Demetrious Johnson’s Coaches Were Surprised He Submitted Wilson Reis

Demetrious Johnson spoke with MMAjunkie after his win over Wilson Reis at UFC on FOX 24. Some highlights are below:

On beeating Reis: “He’s had 30 MMA fights. He’s a black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu, and that was the first time he’s ever gotten submitted. That just shows you the type of stuff I’m working up with with Matt Hume and Brad Kertson at AMC Pankration in Kirland, Wash. I’m a white belt in jiu-jitsu, and I haven’t really been able to put a lot of time into my gi game. But I’m always putting a lot of effort into my submission grappling.”

On not predicting he would submit Reis: “Ever since I was an amateur, I never put predictions on my fights. I’m well-rounded enough that if I see something, I can capitalize on that. I think after the fight, when I got up, I looked at my coaches and they were like, ‘What?! Good job!’ I mean, I have the skill set to do it, so I was happy to be able to work the things that we worked on – and everything just worked out perfect.”