Demetrious Johnson Explains Why Fighting in ‘Pride’ Was Tougher Than UFC

Demetrious Johnson believes Pride FC rules are tougher than UFC rules. Although Johnson himself has never fought for the Japanese promotion, he arrived at this conclusion while interviewing Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson.

‘Rampage’ got his first big breakthrough in Pride FC and even went on to become a champion. In a recent podcast episode, Johnson explained why the Japanese organization is tougher to fight in, and Jackson couldn’t help but agree.

Demetrious Johnson is considered one of the best fighters to ever compete in MMA. ‘Mighty Mouse’ dominated the UFC for 7 years before making the switch to One Championship. In his latest podcast episode, he brought on Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson and the pair spoke about the Pride FC days. Here’s what Johnson had to say about it,

“The rules were harder because you couldn’t elbow in Pride…Now stomping a grounded opponent, people don’t realize it’s actually really hard to jump on somebody and stomp their face in and in the UFC you couldn’t do that.”

Demetrious Johnson spoke about how wrestlers are not as effective in Pride because one is allowed to stomp and knee a grounded opponent. To this Jackson added that even the 10-minute rounds were brutal, especially in championship fights, which is why they both believe Pride FC is a tougher nut to crack.

Interestingly, during the same conversation, the pair also discussed how unfair it is to be a UFC athlete compared to athletes from other sports.

Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson explains to Demetrious Johnson why being a UFC fighter is unfair

Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson does not support the Reebok, and subsequently, Venum deal that UFC fighters have to be a part of. In the same podcast episode, the former UFC fighter spoke about how it is unfair to force athletes to wear a certain brand when they are getting other offers,

“You know a lot of athletes, like top athletes, they make more money off endorsements than they do off playing the sport that they love. So I thought that was unfair…It was wrong, they can’t do that.”

On top of it, Jackson believes the Reebok deal was what started his bad blood with the UFC, although Johnson was quick to point out everything the former did to ‘p*ss the promotion off’. 

Well, to this day fighters do not have the freedom to wear whatever brand they wish to, and only time can tell if this rule will change in the future.