Preview: Johnson vs. Mullarkey
Breathtaking moments of success and failure have marked
Michael
Johnson’s run in the
Ultimate Fighting Championship, but has never quite reached the
heights many foresaw when he first arrived on the scene more than a
decade ago.
The 36-year-old Missouri native will get back to work in the
lightweight division when he collides with
Jamie
Mullarkey in a featured
UFC on ESPN 39 confrontation this Saturday at the UFC Apex in
Las Vegas. Johnson four of his past five bouts. He returned to the
winner’s circle on May 14, when he wiped out
Alan
Patrick with punches in the second round of their UFC on ESPN
36 pairing.
As Johnson moves ever closer to his forthcoming battle with
Mullarkey at 155 pounds, a look at a few of the rivalries that have
helped shape his career to this point:
Johnson fought brilliantly from a strategic standpoint, as he took
a unanimous decision from “The Ultimate Fighter” Season 13 winner
in the featured UFC on Fox 3 prelim on May 5, 2012 at the Izod
Center in East Rutherford, New Jersey. All three cageside judges
struck 30-27 scorecards. Johnson set the tone midway through Round
1, where he momentarily stunned and dropped “El Cucuy” with a stiff
left hand. It was a harbinger of what was to come. Johnson attacked
his counterpart’s arms, body and legs with blinding kicks and
backed them up with one left hand after another, repeatedly
snapping back Ferguson’s head. The Californian never found himself,
overwhelmed by Johnson’s speed, aggression and firepower. He
entered the cage on a six-fight winning streak and left it with
stalled momentum, beaten for the first time under the UFC
banner.
Clean combination punching carried “The Ultimate Fighter” Season 5
winner to a unanimous verdict against Johnson in their UFC on Fox
17 lightweight showcase on Dec. 19, 2015 at the Amway Center in
Orlando, Florida. Scores were 29-28, 29-28 and 29-28. Johnson
focused on the Californian’s lead leg with kicks in the first round
and then abandoned them in favor of headhunting. Diaz capitalized
on his tactical blunder. He operated behind a stinging right jab
and fed Johnson a relentless stream of basic two-punch
combinations. Johnson faded down the stretch, undone by the
Cesar
Gracie protégé’s accurate and hyperactive hands. Diaz outlanded
the “The Menace” by a 132-73 margin over the final two rounds, then
proceeded to set his sights on a lucrative rivalry with
Conor
McGregor.
Johnson waylaid the
American Top Team standout with punches in the first round of
their UFC Fight Night 94 main event on Sept. 17, 2016 at State Farm
Arena in Hidalgo, Texas. “The Menace” sealed Poirier’s fate 1:35
into Round 1, handing him his first loss as a lightweight in more
than six years. So sudden was the stoppage that neither man broke a
figurative sweat. Johnson lured the Lafayette, Louisiana, native
into his desired range before firing off a right hook-straight left
combination. The concussive blows flattened Poirier and rendered
him incapable of withstanding the barrage of rights and lefts that
came next. Referee Dan Miragliotta was on the scene in an instant
to prevent “The Diamond” from suffering further damage, and those
who had written off Johnson as a serious contender in the crowded
Ultimate Fighting Championship lightweight division were forced at
the time to reassess their position.
The former
World Series of Fighting titleholder set foot inside the
Ultimate Fighting Championship for the first time and did not
disappoint, as he disposed of Johnson with punches and knees in the
second round of “The Ultimate Fighter” 25 Finale headliner on July
7, 2017 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. “The Menace” packed his
bags 4:48 into Round 2, unable to hold off the avalanche in what
was later named Sherdog’s “Fight of the Year” in 2017. The two
lightweights threw 374 significant strikes at one another in less
than 10 minutes. Gaethje connected at a remarkable 59% clip,
landing 104 of his 174 attempted strikes: 62 to the head, 36 to the
legs and six to the body. He did not escape unscathed, as Johnson
wobbled him with a slashing right hook at the end of the first
round and then dazed him with a straight left at the start of the
second. Neither shot led to a finish, and Gaethje’s fabled
recuperative powers rescued him yet again.
The brick-fisted
Team Alpha Male export made the most of his first appearance in
more than a year when he knocked out Johnson in the third round of
their featured UFC on ESPN 2 featherweight attraction on March 30,
2019 at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia. An unconscious
Johnson hit the deck supine and stiff 4:14 into Round 3, having
been violently put in his place. Emmett spent two-plus rounds
trying to track down “The Ultimate Fighter 12” finalist. Johnson
threw and landed more—a sharp straight left was his weapon of
choice—but never did enough to keep his counterpart from moving
forward. Late in the third round, Emmett flicked out a jab, closed
the distance and unleashed a hellacious right hook that sent spit
flying and felled the
Sanford MMA rep where he stood. It remains the only true
knockout loss of Johnson’s career.