Photo by Esther Lin for Strikeforce
Former Strikeforce fighter Lavar ‘Big’ Johnson (15-5) makes his UFC debut this Saturday night, making his way to the Octagon as part of Zuffa’s plan to amalgamate the two promotions heavyweights under one umbrella.
Unfortunately for Johnson, he makes his UFC debut on a two fight losing streak and is in a “must-win” situation when he steps into the cage in Chicago to face Joey ‘The Mexecutioner’ Beltran on the preliminary card of the UFC on FOX 2 show.
Talking to Heavy.com, this is what ‘Big’ Johnson had to say about his fight.
“I think fighting in the UFC is awesome,” Johnson told HeavyMMA. “I’ve been in the game for a long time and fought in a lot of different organizations. It feels good to finally get my shot to fight on the big show. If I want to keep fighting, it’s very important for me to make a big statement.
“I’ve fought my ass off to get here. Unfortunately, I’ve lost my last two fights – but now I’m in a must-win situation. In all honesty, I’m not even looking at that because win, lose or draw, I’m going to leave it all out there in the cage because I made it to the UFC and I’m not going to have any regrets.”
before the previous two losses, Johnson had won seven straight bouts including three under the Strikeforce banner. His most recent loss took place last September at a Challengers event, losing via submission to Shawn Jordan at the Las Vegas event. Previous to that he was also submitted by Shane del Rosario at the Fedor vs. Silva event in a reserve bout for the Heavyweight Grand Prix.