UFC Flyweight Demetrious “Mighty Mouse” Johnson has always kept a close circle of people around him throughout his professional MMA career.
However, there is a new addition to the self dubbed “Mighty Team” and that comes in the form of First Round Management CEO Malki Kawa.
Kawa made the announcement himself via Instagram:
Johnson’s longtime trainer Matt Hume had ben handling his contract negotiations for the majority of his career, but Kawa has been brought aboard to add his expertise to such situations.
The CEO has worked with other UFC fighters before like former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Jon Jones, current UFC Welterweight Champion Tyron Woodley and a host of others.
“Mighty Mouse” recently spoke with MMA Junkie Radio about adding Kawa to his team:
“One of the things that was going on with my career is Matt was handling my management and training me at the same time,” Johnson said. “That’s a lot of things Matt has to juggle. He’s a father and is running a gym and has (an executive role with ONE Championship). We decided it was time to bring somebody in to focus purely on negotiating with the UFC. Me and Malki met back in 2012, when I won the belt in Toronto at UFC 152. He’s always kind of looked at my career. We always passed each other by and stuff. We figured it was time to make the team even stronger and bring in Malki Kawa. … We’re bringing on Malki Kawa to make the team stronger, and negotiations can go a lot smoother.”
This new addition to the Mighty Team could perform wonders for the champion, as he has been at odds with the UFC for some time now.