https://youtu.be/h6ml_LPRsNY

UFC lightweight Michael Johnson is likely in a ‘must win’ situation for his next fight. Although Johnson is ranked at #6 on the UFC’s official rankings, in a stacked lightweight division, he could very well find his ranking dropping if he loses his next fight. While Johnson is one of the most explosive fighters in the lightweight division, he has gone through a bit of a rough patch over the past two years. After having his 4-fight win streak snapped by a split decision loss to Beneil Dariush, Johnson dropped a unanimous decision loss to Nate Diaz.

Following that, Johnson returned to the win column with a 1st round KO win over Dustin Poirier in a ‘Performance of the Night’ win. Unfortunately for Michael ‘The Menace’ Johnson however, in his most recent fight, he dropped a 3rd round submission to Khabib Nurmagomedov.

Now, with his upcoming fight with Justin Gaethje on July 7th rapidly approaching, Johnson can be seen turning it up during a sparring session with Bellator MMA champion Michael Chandler.

Check out the clip above!

While Michael Johnson is looking to return to the win column in his fight with Gaethje, ‘The Highlight’ will be looking to keep his unbeaten streak in tact as he hopes to extend his professional record to 18-0 against Johnson, while picking up his first win under the UFC banner as well.

Michael Chandler, who can be seen sparring with Johnson in the video, is of course on quite the tear. After dropping a split decision to Eddie Alvarez in 2013 before then dropping back to back losses to Will Brooks, Chandler bounced back by winning 4 straight fights, most recently defeating former UFC lightweight champion Benson Henderson via split decision at the end of 2016.

This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 5/23/2017.