demetrious Johson has officially retired from MMA.
In September, the 38-year-old choked back tears during a speech to fans where he announced that he would be walking away from the sport he’d been competing in since 2009.
Johnson set myriad records in the UFC before trading to ONE Championship in an unusual deal that saw Ben Askren heading in the opposite direction in 2019.
“First off, I want to say thank you to the fans,” he said at ONE’s recent event in Colorado. “You guys have always been amazing to me as I live out my dreams and show my passion through martial arts.
“I want to say thank you to all of my teammates from the very beginning back in 2006 all the way to 2024, it’s been a long journey. Thank you to Matt, thank you to my wife and my children, my mother-in-law.
“Thank you you guys, you have made me a better person, a better athlete, thank you to my wife for always encouraging me to pursue my passion, my dreams. Thank you to everybody at ONE Championship; the staff, the competition team, social media team, we appreciate you.
“Thank you to Chatri [ONE Championship’s owner] for giving me the opportunity to display my martial arts on this platform. Like I said last time, I sound like a damn mouse, when I came here to Denver, Colorado I told you guys that was potentially my last fight.
“I was not lying; I am done competing in Mixed Martial Arts and I want to say thank you guys so much for giving me the opportunity. I appreciate you guys.”