Former UFC and ONE Championship flyweight champion Demetrious ‘Mighty Mouse’ Johnson’s 2025 IBJJF World Masters Jiu-Jitsu Championship campaign came to an abrupt end due to injury during his second match in Las Vegas.
According to Johnson’s recent YouTube video, he was competing in the Master 2 featherweight division. He advanced to the second round after his first opponent Pedro Eduardo failed to show up due to injury. This set up a highly anticipated rematch against Takuto Kako, a multiple-time IBJJF champion from Asia whom Johnson had defeated the previous year.
The 2024 encounter between the two had gone viral, not for the competition itself, but for Johnson’s sportsmanlike consolation of an emotional Kako after their match. “There’s next year. This is for fun. Your life’s not going to change. You’re going to go home, keep on training, have a beautiful wife, kids, go back to work. This is for fun. There’s more to life than winning, I promise,” Johnson had told his opponent.
This year, Kako came prepared for revenge. The match remained competitive with Johnson leading 1-0 on advantages while the score was tied 0-0. Johnson had implemented his goal of pulling guard from the start, securing an early advantage when both competitors pulled guard simultaneously and he stood up first.
However, disaster struck in the final moments. With less than a minute remaining, Kako secured a foot lock that forced Johnson to make a difficult decision. “I felt my knee pop. I was like, I ain’t getting paid for this,” Johnson explained post-match, describing how he felt two distinct pops in his knee during the submission attempt.
The MMA legend initially tried to continue despite the first pop, but when Kako re-engaged the position, Johnson made the practical decision to tap out. “I would be mad as hell if I had to get surgery for doing a competition where I’m not making any money,” he candidly admitted.
Johnson suspects the injury is to his MCL, which he noted would be among the better knee injuries to sustain if surgery becomes necessary. The former champion expressed mixed feelings about his competitive future in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, contemplating taking a few years off from competition while continuing to train.
Kako went on to defeat Eric Joseph Ceballos in his next match before falling to Ermilio Lucas Ferreira in the semifinals, ultimately claiming bronze. For the Japanese competitor, it was sweet revenge against the gracious champion who had consoled him a year prior.
