Demetrious Johnson says Kairat Akhmetov fight "interests me" amidst retirement talks

It seems like reigning ONE flyweight world champion ‘Mighty Mouse’ Demetrious Johnson may not be heading for retirement after all.

Leading up to a comprehensive unanimous decision victory over Brazilian rival ‘Mikinho’ Adriano Moraes a couple of weeks ago, Johnson had entertained talks of potentially hanging up his gloves for good. But when a new challenger arose, those talks were quickly put to a halt.

Immediately after his main event victory at ONE Fight Night 10 in Broomfield, Colorado on May 5, Johnson was met with former ONE flyweight king ‘The Kazakh’ Kairat Akhmetov face-to-face in the circle.

Catch Johnson in The MMA Hour below:

In a recent appearance on The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani, Johnson admitted that the potential showdown with the Kazakhstani star has intrigued him.

‘Mighty Mouse’ said:

“Hmm, kinda, kinda doesn’t. I mean like I said as a competitor absolutely it interests me right? Because he’s on a six-fight winning streak, you know he was a champion. Him and Adriano are 1-1 so as a competitor it interests me.”

However, Johnson says that in order for him to continue with his fighting career, it also has to make business sense:

“As a businessman, I gotta look at it as like you know, ‘What can we make from this?’ Is there something else we can do that’s gonna make more money? Is there something else we can do to bring in more buzz, right?”

Only time will tell if Johnson will indeed see action inside the circle again or he rides off into the sunset and calls it a day.

Meanwhile, if you missed any of the action or just want to relive one of the most epic nights in ONE Championship history, the ONE Fight Night 10 replay can be watched via Amazon Prime in North America.