Demetrious Johnson is best known as the dominant Flyweight champion of the UFC, and is arguably the greatest MMA fighter of all time. However, when he isn’t facing off in the octagon, Johnson can regularly be found in front of a camera, playing games online with his fans.
Johnson regularly streams on his Twitch account, frequently playing shooter PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds and fighting game Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite. Although he’s a huge fan of games in the first place, his main reason for streaming is to get to know his fans.
“I got into streaming to interact with fans and build a different brand for myself,” Johnson told Player.One. “I’m very passionate about video games. Video games bring out a different person in me. Fighting isn’t all politics, but it’s too much argument and it’s not like it was back in the day when someone would challenge you to a fight. It’s more than that.”
What is it that draws Johnson to PUBG so much? He says it’s the customization and freedom to play how you want. “Every time I drop in, I can choose where I want to go,” he said. “I can get in a car and run people over, I can honk the horn. I can camp on the bridge and wait for people to come across. The replayability of that game is unlimited. They took what H1Z1 did and optimized it, even though there are glitches and problems in the game.”
As for Marvel vs Capcom: Infinite, Johnson feels he’s a strong competitor, but understands he isn’t as dominant in the game as he is in the UFC Flyweight division. “There’s different tiers of players. You’ve got guys that have never played, and I can beat them,” he said. “You’ve got guys that are decent and I can probably beat them. You have guys that are on my level, and it’s a back and forth, and then you have guys that are highly ranked and they have Dante or Ultron. Once they do their combo, it’s like the Touch of Death from Marvel vs Capcom 3, but you can come back from it and do something about it. That’s what I like about this game.”
Johnson aims to get to a higher tier by perfecting his Sigma and Ultron combos, but can’t wait to see the new characters that will be added in the future.
As for his own appearances in video games, Johnson was thrilled to see his mind-blowing “Mighty Bar” submission move make it into EA UFC 3 and the game’s announcement trailer.
“That’s the first time I saw it [in the game], but I was aware of it,” Johnson said. “I saw the guys [the UFC 3 team] a few days after, and they said they were going back to the studio to make it. To see it happen is amazing.”
Johnson doesn’t have a fight scheduled for any of the upcoming UFC PPVs, so if you want to see him in action, be sure to watch him play on Twitch. Make sure you remember his username too, because if you end up paired against him in a match, you might be able to walk away with the rare honor of having beat Mighty Mouse himself in a fight.
So what do you think? Are you excited to play as Demetrious Johnson in UFC 3? Do you hope to one day play against him in PUBG or MvC: Infinite? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.
