Demetrious Johnson defends his flyweight title for the eighth time as he faces Olympic gold medallist Henry Cejudo in the co-main event at UFC 197 tomorrow morning in Las Vegas.
Many predict that this could be “Mighty Mouse’s” toughest opponent at 125lbs but the champ is treating the bout just like every other.
“I’m around my kids all the time,” Johnson (above) told ESPN.com. “When I’m in training camp, I’m waking up early in the morning – three or four or five o’clock in the morning – running downstairs, getting my son a glass of milk. I’m not that type of guy who goes, ‘I need rest, I need my 10 hours of sleep. No one is going to interrupt me.’
“I’m like, Tyren needs a bottle. I gotta go get him a bottle. It’s three in the morning, and I’ve got to wake up at nine to go train and spar. That’s life. I let life take its course.”
Cejudo’s wrestling pedigree and unbeaten run inside the Octagon make him a threat to Johnson’s dominant four-year reign.
A 2008 Olympic gold medallist in freestyle wrestling, Cejudo burst onto the MMA scene in 2013, winning his first six bouts in less than a year.
After a false start in 2014, when “The Messenger” withdrew from his UFC debut against Scott Jorgensen due to a medical issue, the 29-year-old reeled off four straight wins and hasn’t looked back since.
Cejudo, who claimed a split decision over Jussier Formiga in November, is aiming to become the first Olympic gold medallist to add UFC title gold.
