Back in 2018, the world of mixed martial arts witnessed one of the biggest trade-offs in the history of combat sports. It was a move that pushed Demetrious Johnson to become a champion in two different MMA promotions. But with the ‘Mighty Mouse’ retiring from the MMA realm after dominating the cage for nearly 2 decades, a video of the UFC head honcho promising Johnson a place at the UFC Hall of Fame has been going viral on the internet.

In the video, Dana White was being interviewed by Grid City Media’s John Morgan. White claimed that Johnson would “absolutely” enter the Hall of Fame. He said, “Listen, if you could go back to when he was here, I was defending him from the fans. Who’s defended Demetrious Johnson more than me, you know? Yeah, good for him, you know, incredible career he had. I’ve never had a problem with Demetrious Johnson.”

Johnson was the inaugural champion of the UFC’s flyweight division. He was indeed a soft-spoken fighter who rarely talked trash about his opponents. This was one reason his pay-per-view numbers were pretty low. It’s no secret that the UFC head honcho considered getting rid of the flyweight division numerous times because of a lack of supposed fan interest. “We all know nobody cared about it (flyweight division). I sat up here at press conferences before the fight, telling everybody why they need to watch this division and why there were so many great fights, but people just didn’t give a sh-t. You can’t make people care, they gotta care, or they don’t,” said White.

So his trying to repaint the dynamic between him and Mighty Mouse didn’t sit well with the fans. The fighting community was in complete shock when he decided to trade Johnson for Ben Askren. Moreover, when White announced that Johnson would become a Hall of Famer, the fight fans weren’t ready to believe him.

 They began to remind the UFC head honcho of his deeds and claimed that White’s words were nothing but lies.

Dana White cannot convince fight fans of his plan to induct Demetrious Johnson into the UFC Hall of Fame

As soon as Dana White assured the fighting community of inducting Johnson into the HoF, the video began circling the internet at a speed faster than light. Fight fans were convinced that White was lying when he said that he never had a problem with ‘Mighty Mouse’, and the MMA fans pointed it all at Johnson’s demands for better pay at the UFC. One fan on IG wrote, “Dana didn’t like D J. Listen to him lie. Dana always said D J can’t promote. It’s because D J doesn’t talk trash about other fighters and their families. He just wins.” Another account commented, “Dana literally openly complained about DJ asking for more money.” One more fan wrote, “Aka we didn’t want to pay him but we’ll capitalize on his legacy.”

Most of the fans weren’t happy about the 2018 trade-off between UFC and ONE Championship. They simply didn’t agree with White claiming that he defended Johnson from the fans. A fan reflected on that and wrote, “Dana wanted to get rid of the Flyweight Division, traded Mighty Mouse for a guy with the striking ability of a armless person. But yeah Dana defended him alright.” Another fan commented, “The man who gave him away says ‘I defended him’.” 

The MMA world’s emotions echoed through Reddit, as well. One fan commented, “Lmfao even for Dana that’s a bold faced lie.” Meanwhile, another quoted, “Nothing says defending him like trading him for a 34 year old arthritis riddled Ben Askren who moves like my dad getting out of bed in the morning.”

One quirky comment that read, “Absolutely. I remember us fans booking DJ for non-PPV title matches, refusing him PPV points, stealing his belts & eventually trading him to One.”

Nevertheless, ‘Mighty Mouse’ retired from mixed martial arts with grace and left behind a legacy at the UFC, as well as ONE Championship. After all, being a champion at two separate promotions isn’t something every other fighter can do. That was probably the reason why he got inducted into the ONE Championship’s Hall of Fame.

But what are your thoughts on White’s words after Johnson’s retirement? Let us know what you think in the comments down below.