Demetrious Khrisna Johnson (born August 13, 1986) is an American former professional mixed martial artist.

[6][7][8][9] ESPN, MMA Weekly, and various UFC personnel have called Johnson one of the greatest mixed martial artists in the world.

Although he only participated in track and cross country to improve his cardio for wrestling, he competed at the State Championships in both sports.

Johnson then appeared on multiple local shows and won his next 8 fights, including five in a row by submission, for a final amateur record of 9–0.

[20] After winning his professional debut, Johnson fought at the Alaska Fighting Championships in Anchorage and won via head kick KO, which earned him a deal with the WEC.

[16] He made his World Extreme Cagefighting debut at bantamweight against Brad Pickett on April 24, 2010, at WEC 48 in Sacramento, California.

Joe Rogan predicted during the fight that, should the WEC implement a flyweight division, Johnson would be highly effective, as he was a relatively small bantamweight.

[30] Despite breaking his fibula early in the second round from a checked leg kick, Johnson used his superior wrestling to control Torres and won a 29–28 unanimous decision victory, even though he was swept into full mount a record-breaking 6 times during the fight.

[32] Johnson was briefly linked to a bout with Eddie Wineland on January 28, 2012, at the UFC's second event on Fox.

[52] Subsequent to his win, on July 10, the British Columbia Athletic Commission (BCAC) announced that Bagautinov tested positive for erythropoietin (EPO) prior to the title fight.

[69][70] With the win, Johnson tied Anderson Silva for most consecutive title defenses (ten) in UFC history.

According to multiple sources, Borg has been battling an illness that week and was deemed unfit to fight by UFC doctors.

[78] Johnson's win was called the best submission of the year from publications such as Sherdog, MMA Mania.com, and The MAC Life.

[80] After a record 11 consecutive successful title defenses, Johnson's championship reign came to an end via a split decision loss to Cejudo.

[86] On December 19, 2018, it was announced that Johnson will be facing Yuya Wakamatsu at ONE Championship: A New Era on March 31, 2019, in the promotion's inaugural event in Japan.

He faced Tatsumitsu Wada in the semi-finals of the ONE Flyweight Grand Prix and won the fight by unanimous decision to advance to the finals.

He defeated Kingad in a dominant unanimous decision victory and became the ONE Flyweight World Grand Prix Champion.

[90] After claiming the Grand Prix victory, Johnson was set to challenge ONE Flyweight Champion Adriano Moraes at Infinity 1.

[99] Johnson would go on to defeat Moraes by knockout via a flying knee in the fourth round to capture the ONE Flyweight Championship.

[104] Following his retirement speech, ONE CEO Chatri Sityodtong announced that Johnson was the first inductee into the ONE Hall of Fame.

[110] UFC commentator Joe Rogan, ESPN.com, and other media outlets have called Johnson the greatest mixed martial artist in the world.

Known as one of the fastest fighters in MMA,[111] Johnson's martial arts background is in wrestling, which he uses effectively to control where the fight takes place and land numerous takedowns in a single match when necessary.

[11] He is noted for his ability to land fast punches and kicks to the head or body, then quickly escape an opponent's reach.

[113] During upperbody clinches, Johnson has also utilized the Muay Thai plum while mixing in a series of elbows and knees.

[114] To complement his traditional wrestling base, Johnson is also schooled in catch wrestling under his long-time coach Matt Hume,[19][115] as evident by his catch-style direct suplex-to-armlock transition[116] against Ray Borg, and his double wrist lock submission (aka Kimura) of Chris Cariaso.

Johnson is known for cross-training and visiting other athletes to learn different techniques, like ADCC veteran and fellow ONE Championship fighter Garry Tonon.

[117] Johnson had a harsh childhood; he was raised by his deaf mother and an abusive stepfather, and his sister died by suicide when he was a teenager.