5 Defining Moments: Michael Johnson

Michael Johnson keeps Ultimate Fighting Championship fans guessing.

A hot-and-cold competitor if there ever was one, “The Menace” will ride the rollercoaster of inconsistency into his UFC Fight Night 223 lightweight showcase with Diego Ferreira on Saturday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. Johnson, who turns 37 in June, has won two of his past three bouts. The Kill Cliff Fight Club representative last appeared at UFC on ESPN 42, where he laid claim to a three-round unanimous decision over Marc Diakiese on Dec. 3. The win moved him to 13-14 inside the Octagon.

As Johnson takes aim at Ferreira at 155 pounds, a look at five of the many moments that have come to define him:

1. Not Quite ‘TUF’ Enough

Jonathan Brookins withstood an early knockdown before he parlayed takedowns and positional control into a unanimous decision over Johnson, as their lightweight tournament final headlined “The Ultimate Fighter 12” Finale on Dec. 4, 2010 at the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas. Scores were 29-27, 29-28 and 29-28. It was an inauspicious start for Brookins, who ate repeated punches to the head from “The Menace,” misfired on all seven of his takedown attempts in the first round and hit the deck on the end of a left hook less than two minutes into the match. However, he withstood follow-up attacks and Drew Johnson deeper into his maze. Brookins seized the reins in the second and third rounds, where he completed three takedowns, piled up more than nine minutes of control time and limited his counterpart to just 13 total strikes landed.

2. Tactical Nukes

Johnson followed a brilliant gameplan to a unanimous decision over “The Ultimate Fighter” Season 13 winner Tony Ferguson 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, as he momentarily stunned and dropped “El Cucuy” with a stiff left hand. It was a harbinger of what was to come. Johnson attacked his opponent’s arms, body and legs with blinding kicks and backed them up with one left hand after another, repeatedly snapping back the Californian’s head. Ferguson never found himself, overwhelmed by the speed, aggression and firepower “The Menace” brought to bear.

3. Subtraction by Attrition

Clean combination punching carried “The Ultimate Fighter” Season 5 winner Nate Diaz to a unanimous verdict over Johnson in a UFC on Fox 17 lightweight attraction on Dec. 19, 2015 at the Amway Center in Orlando, Florida. In his first appearance inside the Octagon in more than a year, Diaz swept the scorecards with identical 29-28 marks from the judges. Johnson focused on the Californian’s lead leg with kicks in the first round, then abandoned them in favor of headhunting. Diaz capitalized on his strategic blunder. He operated behind a stinging right jab and fed Johnson a relentless stream of basic two-punch combinations for which he had no answer. The cumulative effect took its intended toll. Johnson faded down the stretch, undone by the Cesar Gracie protégé’s accurate and hyperactive hands. Diaz outlanded him by a 153-103 clip in significant strikes.

4. Laser Focused

Johnson blew away American Top Team’s Dustin Poirier with lightning-quick punches in the UFC Fight Night 94 headliner on Sept. 17, 2016 at State Farm Arena in Hidalgo, Texas. Poirier succumbed to blows 95 seconds into Round 1, suffering what remains the fastest stoppage loss of his career. Johnson hid behind his defenses and leveled the Louisiana native with a blinding right hook-straight left combination. Poirier hit the deck, where he was met with a savage ground-and-pound assault that left referee Dan Miragliotta no choice but to swoop in and wave it off.

5. A Million Miles Away

Khabib Nurmagomedov could not have been more dominant in what was the next-to-last outing before establishing his rule at 155 pounds. The undefeated Dagestani mauler improved to 24-0 when he dispatched Johnson with a third-round kimura as part of the UFC 205 undercard on Nov. 12, 2016 at Madison Square Garden in New York. The end came 2:31 into Round 3. Nurmagomedov overcame a shaky start—Johnson staggered him with punches inside the first two minutes—and demoralized “The Menace” with repeated takedowns and crushing ground-and-pound. He appeared to be on the verge of a finish in the first and second rounds before applying the kimura for the merciful tapout in the third. Nurmagomedov outlanded the St. Louis native by a 140-20 count in total strikes.