TAMPA, Fla. – [autotag]Michael Johnson[/autotag] has spent about 40 percent of his life as a UFC fighter in a career with the promotion that’s about to hit 15 years.
Johnson started in the company all the way back on Season 12 of “The Ultimate Fighter.” He lost the lightweight final to Jonathan Brookins in 2010, but that jump-started a UFC run that now has hit 30 fights.
The names on that list are a virtual who’s-who of the lightweight division over the years, too: Tony Ferguson, Edson Barboza, Beneil Dariush, Nate Diaz, Dustin Poirier, Khabib Nurmagomedov and Justin Gaethje all have stood across from Johnson.
But other than a modest four-fight streak in 2015, Johnson hasn’t won more than two fights in a row, keeping any kind of title-push momentum to a minimum. But one thing that never seems to fail is that Johnson winds up in some exciting fights, even if his 30-fight UFC career has yielded only six post-fight bonuses.
One of those, though, came Saturday at UFC on ESPN 63 at Amalie Arena in Tampa, Fla., where Johnson (23-19 MMA, 15-15 UFC) knocked out Ottman Azaitar (13-3 MMA, 2-3 UFC) on the prelims.
“It’s like different kind of movements (in the sport), and you don’t really know what you’re going to get. So 15 years in, the fans are still enjoying watching me fight, and it just motivates me more to keep going and keep getting in here and fighting to the best of my ability and continue to get better.
“That’s what’s next for me – to get back into the gym, to work on things that I need to work on improving. My wrestling can get touched up. Jiu-jitsu can always get touched. My striking can always get touched up. I just want to improve every day. I’m all about growth right now.”
The fact Johnson, at 38, and 30 fights into his UFC run, still is talking about getting better says something about his durability and potentially about his longevity.
He said he doesn’t see the end of the road yet, necessarily.
“Five years (more, I want to fight). I always tell people I want to do eight to 10 more years and they look at me with this face. I’m not slowing down any time soon. As long as my body’s healthy and I can get through what I need to get through, I’m going to fight for as long as I can.
“I think Nate Diaz said it the best, and he’s turned into a good friend. He was an opponent of mine. We always keep in touch, but he made a comment that said, ‘Sh*t, I’ll fight till I’m 50. Just getting started.’ So that’s what it is. I’m just getting started. This might be my peak. A lot of people peak at 25, 30 (years old). I might be one peaking at 38, 40.”
If that’s the case, someone else in that age bracket who was a past opponent is on his list of potential dance partners for down the road: Gaethje, who knocked Johnson out in 2017 in his promotional debut. That was a Fight of the Night winner (and a double bonus for Gaethje), though Johnson was on the wrong end of it.
“The Justin Gaethje fight – that’s the one that I want. I think everybody would love a Gaethje-Johnson (rematch). I gave him that opportunity when he came over (from WSOF), when nobody else wanted to (fight him), so I think he should go ahead and give that back. We need to run one ’cause I know he knows he got away with that one.”
Check out Johnson’s full post-fight interview in the video above.
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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC on ESPN 63.
