A world flyweight champion, Demetrious Johnson, shared where he was in his life at the beginning of his martial arts career.
Contacting Mouse Jones on the podcast, with Mouse Jones, Johnson explained the difficult transition he experienced from graduating high school to being self-sufficient in the real world.
While some teenagers his age partyed or hung out with the wrong company, Johnson remained resolute on the path he chose to walk for himself and not follow the crowd.
‘Mighty Mouse’ spoke about the years between the years before he had his first breakthrough in MMA, saying:
“I was still in Seattle, but actually it’s Tacoma Parkland. I remember finding a job, working somewhere, because there was no money. I just got out of high school, worked at Red Lobster, Journeys, Taco Bell, I hung gutters, construction, and I remember there were four of us, four amigos. Me, Raj, Bernard and Isaiah. We all went different ways.”
Watch the full interview with ‘Might Mouse’ below:
As detailed in the interview, Raj went the gang route and sadly died soon after, Bernard went the medical route and Isaiah joined the military while Johnson chose the martial arts.
“I took the sporting path and continued to work like that. Kept working out, went to the gym every day, took my classes, and eventually the trainers said, “Hey, do you want to do an amateur fight?” I was like, ‘Yeah, I’m going to do an amateur fight’ at the time.”
Demetrious Johnson says transitioning into MMA was like life itself
Demetrious Johnson didn’t become the world’s most dominant flyweight champion in one night. It took many years of hard work and sacrifice to achieve its goals.
No matter how cliche it may sound, without consistency and discipline in your life, you won’t get as far in life as you always hoped.
The transition from high school to a full-time job to working out at the gym hasn’t been easy for “Mighty Mouse.” With a wife and first baby on the way, Demetrious Johnson had to stay focused and work twice as hard to put food on the table while still pursuing his passions.
In the same interview, ‘Mighty Mouse’ said:
“So the transition was like life. You can’t just expect to drop everything and just do something like try to follow your passions. You have to keep grinding and work 40 hours a week.”
