When Demetrious Johnson made his ONE Championship debut with a submission win over Yuya Wakamatsu back in March, it was new territory for him.
It was a new opponent, a new promotion, and a new audience, just to name a few. However, it was also his first scheduled three-round fight since 2012.
For some, like Jose Aldo, fighting three rounds is beneficial as it’s a less grueling training camp. However, there are some disadvantages.
Johnson lost his flyweight title in a highly-debated split decision to Henry Cejudo. And because he no longer wants to leave it in the hands of the judges, there is a certain pressure that comes with wanting to finish a fight with less time.
He discussed it ahead of his ONE Flyweight Grand Prix semi-final against Tatsumitsu Wada on Friday:
“I only got three rounds,” Johnson told the South China Morning Post. “I’m used to having five rounds, 25 minutes. So I have to get out there and execute my job a lot faster because I don’t like to leave it to the judges because I don’t know what they’re looking at.
“So for me, I like to get in there, get in a rush. But sometimes when you do that, you’re almost rushing yourself. You’re rushing the fight and you’re rushing yourself. So for me, I got to figure out how do I want to take that approach.”
Johnson was able to get the finish in the second round against Wakamatsu. He’ll now be looking to get another finish against Wada at ONE: Dawn of Heroes and advance to the finals.
