Michael Johnson News

Natasha Hooper - February 20, 2020

Once a fighter, always a fighter. That statement rings true for lightweight veteran Evan Dunham, who will be returning from his short-lived retirement to fight Michael Johnson. In 2018, Dunham announced his retirement plans following his UFC Sao Paulo bout against Francisco Trinaldo. He shared the news on Instagram.

Tom Taylor - March 31, 2019

On Saturday night, on the main card of UFC Philadelphia, former lightweight contender Michael Johnson partook in his latest featherweight bout, taking on the dangerous Josh Emmett. Unfortunately for Johnson and his fans, this fight did not go as planned, as he found himself on the receiving end of a 2019 Knockout of the Year contender late in the third round.

Chris Taylor - March 30, 2019

A featherweight bout between Josh Emmett and Michael Johnson took place during tonight’s UFC Philadelphia main card on ESPN. Josh Emmett (13-2 MMA) enters tonight’s fight looking to rebound, this after suffering a knockout loss to Jeremey Stephens in his most recent appearance in February of 2018.

Tom Taylor - November 13, 2018

There are not a lot of featherweights out there who are openly calling for a fight with dangerous Russian contender Zabit Magomedsharipov. Michael Johnson, however, is all for the matchup.

Christopher Taylor - October 28, 2018

A featherweight bout featuring Michael Johnson taking on Artem Lobov co-headlined last night’s UFC Fight Night 138 event in Moncton, Canada. “The Menace” served as a short-notice replacement for the fight, this after Lobov’s originally scheduled opponent Zubaira Tukhugov was pulled from the fight card due to his involvement in UFC 229‘s now infamous post-fight brawl.

Chris Taylor - October 27, 2018

In the co-headliner of tonight’s UFC Moncton event, featherweights Artem Lobov and Michael Johnson collided in hopes of moving up the 145-pound ranks. “The Russian Hammer” was initially slated to face Khabib Nurmagomedov’s teammate Zubaira Tukhugov (18-4 MMA) at UFC Moncton. However, the promotion pulled Tukhugov off of the fight card shortly following the Russians involvement in UFC 229’s now infamous post fight brawl.

Cole Shelton - October 26, 2018

At UFC Fight Night 138 in Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada, Michael Johnson is set to take on Artem Lobov in the co-main event. Johnson took the fight on short-notice and missed weight by a pound weighing in at 147 pounds. Michael Johnson is coming off of a win in his second featherweight fight. Prior to that, he suffered three losses in a row to Khabib Nurmagomedov, Justin Gaethje and Darren Elkins. At lightweight, Johnson proved he was a legitimate title contender and had his toughest test at UFC 205 when he would take on undefeated lightweight Khabib Nurmagomedov.

Tom Taylor - October 26, 2018

Originally, Conor McGregor training partner Artem Lobov was supposed to battle Khabib Nurmagomedov training partner Zubaira Tukhugov in the co-main event of tomorrow night’s UFC Moncton card. After Tukhugov got involved in the infamous UFC 229 post-fight brawl, however, he was pulled from his fight with Lobov. From there, the UFC began a frantic search to find a short-notice replacement opponent for Artem Lobov. They ultimately landed on former lightweight contender Michael Johnson, who recently picked up a close decision win over Andre Fili in his second featherweight fight.

Chris Taylor - August 25, 2018

A featherweight bout between promotional veterans Michael Johnson and Andre Fili served as the co-headliner of tonight’s UFC Fight Night 135 event in Lincoln, Nebraska. Michael Johnson will enter the Fili bout on a three fight losing streak. “The Menace” has suffered setbacks to current UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov, Darren Elkins and Justin Gaethje in that time.

Tom Taylor - January 7, 2018

On January 14, the UFC will return to St. Louis, Missouri, with a Fight Night card that seems to possess all the elements of a Card of the Year contender. One of the most compelling features of this card is the featherweight debut of long-time lightweight contender Michael Johnson. The St. Louis native will make his debut in the division opposite surging contender Darren “The Damage” Elkins on the event’s undercard. While Johnson is unsurprisingly very excited about a fresh start in the UFC featherweight division, he’s not thrilled about his position on the card. As one of the most consistently exciting fighters out there, and a St. Louis native, he believes he has claim to the main or at least co-main event spot.

Justin Golightly - January 5, 2018

When Michael Johnson told everyone back in September that he was moving down to featherweight, needless to say it was a shock. However, Johnson assured everyone that this was the plan all along. Although, a top 10 lightweight coming down to featherweight is a tough guy to get a fight for. Michael Johnson originally called out Jose Aldo, then Cub Swanson and others with no luck. Finally, he is booked against 10th-ranked featherweight Darren Elkins for next Sunday. According to the man himself, he hasn’t been 145-pounds since he was 13-years old. “I played football in my freshmen year of college and I was weighing close to 200-pounds there. So, my weight has been fluctuating up and down a lot. The last time I was 145-pounds I was 13. I wrestled 145 during my freshmen year at high school. I’m all in on this weight class and this weight right now. I want to get up to that title and take that title away from Max [Holloway] or Frankie [Edgar] or whoever has it at that point. Then maybe I’ll think about coming back up to 155 to hold two of them, but for now, my focus is on 145-pounds.”

