Video: Demetrious Johnson Eliminated Early At 2025 IBJJF Pans

03/21/2025 11:26 PM

Demetrious Johnson competed in BJJ again, but the former UFC champion was eliminated early at the 2025 IBJJF Pans.

Longtime UFC flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson put on the gi and competed in Brazilian jiu-jitsu (BJJ) once again at the 2025 IBJJF Pan Championship. Unfortunately for the 38-year-old MMA legend, he was eliminated early in the tournament.

For his second ever black belt tournament, "Mighty Mouse" again joined the featherweight division (154.6 lbs) at Master 2, which is for grapplers aged 35 and up.

The recently retired MMA champion faced a far more seasoned BJJ competitor and two-time world masters champion in Leon Amancio. Johnson lost the match and was eliminated in the opening round.

The crucial point of the match was when Amancio inverted from guard, and used it to wrestle up and sweep Johnson to score two points. The UFC star had some good moments after, with a near pass attempt netting him one advantage, but Johnson ultimately wasn't able to complete the comeback.

"Your boy went 0 and 1. I lost the first match," Johnson said after. "Single elimination, the gentleman was able to sweep me, he got up by 2 points. I was not able to pass his guard, but we came away with some good knowledge from the tournament."

There was a bit of deliberation in one of the stand up exchanges, as Johnson was shooting in while Amancio was pulling guard. Should that have counted as a takedown, the MMA star would've received 2 points and taken the lead due to his one advantage. After the officials reviewed it though, they deemed that the guard pull happened first, and no points were awarded.

Johnson lost the match 2-0. Amancio went on to take silver in the division, losing to eventual gold medalist Lucas Lima.

Mighty Mouse has been competing regularly in BJJ in recent years, keeping active after his illustrious MMA career. He won the 2024 IBJJF Pans title as a brown belt, before getting promoted. Last September, Johnson won three matches during his black belt debut, before getting submitted in his fourth outing.

Despite having a size disadvantage again in this tournament, Johnson says he doesn't plan on cutting weight to compete in jiu-jitsu events.

"F—k no! I'm not cutting weight," he said. "There's no point. If I cut weight and won this tournament, it does nothing for me.

"I'm not taking steroids either!" Johnson laughed. "Never. It's a journey. This won't be my last loss. This won't be my last tournament. As long as I focus and keep on training and drilling and drilling and learning, hopefully I win one of these black belt tournaments."

With his star power and interest in grappling, CJI promoters are interested in booking Johnson in a (possible inter-gender) super fight.

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