Demetrious Johnson was recently announced as being part of the 2026 UFC Hall of Fame class, and a former Bellator MMA champ has weighed in on the UFC HOF induction for ‘Mighty Mouse’. This was stated by Sergio Pettis ahead of his main event fight with the unbeaten Mitch McKee at PFL Chicago on April 11th.
Pettis had an Instagram post with Demetrious Johnson circa December, where the two posed together inside the cage as part of a show that the former’s older brother Anthony was promoting. When asked for his thoughts on DJ finally becoming interwoven into the UFC Hall of Fame, Pettis said [via Bowks Talking Bouts],
“Much deserved. Demetrious Johnson is one of the GOATs in MMA in general, but also in the UFC. He had a hell of a reign. He barely lost that last fight against [Henry] Cejudo. So, man, he deserves all of that. I’m very excited for him. I’m very happy for him and see him getting his flowers. It’s much, much [needed and] necessary for him. Especially after being retired and being done with the sport now. To get that love is very powerful. I’m very happy for him. Much deserved.”
Demetrious Johnson was tapped out by a reigning UFC champ with a sub-one-minute choke
Demetrious Johnson was regarded as the sport’s top pound-for-pound fighter during his peak, but he recently had a rough go when testing things with one of the sport’s current top P4P combatants. This came against the current UFC middleweight champion Khamzat Chimaev, who worked with the former UFC flyweight titleholder in a recent grappling session, whereby video was circulated all throughout social media thereafter.
With a sixty-pound weight difference between the two, it was not long before Chimaev got a front chancery before shortly thereafter securing a D’arce choke that elicited a tap from ‘Mighty Mouse’ with onlookers shouting that the grappling exchange lasted all over 47 seconds.