Athletes
Jose Johnson Wants 'To Make History'
Making His Flyweight Debut, Jose Johnson Hopes His Performance At UFC Fight Night: Perez vs Taira Is The Start Of Something Special
The first fight for Jose Johnson is already won. Friday morning, he stepped on the scale in Las Vegas and hit his mark for Saturday’s bout with Asu Almabayev, weighing in at 126 pounds.
That’s a routine moment for most flyweights. Johnson is not most flyweights.
UFC 303 UPDATE: Poatan vs Prochazka 2 Is Your New Main Event. Read More.
He’s six-feet tall. And 126 pounds. Let that sink in for a moment.
“I just want to make history,” said Johnson. “I know that I'll be the biggest 125er, probably in the world. And I want to dominate that division and then go to ‘35 and then continue the reign there.”
Saturday's Full Fight Card Preview
It’s not like Johnson was on a losing streak at bantamweight. In fact, he’s coming off a submission win over Chad Anheliger last November, but after that win, he saw a division ripe for the picking 10 pounds south.
“There’s a few people in there I think will be a challenge, but I love challenges,” Johnson said. “My career and everything that I've done has shown that I don't shy away from a fight, ever. It's nobody in particular that I'm like, ‘Yo, that's a tough one.’ It's just more so I feel like a lot of people are going to be small.”
And size does matter, especially when it comes to the height Johnson brings to the Octagon. There aren’t any six-foot flyweights in the UFC for reference, and despite the talent and success of Almabayev, the Kazakhstan native is 5-foot-4. That’s a lot of ground to make up, but Almabayev still signed on the dotted line. That’s no surprise to Johnson because he has the same fearless mindset.
MORE: Perez Interview | Saragih Interview | Miles Johns Returns | Taira Statement | Polastri Debuts | Josh Van
“If you’re ducking fights and dodging fights, I think you’re in the wrong business,” Johnson said. “Any given day, anybody could get slept, dominated, caught in something. Some days may not be your day. When you stop living with that fear of a person's record or their strengths or anything like that, you really start to grow after that point. And I think I really started growing because I don't look at that this guy that I'm fighting, I don't look at him and be like, oh man, he's a wrestler; I struggled with wrestlers in the past. It's more like, okay, I've been working on everything, so let's see, because the last guy thought he was going to outwrestle me, too, and then he ended up getting strangled and he was a lot bigger than you and I felt like he was a better fighter than you, but we'll see how it goes.”
Strangled? That sounds harsh.
“It is harsh, man,” he said. “It's nothing but love afterwards, but while we’re in there, yeah, I'm trying to strangle you. I'm trying to knock you out in front of grandma.”
In other words, this is a fight.
“It is a fight and I do think a lot of these guys, I ain't going to lie, are a little privileged. It definitely is a sport. It is a spectator sport, and you got all that comes with it - all the talking and the cameras and the interviews and stuff like that. That stuff’s great. It's cool, it makes you money, but when it comes down to it, it's only me and you, and a referee that's going to save you, that's locked in that cage. You’ve got to show up and it's a fight. It means I'm trying to hurt you from the time the bell rings until it sounds at the end. So I think they forgot that.”
Jose Johnson hasn’t.
UFC Fight Night: Perez vs Taira took place live from UFC APEX in Las Vegas, Nevada on June 15, 2024. See the final Prelim and Main Card Results, Official Scorecards and Who Won Bonuses - and relive the action on UFC Fight Pass!