Johnny Cage International Love — Johnny Cage from Mortal Kombat 1 lowering his sunglasses with a smirk

Johnny Cage International Love

2023viral videosemi-active

Published August 12, 2026

Johnny Cage International Love is a TikTok trend pairing Mortal Kombat 1's Johnny Cage character with the Pitbull song "International Love." The meme emerged in August 2023, with players posting clips of the song playing during Johnny Cage's K.O. dance animation, spawning catchphrases like "I Caged him" and "You just got Caged."

gaming tiktok sound trends dance memes catchphrase memes

Overview

Johnny Cage International Love is a video meme trend that pairs the Mortal Kombat character Johnny Cage with "International Love" by Pitbull featuring Chris Brown2. The meme primarily features clips from Mortal Kombat 1 (2023), where Johnny Cage performs a celebratory dance during his finishing move. The song's upbeat energy matched perfectly with Johnny Cage's cocky showman personality, making the pairing feel almost canon to fans.

The trend became so popular within the Mortal Kombat community that professional players and streamers who mained Johnny Cage started incorporating the song into their content2. When landing a K.O. with the character, they would play "International Love" over their clips. This gave rise to associated catchphrases like "I Caged him" and "You just got Caged," which became victory callouts within the community2.

The meme format typically involves either gameplay footage of Johnny Cage winning a match, edits syncing his dance moves to the song, or humorous comparisons between Johnny Cage and Pitbull himself. The trend represents a broader pattern of fighting game communities adopting unofficial theme songs for their favorite characters.

Origin & Background

Platform
TikTok
Creator
Unknown
Date
2023

The trend originated from a since-deleted TikTok sound posted by a user named Tasha, who uploaded the "International Love" audio to the platform2. The first known video pairing Johnny Cage with this song was posted by TikToker @ryuko.org on August 6th, 20232. This video referenced the "Bro Started Emoting" meme format, showing Johnny Cage's K.O. celebration dance. Within two months, the clip accumulated roughly 2.9 million views and 301,300 likes2.

The timing coincided with the September 2023 release of Mortal Kombat 1, which gave Johnny Cage a particularly flashy finishing animation that synced well with the song's rhythm. This made the audio-visual pairing especially satisfying to viewers.

How It Spread

After the initial viral post, TikTokers began using the verified sound of "International Love" on the platform2. On August 23rd, 2023, TikToker @acs780 posted a video directly comparing Pitbull to Johnny Cage dancing, which gained approximately 544,700 views2. A week later on August 30th, @elmaracucho007 uploaded a Johnny Cage edit that reached 1.6 million plays2.

The meme spread to YouTube by late September 2023. YouTuber MAND00M uploaded a compilation on September 20th that received roughly 51,800 views within a month1. The trend hit peak velocity when TikToker @oso.xo posted gameplay footage of himself playing "International Love" after winning with Johnny Cage on September 30th, 20232. This clip exploded to 3.9 million plays and 545,200 likes in just 18 days2.

The following day, @oso.xo created a dedicated sound from his video, which other creators immediately adopted2. TikToker @im4b0tish used this sound on October 1st, reaching 1.1 million plays2. By October 18th, 2023, the primary TikTok sound had been used in approximately 125,500 videos2, cementing "International Love" as Johnny Cage's unofficial theme song within the gaming community.

How to Use This Meme

To create a Johnny Cage International Love meme, users typically record or capture footage of Johnny Cage performing his victory dance in Mortal Kombat 1. The clip is then synced with Pitbull's "International Love" audio, often timed so the dance movements match the song's beat. Players commonly post their own gameplay clips of landing a K.O. with Johnny Cage, adding the song over the footage. The phrases "I Caged him" or "You just got Caged" are often included as text overlays or captions. Comparison edits showing Pitbull and Johnny Cage side by side are another popular variation.

Frequently Asked Questions