Charles Johnson continued his excellent winning form in the UFC’s flyweight division this past weekend in Denver.
In one of the sleeper fights of the entire UFC Fight Night lineup, he faced Joshua Van in a great contest that saw Johnson secure a devastating finish in the third round.
This win makes him undefeated in his last three Octagon appearances after previously losing three in a row in 2023 before putting that in the rear-view mirror so far this year.
Despite his excellent performance against Van, Johnson did have one issue when he came to watch back the fight and that was the commentary, as he revealed in a recent interview on SiriusXM’s MMA Today.
“The only thing that kinda surprised me was hearing the commentary after the fight. But other than that, and hearing the judging, betting lines and stuff. But, at the end of the day, the only thing that matters is I went in there and did exactly what I said I was gonna do.”
Charles Johnson Says UFC Commentary Didn’t Give Him The Credit He Was Due
Johnson went on to explain where his issues with the commentary came from, believing he wasn’t give enough credit for the work he did inside the Octagon.
“InnerG” specifically referencef the first round, which he believes he comfortably won despite a judge scoring it for his opponent and the commentators spending more time talking about Van’s work in the opening five minutes.
“We’re three minutes into the first round and I’ve landed 28 strikes to his four and all you’ve heard up until that point is, ‘This is what Van does, Van is applying pressure. Van is doing this.’ That’s all you heard. The round ends and I’m 40-16 on strikes and, for me, I try to separate personal but everything’s personal to me, that’s just me, that’s how I am.
“Business, everything, everything’s personal, but I know how much those opinions matter in judging, in everything. They hear it, they can hear it too. So hearing it after the fight when I felt like I was in full control from the moment the fight started, never worried about anything. He threw big punches, never really landed anything.”
Johnson also referenced how he was excited to watch back the fight in order to hear Dominick Cruz’s thoughts on the fight having been a big fan of the bantamweight legend as a fighter and analyst over the years.
Ultimately, he doesn’t believe that he received the praise he deserved for that performance.
“The type of guy I was walking into, I’ve fought higher caliber guys. I fought two guys that are ranked in the top 10 in my career already and lost close decisions to them, you know? It’s just put some f****** respect on my name, basically.”
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