The UFC has had its own unofficial roster of gamers for a long time now. From Sean O’Malley to Israel Adesanya to Stephen ‘Wonderboy’ Thompson, all these fighters love their consoles, their PlayStations, PCs, and everything else that comes with the territory. However, the one guy who trumps them all, both in terms of MMA and gaming, is GOAT-contender Demetrious ‘Mighty Mouse’ Johnson.
The former flyweight champ isn’t just an avid gamer but also a reputed streamer, having built a loyal community of over 180K fans on Twitch. That said, even DJ isn’t immune to burnout.
Annoyed with the lack of excitement from any new releases, Johnson has admitted on his own YouTube channel that his passion for gaming has started to fade.
“The gaming industry is f*cking dead,” Johnson said bluntly.
Long before the days of Twitch and esports, Johnson got his first taste of gaming on a classic NES his older sister had. That’s where he met legends like Link from The Legend of Zelda and battled through Contra with Bill Rizer, kickstarting a lifelong love for gaming.
He’s got some serious range as well. Growing up, he spent plenty of time in arcades too, throwing down in Street Fighter—a game he still plays today. Now, he dives into everything from Resident Evil and World of Warcraft to Dark Souls, Call of Duty: Warzone, and, of course, Tekken.
But now, there’s just a corporate-induced dullness in everything that is produced. Most RPGs look the same, and FIFA/EAFC forces you to buy a new version of the same game every year without a hint of change.
You would think the 2k games would be better but for some reason, it’s WWE games from 2022 look the exact same as their costlier versions from 2025.
And then there’s the obsession with open-world games, which, with the exception of Red Dead Redemption 2, have been more repetitive than the 2000s’ sitcoms. So Mighty Mouse’s concerns are legitimate!
“There are no games out right now that get me excited. It is almost like an empty shell. Something that I used to truly enjoy in the early days of my life and now I feel there is nothing out there that is really peaking my interest”, he explained.
That said, Johnson is not about to quit gaming anytime soon. He typically streams once a week under the Twitch handle MightyGaming, going for two to three hours at a time, chatting with fans, and showing off his skills with a controller.
And this is something that has truly been a financial miracle for the MMA legend.
Johnson reveals his earnings from gaming
“Mighty Mouse” Johnson recently opened up on his YouTube channel about what it’s actually like getting paid to be in the EA Sports UFC video games—and honestly, he’s pretty happy with the deal.
He shared that one day he got an email saying he’d earned a check because his character was being used a lot in the game. That first check? A cool $25,000. “$25K for not getting punched in the face? I’ll take it!” he joked.
Johnson explained that payouts are based on how often players pick your character. Every time someone plays as him, it ticks a box in EA’s data system, and those stats help determine how much he gets paid. He even landed on the cover of a special edition of UFC 3 and scored another $10K for that.
All in all, over the course of four games (excluding UFC 1), Johnson had made just under $75,000—without throwing a single punch. He hasn’t received his UFC 5 check yet, but he’s still in the game, and as long as fans keep picking him, the money keeps coming in. Not a bad side hustle.
