Rivalries: Michael Johnson

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:

Tony Ferguson

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.

Nate Diaz

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.

Dustin Poirier

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.

Justin Gaethje

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.

Josh Emmett

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.