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.
Nurmagomedov simply mauled Johnson throughout the fight on the ground. While Michael Johnson lost the fight in the third round by submission, he did appear to hurt Nurmagomedov with a punch. To this date that has really been the only time that the lightweight champion has been hurt in a fight.
Since the fight, Johnson moved to featherweight, and Nurmagomedov became the undisputed lightweight champion. He also just recently defeated Conor McGregor at UFC 229. Even though Johnson is no longer in Nurmagomedov’s weight class, he believes he will rematch the champ soon.
“I wasn’t comfortable in that fight, and I still hurt him,” Michael Johnson told MMAjunkie. “I was thinking about his wrestling. But keep this in mind, and this is for sure: I will face Khabib again, and this time it’s going to be a different scenario. I’m working my way back up to that lightweight division because three of the top five guys I’ve beaten. It’s definitely on my mind, and he’s definitely back in my mind to get that fight again. So once I get done with my business at ’45, we’re going to be seeing him shortly.”
Michael Johnson would have to make his way up the lightweight rankings again, and no one truly knows what the future holds for Nurmagomedov, as he’s currently facing a suspension for his UFC 229 post-fight brawl with McGregor’s team. There was some talk suggesting he would retire after the McGregor fight. If he doesn’t, Johnson is ready for the rematch and thinks he has a shot to stun the world.
Do you think we’ll ever see Michael Johnson and Khabib Nurmagomedov fight again?
This article first appeared on BJPENN.COM on 10/26/2018.