Demetrious Johnson's coach Matt Hume says there's no looking back, yet

UFC flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson recounted last week how, up until recently, he balanced a world-class UFC career fighting against the best of the best with a full-time factory job in Tacoma, Washington. He called those days "a lot of fun."

Though he made clear that he enjoys his current lifestyle as a full-time fighter a great deal because it allows him to enjoy time with his family, what he termed, "the finer things in life," Johnson also seemed to have a great appreciation for his years as a Factory Fighter. In fact, listening to the yeoman-like Johnson, you could have almost gotten the very wrong idea that 16 hour days are no big deal.

They most certainly are, which leads us to the question of whether there is something particularly mighty about Johnson, something special in terms of mental strength, drive and commitment. According to coach Matt Hume there is.

"Yes," Hume tells us, with a knowing nod that is read as understatement.

"There is something special about Demetrious. Not only was he working those full days in addition to training, he had other things to deal with like his mother having bone marrow cancer. He had all these other things to deal with, and still does, that I won't talk about. You would never know about them because he never talks about them. He just goes about his business."

For some time, Johnson's business has been being great in the Octagon. The defending 125-pound champion is one of the sport's most dominant title-hodlers heading into tonight's UFC 186 main event against Kyoji Horiguchi.

Now that he's headlining cards, has big sponsors and can fight full-time, Hume admits that it is especially gratifying to see his charge having achieved so much success, given where he came from. However, the fighter-turned-coach says there is no time for celebration, yet.

"It is [gratifying to see how far Johnson has come], but I don't stop and tell him, 'Good job.' We are not looking back, yet. There's so much more I want for him. After every fight, after each win, I don't just congratulate him and tell him how great he is. I say, 'Here's all the things you did wrong.'"

That approach to maintaining his spot atop the MMA and UFC mountain  would seem to preclude possible overconfidence for Johnson heading into this very dangerous fight that he's heavily favored to win. Bluntly, as an answer to the final question of if there's any chance he and Johnson are overlooking the young challenger Horiguchi at UFC 186, Hume is to the point.

"Nope," he says.