Michael Johnson

Overview

Sixteen UFC wins, sixteen UFC losses, and a debut that goes back to December 2010. Michael Johnson, "The Menace," is a southpaw out of St. Louis who fights at lightweight and trains at Jaco Hybrid Training Center.

His UFC record is a perfect split, 16-16, with no contests. Six of the wins came by KO/TKO, none by submission, and ten went the distance. He is a striker who has been finished by submission five times.

His peak came in 2016, when he headlined a UFC Fight Night against Dustin Poirier and won. He carries a loss into his next fight.

UFC Career

Johnson debuted at The Ultimate Fighter: Team GSP vs Team Koscheck Finale with a unanimous decision loss to Jonathan Brookins. He rebounded with a first-round TKO of Edward Faaloloto, then dropped a first-round submission to Paul Sass.

The 2012 run was his first real surge. He beat Shane Roller, then took a unanimous decision over Tony Ferguson, then stopped Danny Castillo in round two. Losses to Myles Jury and Reza Madadi followed.

The best stretch came from 2013 to 2015. Wins over Joe Lauzon, Gleison Tibau, Melvin Guillard and Edson Barboza gave him four straight, his longest UFC win streak. Defeats to Beneil Dariush and Nate Diaz ended it.

Then came the Poirier win, a round-one TKO at 1:35 in a main event. It was his only victory over an opponent our model rates as elite. Three weeks later he faced Khabib Nurmagomedov at UFC 205 and lost by submission in round three. Justin Gaethje stopped him in round two the next July, and Darren Elkins submitted him in January 2018.

The years after were uneven. Decision wins over Andre Fili and Artem Lobov in 2018 were followed by a run of losses to Josh Emmett, Stevie Ray, Thiago Moises (a submission at 0:25 of round two) and Clay Guida. Since 2022 he has gone back and forth: wins over Alan Patrick, Marc Diakiese, Darrius Flowers, Ottman Azaitar and Daniel Zellhuber, with losses to Jamie Mullarkey, Diego Ferreira and, most recently, Drew Dober by round-two TKO.

Thirty-two fights in the UFC, and still taking them.

Fighting Style

Michael Johnson is a busy striker who is hard to hit, even though not everything he throws finds the mark. He lands more than most fighters and keeps his accuracy modest, but he is tough to tag in return.

His grappling is the opposite story. He almost never shoots for takedowns and rarely hunts for submissions, yet he is very good at stopping opponents from taking him down. Even so, five of his losses came by submission, so when a fight has gone to the mat, it has tended to end badly for him.

Six of his wins are KO/TKOs, four in round two and two in round one. The other ten wins went to the scorecards.

Notable Wins

• Dustin Poirier — KO/TKO, round 1, UFC Fight Night: Poirier vs. Johnson (2016)
• Edson Barboza — unanimous decision, UFC Fight Night: Bigfoot vs Mir (2015)
• Tony Ferguson — unanimous decision, UFC on FOX: Diaz vs Miller (2012)
• Gleison Tibau — KO/TKO, round 2, UFC 168 (2013)

Quick Facts

• Division: Lightweight
• UFC record: 16-16 (0 no contests)
• Professional record (all promotions): 25-20-0
• UFC debut: 2010
• Stance: Southpaw
• Height: 5'10", reach: 73.5"
• Team: Jaco Hybrid Training Center
• Born: St. Louis, MO, United States