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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
UFC Flyweight Champion Demetrious "Mighty Mouse" Johnson had to pull out of a planned title fight against John Moraga when he found out he had a torn labrum last month. It wasn't a move Johnson wanted to make, but it was the best choice given the issues he was having with his shoulder.
The 26-year-old captured the title last September by defeating Joseph Benavidez, then defended it in January when he defeated John Dodson. He was hoping to make a very quick turnaround with an April defense, but as he picked up work in training camp, he began noticing that something wasn't right.
"Basically, we were getting ready for the training camp, and we signed the contract, and we thought everything was good to go," Johnson explained in an interview with Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour. "My shoulder was still bugging me after the Dodson fight, and I started training and I was starting to work out and pull on the rope, which is one of our conditioning [drills], and I couldn't pull on the rope.
"And I was like ‘well, I'm not doing that exercise, time to work on something else,'" he continued. "And then they noticed 'Hey, you already did that exercise, can you go on the rope?' and I was like, ‘Hey, I can't, that hurts.' And it was like, 'Well that's not good,' and you know, the way it is, we go hard."
Johnson got an MRI on the shoulder, which revealed the torn labrum. He'll now undergo surgery this week, and he's hopeful that he can make a quick turnaround to return by early this summer.
"The doctor said I'll be in a sling for 3-4 days, after that just rehabbing," he said. "With rehab and a full training camp, you'll be ready to fight 100 percent in 8-12 weeks. ... You only get one body. It just so happens, Matt told me, 'Your fights are not as hard as your training camps. Your training camps are the hardest things you can do for a fight.'
"When I'm in training camp, I push my body to where I just get sore, and when I get into a fight, it shows, I never get tired. That's why Matt made me do the surgery. He said, 'you could probably do this fight against John Moraga and you could possibly win it, or you could possibly lose it.' I don’t want to take that risk. I want to have a full training camp going into a championship fight. This is not a joke, we take this very seriously. That's why we decided to get the surgery. If things go well, I'm going to push for June 15."
Penick's Analysis: That's the smart approach from Johnson and his camp. He's only 26-years-old, and getting this taken care of and allowing it to heal properly is the right thing to do. He obviously wants to get back to action as quickly as he can, but it's important to take care of a problem like this and to not try fighting through it. Hopefully all goes well with the surgery and he's able to get back when he wants to this summer.
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Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
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