DJ: I totally understand where Conor’s coming from
Demetrious Johnson: “So I totally understand where Conor McGregor is coming from. 110%, because I’m a big fan of not breaking camp.”
UFC management and Conor McGregor are locked in a struggle that is widely reported to be over media duties. UFC flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson says he totally understands where McGregor is coming from.
Johnson has been division champion for four years, and knows what entails, and can project what it is like to be one of the leagues top two draws – McGregor and Ronda Rousey. Both have cited media duties as a factor in their latest losing performances.
“It’s totally different ballgame,” said Johnson to Shaun Al-Shatti for MMA Fighting. “Totally different. Conor is on Conan. He’s on The Late Night Show. He’s doing huge things. I’m just going to California, doing a lot of media, and then I’m back out here [in Washington state]. I agree with Conor. At the end of the day, it’s about winning the fight. You can do as much media as you can, but how much media is enough media for [the UFC] to sell the fight?”
“It takes a lot of energy. It truly does. It takes energy to sit here and answer the questions, answer politically correct, think of the right things to say so people think you’re intelligent. All of that stuff. It takes a lot of energy that could be well spent chilling at home, relaxing, just closing your mind away from it.”
“You have to look at the return on investment. So let’s just say the headlines that have been going on, everybody is talking about UFC 200. People are now like, f***, who cares about UFC 197? It’s all about UFC 200. So you look at the return on investment of us sitting here doing all this stuff right now.
“How much is it going to reach? How many of those people are going to actually turn around and purchase the pay-per-view? Whereas, I know the return on investment of me sitting in my hotel room just relaxing, focused, drinking my water, getting my eating on time, making sure everything is good and I’m feeling good to go in there. I’m sure that return on investment is way higher than this.
“So I totally understand where Conor is coming from. 110%, because I’m a big fan of not breaking camp. Once I’m in camp, dude, if you want me to come out and do stuff, okay, let’s do it right when we announce it, then boom, let’s get it done.”
And in case you forgot in all the hubbub around Conor McGregor and UFC 200, Saturday night at UFC 197, Demetrious Johnson, arguably the greatest pound for pound fighter in the world, puts his title on the line against undefeated Olympic Gold medalist Henry Cejudo.