Demetrious Johnson stood up for Josh Hokit and those who were clowning on him for what many perceived as improper jiu-jitsu technique implementation. The supposedly fudged armbar sequence from the controversial surging heavyweight at UFC Freedom 250 during his fight against Derrick Lewis, another UFC legend, also felt like Hokit was trolling to use the parlance of the digital age.
That combatant in question is Israel Adesanya, who took part in a post-event recap on Johnson’s YouTube channel Mighty, as the former UFC titleholder and ONE Championship kingpin touched on several subjects with ‘The Last Stylebender.’ When touching upon the widely circulated footage of Hokit improperly applying the submission maneuver to ‘The Black Beast’, Johnson said,
“I think, when [Josh Hokit] did that armbar against Derrick Lewis, I think he was just playing.”
Responding to the prolific mixed martial artist on his platform, Adesanya stated,
“He sold it, I knew it! From the beginning, I was like ‘He can finish this’ and he starts screaming like the last four seconds and I was like ‘okay, he wants this to go to the second round.’… I knew he was playing, cause [the arm] was fully extended. I’m like you know how to finish an armbar. Even I know how to finish an armbar… This guy, he’s just a fugazi.”
Demetrious Johnson sends support to Ilia Topuria and urges Justin Gaethje to retire
Demetrious Johnson also had meaningful post-fight messages to both Justin Gaethje and Ilia Topuria in the wake of their UFC lightweight title unification bout at the White House. With Gaethje shocking the world by capturing the undisputed 155-pound crown and Topuria tasting his first-ever professional MMA loss, the landscape of the sport looks a great deal different today than it did just a few days ago.
In the embedded video above, DJ offered up support to Topuria in the wake of his title loss by mentioning that everyone has lost in MMA by referencing past setbacks that GSP and Jon Jones have had, with Johnson also referencing that he has been knocked out before. As for Gaethje, Johnson quipped [via MMA Junkie],
“There is nothing left for Justin Gaethje to do. World Series of Fighting champion, he’s made so much money in mixed martial arts. He probably double bonused tonight, and I think the bonuses were $485,000. He is an undisputed lightweight champion, he’s been the interim champion of the world. There’s nothing left for [Gaethje] to do. You guys might hate me for this, but the best thing Justin Gaethje can do is retire.”
“He should retire on this amazing victory against a legend like Ilia Topuria. You retire on top, you save your brain cells, you ride off into the sunset. You beat one of the best athletes. You gave him his first f***ing defeat. Ride away with the White House belt and the undisputed lightweight championship belt.”
