Demetrious Johnson expresses concerns around a COVID-22

UFC GOAT contender and current ONE Championship star Demetrious Johnson appeared recently on MMA Junkie Radio, and discussed his concerns around the COVID-19 global pandemic.

I hope we don’t see a COVID-22, knock on wood right now, said Johnson, as transcribed by Danny Segura for MMA Junkie. You just never know. I mean, COVID-19, like I’m not going to lie – I was getting ready for this fight, I had my ticket booked to go out to Jakarta, and then this s*** just happened.

And then to sit on the sidelines for a full year, I’m going to have to start thinking about something else because it only takes one new virus to wipe out your entire career. I thought, ‘What if I never fight again? What if I never fight again because of COVID-19?’

I might never fight again, all that needs to happen is COVID 2022, and everything gets shut down, no live events. COVID-19 didn’t really hit me hard. I didn’t care about fighting. I just cared about being with my wife and kids, helping them being successful in their schooling. Obviously, me staying healthy for when the time comes I can be ready to fight. But when the COVID-19 hit, I was more father-retirement mode because when else I’m I going to fight again, I don’t know.

Johnson won the ONE Championship flyweight Grand Prix at ONE Championship: Century Part 1, on October 13, 2019, decisioning Danny Kingad . He was scheduled to fight ONE flyweight champion Adriano Moraes in April, but the event was canceled due to the pandemic. Johnson hopes the title shot will come in the first quarter of 2021, but nothing has been announced.

ONE held events through February 28, 2020, and canceled eleven shows in all. Major event restarted on July 31, 2020, and there has been a robust schedule since.