VIDEO | Michael “The Menace” Johnson Backstage Interview

Last night, in the main event of UFC Fight Night 94, Michael Johnson scored big with a beautiful, first-round knockout of the streaking Dustin Poirier.

In the video above, which was posted to the UFC’s official Youtube channel, the resurgent Johnson discusses the win, his beef with Poirier, and his regrettable post-fight taunts of his downed foe.

“I feel good, I feel ecstatic,” Johnson said of his performance in Hidalgo, Texas. “I wanted it to go five rounds, I wanted it to go a little bit longer, but that’s what happens when you land big shots and your opponents can’t take them.” 

While Johnson believes it was his speed and power that won him the fight, he also thinks Poirier’s nerves had a role in the bout’s outcome.

“I think he was really nervous,” Johnson said. “I think he went in there scared. I felt that, you know, I could see it in his eyes, and when we started trading punches it always felt like I was two, three steps ahead of him. He left his head in there a little bit long, and I landed with my two punches. I didn’t think he was out with the first hook I hit him with, but like I said, I’m healthy, my shoulders are good, and that’s the end result when I’m a healthy fighter.”

Johnson also admitted that the abrupt knockout win caught him a bit off guard.

“I had no idea what was going on, I’m gonna tell you that right now,” the lightweight laughed. “I hit him with one shot, and I went to follow up and all I saw was him falling.”

Finally, Johnson touched on his beef with Poirier, which came to a boil at the fight’s ceremonial weigh-in, and pushed him to mock his foe in the moment’s after the knockout win.

“I’ve known Dustin for awhile, and we’ve crossed paths, and I felt really disrespected to hear what he was saying about me in the press and his interviews. He said I walked out like I was a big-shot and that I was nothing and this and that, and that really rubbed me the wrong way because I’ve been showing him the utmost respect in all my interviews.”

“I said some things after I knocked him out and I went and apologized to him,” Johnson said of his emotionally-charged post-fight taunts. “I’m better than that. It was an emotional thing. I like Dustin, he’s a good guy, and I was wrong.”

Were you impressed by Johnson’s big KO in Hidalgo? Sound off, PENN nation!