Former ONE flyweight world champion and UFC legend Demetrious ‘Mighty Mouse’ Johnson has revealed how incorporating weed into his routine has unexpectedly enhanced his training experience.
During a recent appearance on the JAXXON Podcast with Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson, Johnson opened up about his newfound experience with weed and its surprising effects on his performance.
“I just started smoking weed recently,” Johnson said. “Oh, it’s phenomenal, dude. I blazed up one time with the gym, did 15 rounds the next day, and I was like, ‘This sh*t’s a PED.’ I was faster.”
The topic of marijuana in mixed martial arts has evolved significantly over the years. Notable figures like Nick Diaz previously faced severe consequences, including a $165,000 fine and a suspension (later reduced to 18 months) for testing positive for marijuana metabolites at UFC 183. However, the substance is no longer banned by USADA or the UFC.
Current UFC bantamweight champion Sean O’Malley, known for his open advocacy of cannabis use, shared his approach during an interview on Johnson’s YouTube channel in 2024.
“I vaporize it, especially in camp,” O’Malley explained. “I’m not going to smoke a joint. I’m not going to smoke out of the bong, smoke out of a pipe or dab. I smoke out of a clean, quality vaporizer pretty much once a day. I do a lot of my zone 2s, a lot of my longer workouts, like the 60-minute slower workouts, or lower heart rate workouts, I’ll do f*cking just stoned out of my tits.”
O’Malley emphasized the importance of using marijuana purposefully: “I think if you can use marijuana as a tool you can hyper-focus on whatever task you want to but you have to be able to do that. That’s a skill in itself because you could also get stoned and just completely not do sh*t, just get lost watching YouTube.”
Though Johnson retired from MMA in September, he remains active in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu competition. He claimed gold at the IBJJF Masters World Championships in Las Vegas as a brown belt in 2023, and continued competing at black belt level the following year.
