Former UFC flyweight champion Demetrious “Mighty Mouse” Johnson is doubling down on his controversial opinion that boxing heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua would defeat UFC heavyweight Francis Ngannou in an MMA fight.
Johnson’s take, which he admits has been criticized as “the worst take ever” by some, centers around Joshua’s advantages in understanding range and distance in striking.
“Anthony Joshua understands range and distance, and I train him for six months to defend a takedown, check the leg kick and just box. You’re not going to have your 16-ounce gloves, I’m taking your gloves off here. The distance doesn’t change at all,” Johnson explained.
The combat sports veteran believes Joshua’s elite boxing abilities and athleticism would translate well to MMA with some Training specific to mixing in wrestling and grappling defense.
“If I could take someone who’s athletic, which Anthony Joshua is athletic, it’s easy,” Johnson stated on the MMA hour.
However, Johnson does acknowledge that different elite MMA fighters like Jon Jones would pose a bigger challenge by forcing grappling exchanges against Joshua. But he thinks Ngannou’s fighting style plays into Joshua’s strengths.
“I don’t think Francis would do that. From the years I’ve seen him fight, that’s how I view that fight,” Johnson said of Ngannou looking to grapple and wrestle Joshua.
Despite the backlash to his opinion, Mighty Mouse stands firmly behind his analysis, pointing to the reality that MMA has many fighters who are extremely good in one discipline but have glaring holes elsewhere that can be exposed.
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Demetrious Johnson says Anthony Joshua would also beat Francis Ngannou in MMA
Johnson argues that becoming a elite across all phases of MMA is the toughest task, which is why many champions still have deficiencies in their games coaches work to improve.
So in his mind, the physical talents and high-level boxing skill of Anthony Joshua could be complemented with good enough takedown defense and anti-grappling to make him a stylistic nightmare for a striker like Francis Ngannou under MMA rules.
While an unorthodox view, Johnson brings his experienced perspective to defend his “bad” take on how a rare boxing vs. MMA crossover super-fight could unfold.