After going 1-4 in his last five outings, Michael Johnson has made the move down to featherweight.
Although Michael Johnson’s not in the best form of his life, he’s only been fighting elite competition. His recent losses have all come against ranked opponents – Justin Gaethje, Khabib Nurmagomedov, Nate Diaz and Beneil Dariush. His last win, a stunning first-round knockout over Dustin Poirier.
He’s only been fighting murderers at lightweight, but he’s not taking an easy fight for his featherweight debut. In St Louis, ‘the Menace’ will take on the super durable Darren Elkins. ‘The Damage’ is on fire right now and enters into this bout off the back of five consecutive wins.
It earned Conor McGregor's praise https://t.co/HsN8fZbHho
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) January 2, 2018
During a recent interview with ESPN ‘Five Rounds’ Podcast, Johnson revealed how his first cut down to featherweight is going. According to the man himself, he’s in great shape just over a week out from fight night.
“I’m actually sitting at about 12 lbs over right now. I’m full of energy and I haven’t missed practices. I’ve been in there and going through full practices with no injuries or anything like that. What I’m missing is being a fat kid. That’s it.”
“No practice cuts. I’m very confident I can make the weight and go down. In my last two camps that I’ve done, I’ve dieted down to like 163, so I feel like if I can get down to 155 before, I should get down to 145 no problem.”
You know it’s go time! When your coach puts you through the ringer and says done, and you look up and say that’s it!! Thank you @xpe_sports @tonyvillaniXPE for the last big cardio push!! #therealmainevent
— Michael Johnson (@Menace155) January 5, 2018
What is concerning is his comments on when he last weighed in at 145 lbs. Johnson explained that he hasn’t been that late since he was just entering his teens, 18 years ago.
“Yeah, well, I played football in my freshmen year of college and I was weighing close to 200 lbs there. So, my weight has been fluctuating up and down a lot. The last time I was 145 lbs I was 13. I wrestled 145 during my freshmen year at high school.”
That doesn’t sound very healthy, but all will be revealed at the weigh-ins.
