Michael Johnson still has a long road in front of him before he earns a shot at the UFC lightweight title.
Given his forward progress against Edson Barboza at Fight Night 61, however, he seems capable of covering that distance fairly expeditiously.
Johnson’s pressure told the tale on Sunday, as he got in Barboza’s face early and stayed there for three full rounds en route to a unanimous-decision victory (29-28, 30-27 x 2). The win extended his current streak to four, and it will likely move him into the 155-pound Top 10 when the UFC’s official rankings come out next week.
“Edson is a great competitor, but I wasn’t going to stop for 15 minutes …,” Johnson told play-by-play announcer Jon Anik in the cage after it was over. “I’m here for this division. I want the belt by the end of this year, and this is what I have to do to take it.”
Of course, to travel so far in such a short amount of time, Johnson will have to stay active. He fought just once during 2014, spending most of the year on suspension after his arrest stemming from a domestic dispute.
The time off seemed to serve him well, though. He came out of his corner aggressively in the early going, wading through Barboza’s heavy kicks to land his own punching combinations. By the end of the first, Barboza was cut under the right eye, and the left side of this face was marked up, too.
The 29-year-old Brazilian seemed to find his range eventually, scoring with body kicks and punches. He even tested Johnson’s chin with a high kick and a hard knee. Still, Johnson won the day by continually pushing ahead, making it easy on the judges by also getting the better of the grappling exchanges.
The American’s cardio and pace just proved too much for Barboza as the two battled it out in a packed arena in Porto Alegre, Brazil, where the broadcast on Fox Sports 1 reported it was nearly 100 degrees inside.
Johnson now owns one of the more impressive under-the-radar win streaks in the stacked 155-pound division. Consecutive victories over Barboza, Melvin Guillard, Gleison Tibau and Joe Lauzon give him arguably as good of a current resume as any of his peers, save perhaps top contenders Rafael dos Anjos, Donald Cerrone and Khabib Nurmagomedov.
In any other division, Johnson would likely already be on the short list of hopefuls for a title shot. At lightweight, he still has some work to do.
Dos Anjos will get his chance at Anthony Pettis’ title at UFC 185 next month. Cerrone and Nurmagomedov will battle it out to be next in line at UFC 187 in May. That means Pettis’ dance card will likely remain full until fall at the earliest.
While Johnson waits for the championship carousel to sort itself out, however, he has a pretty good idea about how to keep himself busy. He’d like to fight a former champion.
“I guess people wanted to see Benson Henderson versus the winner of this (fight),” he told Anik. “He’s at the top of the division. Ben, I know you don’t have anybody (to fight) so let’s do it, I’m ready for you, let’s rock.”
Henderson is due some time off after fighting twice since Jan. 18—first in a unanimous-decision loss to Cerrone and then a submission victory at welterweight over Brandon Thatch last Saturday. But he also very seldom backs down from a challenge, and if Johnson really wants to fight him, smart money says Henderson will eventually oblige him.
Still, if we learned anything from the Barboza fight, it’s that all Johnson needs to take his place among the best fighters in his weight class is a little bit of consistency.
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