Tom Taylor - November 9, 2017

Earlier this year, we learned that long-time UFC lightweight contender Michael Johnson planned to drop down to the stacked UFC featherweight division. In the wake of this news, Johnson publicly derided his new featherweight peers, as he had an extremely difficult time finding a willing dance partner for his divisional debut. “What can I say lad I’m bessed” (face) lol nah this is my reaction to my first featherweight choices getting booked! “Ain’t no thang, who wants it?” #teammenace #whowantsin #faces #reaction #weighins #sowhat #featherweight #lightweight #fights #ufc#boxing

Justin Golightly - September 28, 2017

At the beginning of the month, UFC lightweight contender Michael Johnson dropped a bombshell that he wanted to debut in the featherweight division against none other than Jose Aldo. What comes as a surprise to us, this wasn’t a spur-of-the-moment decision for Johnson. Turns out he was thinking about the move down the whole time. Former champ Aldo has a fight with Ricardo Lamas in the works, but that isn’t dissuading Johnson to set his eye on a serious challenge at featherweight. Now, Johnson says he wants to scrap with Cub Swanson. “I think me and Cub [Swanson] would be a great fight. I wanted [Jose] Aldo first, but it looks like him and Ricardo [Lamas] are going to fight, and man, I mean, Cub would be the next great option. I’ve gotten into this business with one thing on my mind, and that’s to fight the best guys in the division, to fight whoever’s the champ, whoever’s beaten everybody. Those are the guys I want to fight, so a fight with Cub, you know, that’s right up my alley. 

Justin Golightly - September 6, 2017

Back on Friday, Michael Johnson told fans and media at the UFC Rotterdam Q & A that he was going to move to featherweight. If that news wasn’t unexpected enough, he told everyone that the first fight he wants for his debut at the weight was none other than Jose Aldo. He’s opened up more about the move since then and it turns out it was always his plan. Not only that, but this move and potential fight could possibly come before the end of this year. “I was looking toward December, and November got brought up, so we’ll have to see. We’ll have to see everybody’s schedules and see where they can fit me in. [If I can’t fight Jose Aldo, I want] the next toughest guy in line. I think that’s maybe detrimental to my career, maybe hurts it a little bit that I always go for the toughest fight. But my first fight at 145, Aldo is a former champ, he’s one of the best in the world – always been. So, that’s one guy that I would love to fight. I’m not in this sport to fight the guy that’s OK. I want the toughest guy. I want everybody that says he can’t be beat.”

Justin Golightly - September 1, 2017

Aside from his first round knockout of Dustin Poirier, Michael Johnson hasn’t had a good track record as of late. Despite only having one win in his last five fights, it’s not like Johnson is a slouch. In his 17 UFC fights at lightweight, he’s beaten the likes of Tony Ferguson, Edson Barboza and Joe Lauzon. However, he thinks this recent run may be corrected with an adjustment, something he just dropped out of left field at a public Q & A. Michael Johnson wants to cut down to featherweight and he isn’t even thinking about a warm-up fight. He challenged none other than Jose Aldo for his 145-pound debut. https://twitter.com/MMA_Jim/status/903647322223112193

bjpenndotcom - July 19, 2017

Last month, veteran UFC referee Mario Yamasaki caught heat for a rather controversial stoppage he made during the UFC Fight Night 112 main event scrap between Michael Chiesa and Kevin Lee. With Chiesa trapped in a rear naked choke with no escape in sight, ‘The Maverick’ stopped hand fighting the choke, and momentarily appeared to go limp, at which point Yamasaki promptly stopped the fight. Immediately, Chiesa popped up to protest the stoppage, however the fight was already over. The stoppage was an extremely controversial one in the eyes of many because despite Chiesa momentarily stopping his hand fighting, he never verbally, or physically, tapped out.

bjpenndotcom - July 8, 2017

Friday night in the TUF 25 Redemption Finale, former WSOF champion Justin Gaethje picked up a thrilling win over Michael Johnson in the main event, as the two delivered an action-packed two rounds that ultimately saw Gaethje pick up a TKO win over ‘The Meance’. Following the fight, Gaethje called out top ranked UFC lightweight contender Tony Ferguson to a scrap, explaining that he was looking for the quickest path to the interim lightweight title, and then a scrap with Conor McGregor for the undisputed title after McGregor has his ‘Fight of the Century’ boxing match with Floyd Mayweather on August 26th.

bjpenndotcom - July 8, 2017

Friday night in Las Vegas, Justin Gaethje made his highly anticipated UFC debut as he faced UFC veteran Michael Johnson in a highly anticipated grudge match that will go down as one of the most thrilling fights of all time. The fight earned praise from nearly every member of the MMA community given its back and forth nature. Following the fight, UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor took to social media to give his reaction to the bout: