Coming in as a replacement against Melvin Guillard this Saturday in London, Michael Johnson is taking nothing for granted.
“Melvin’s tough, he’s been in the UFC forever, he’s got a great record against great guys and he’s established. He’s still one of the guys you need to beat, especially in the eyes of the fans. He is better than other people think he is. I know that, Melvin knows that.”
Michael Johnson: Guillard is “one of the guys you need to beat”
Johnson and Guillard previous trained together in the Blackzilians camp before Guillard left, and Johnson believes that gives him certain advantages and adds to the intrigue of this fight.
“Training with Melvin gives me a huge advantage in this fight,” Johnson said, “because I do know his weaknesses…I know what we need to do in this fight to get the win. I know his habits, but at the same time he knows mine as well. He knows what I need help with, but I’ve trained to get better since he’s left the camp.”
“Having the chance to fight, especially having the chance to fight in London and being a co-main event. It lets me my name out there, and I’m working my way up the ladder. Melvin’s one of the guys I think I need to fight and go in there and get a decisive victory to establish myself as a true top ten fighter, and a contender for the belt towards the end of the year. Success motivates me. I’m here to fight, I’m here to succeed and get the title. He’s a guy I’ve got to go through to win.”
Johnson doesn’t have a great record fighting outside of the States – in his sole overseas fight to date, he lost to Reza Madadi in Sweden last year. Johnson believes his mentality was all wrong in that fight, and is confident he will be more comfortable come Saturday.
“When I fought in Sweden I really wasn’t comfortable leading up the fight.” Johnson said, “It was a different atmosphere, I wasn’t used to the surroundings. I came out a few days earlier than I was supposed to so by the time I was supposed to fight I was already ready to leave, and I checked out of Sweden a few days early. My head wasn’t really into the fight at that point. I think it’s a bit different for London, I’m having a different feeling. I’m feeling really good about this one.”
In his last fight Johnson finished the very dangerous Gleison Tibau in impressive fashion, and Johnson concedes that he was “extremely impressed with myself after that fight.”
“I felt good in the Tibau fight. I knew I was the underdog coming in, and that’s when I fight my best. If I could be the underdog for the rest of my career I’d have no problem with that at all. I knew going in what we needed to stay away from and that was grappling with him…I needed to stay relaxed and not rush anything…the knockout came, I wasn’t looking for it at that moment but it just presented itself.”
“It’s huge for me to keep this roll going.” Johnson said, speaking about his current two fight winning streak, “A loss only starts you back right at the back. I’m not trying to take any steps back…I lost two fights that I shouldn’t have lost, so I went back to the drawing board and talked to myself. I said ‘hey, I can’t let this happen again.’ I need to give my opponents the respect they deserve.”
“I want to fight whoever is in front of me. I was campaigning for a fight with Nate Diaz before this and if he’s still around then I would love to fight him.”
What are Johnson’s goals for 2014? “My goal is to be top five and be a title contender this year, and be fighting for a title by 2015. That’s a huge goal of mine, and I’m definitely going to accomplish that.”
Johnson will take on Guillard at UFC Fight Night 37 this Saturday night from the 02 Arena in London, England.
For more on UFC Fight Night 37: Gustafsson vs. Manuwa click HERE.
