Does Michael Johnson (17-13) bounce back or does he move one step closer to a .500 record?

No offence to Fili, but he's fighting Fili. MJ should get the KO
 
Dude seems to find ways to lose, these days. Still has wins over Ferguson (old win), Barboza, and even smoked Dustin Poirier in the first round. MMA is crazy, and that is all.
 
Remember when he lost to Reza madadi? That was a real WTF fight
 
I always root for MJ but he's got a low fight IQ, he's also terrible off his back.
 
MJ in the first round is a very dangerous guy , he was the fastest 155-er up there his record is shit but he has some good names in his resume El Cucuy , Barboza , Poirier who are all top guys in the 155 right now
 
He cant deal with prolonged grappling exchanges. There have been quite a lot of guys with similar weakness (Thiago Alves, Swanson, Daley, Rumble etc.) and unfortunately none of them have been able to overcome that problem. He might not be done, but he'll continue losing fights on regular basis.

He can’t deal with prolonged striking either.
He’s faster and stronger than Nate Diaz, won the first round, and then struggled for the next two, losing the fight. It wasn’t because of cardio, he just didn’t have 15 minutes of concentration in him.
 
He can’t deal with prolonged striking either.
He’s faster and stronger than Nate Diaz, won the first round, and then struggled for the next two, losing the fight. It wasn’t because of cardio, he just didn’t have 15 minutes of concentration in him.
Nate was in the zone in that fight.
 
MJ should win this fight.

He has outstanding striking and speed/athleticism, good wrestling, but a weak ground game and cardio isn't great. Like The Domin8or said, he fucking has wins over Tony Ferguson (uncrowned lightweight champ), and two top contenders in Barboza and Poirier. And none of those were close fights. He's one of those guys who can beat top guys and lose to guys outside of the top 15.
 
Back when I first got into the sport, at the beginning of 2014 or so, I remember watching MJ put on a masterful performance against Barboza and thought to myself "This guy's a beast!" since then though, he's only gotten his hand raised once. Yes, he did get robbed against Dariush, and he hasn't taken easy fights, but man, it feels as though he fell off a cliff performance wise.

He's still fast and powerful, but he seems to revert into brawling as soon as his opponent touches him up, ditching his kicks in favor of an exchange in the pocket of which he usually gets the worst off. His grappling is still as mediocre as it has ever been, and his fight IQ is truly that of a palsy patient.

I'm still a big fan though, and I think he'll put Fili down in the second, but I can't count anyone out against Johnson anymore, which is sad imo.

I think you summed him up perfectly - he's a fast and powerful athlete that is at his best moving and setting up counters with his hands off his kicking game (which is very underrated, but he never uses it enough as is). But he's never improved his defensive grappling (solid TDD but once he's down he can at best stall for a stand-up) and he doesn't have the Fight IQ to avoid brawling with more powerful guys with better chins.

But yes you watch him starch Poirer in 2 minutes or walk-down Barboza for 15 and light him up with combos (stylistically a great match-up for him, Barboza doesn't like to brawl and prefers to kick, Johnson could pressure him to shut-off his space and out-work him with volume) and your like "HOLY SHIT THIS GUY COULD BE THE NEXT BIG THING"

But then you watch him get insta-choked by Elkins the second he tries to get-up or basically finished with leg kicks by Gaetje after almost KO'ing him twice and it's like "FUCK, THIS GUY AIN'T EVER GOING TO MAKE IT."

Still agree that he probably puts down Fili in the second but he's definitely a case of "what might've been" - I think he's too much of a head case, probably why he was an excellent fit at Blackzillians. Watch him spar at like 95% with Usman who probably walks around at 210 and it's a reminder that these guys don't train smart, not surprising he tries to brawl his way out of trouble instead of think his way out of it. It's literally been drilled into his fight style over the course of a decade.
 
Johnson kicking was actually his downfall in the Elkins fight. Elkins took him down off a kick I believe. But that is where the poor fight IQ came in. Also kept clinching with Gaethje whenever he had him hurt. Was so frustrating to watch.
 
Johnson kicking was actually his downfall in the Elkins fight. Elkins took him down off a kick I believe. But that is where the poor fight IQ came in. Also kept clinching with Gaethje whenever he had him hurt. Was so frustrating to watch.

He also abandoned low kicks after round one against diaz and got suckered into a diaz brawl.
 
He can’t deal with prolonged striking either.
He’s faster and stronger than Nate Diaz, won the first round, and then struggled for the next two, losing the fight. It wasn’t because of cardio, he just didn’t have 15 minutes of concentration in him.

In fairness, Diaz is a genuinely good boxer by MMA standards. Johnson has fast and heavy hands along with decent footwork (well, sort of, when he's on the front foot he gets his weight too far forward and doesn't bring his feet with him enough), but he's not what I'd call an inordinately skilled boxer by MMA standards. Once Johnson stopped with the low-kicks, Diaz was able to settle down and have success (as Diaz is like to do eventually against the heavy majority of MMA fighters if they're simply content to box with him). His failure to continue with the low-kicks deserves criticism, but it's not like he gave a terrible account of himself in that fight.
 
He also abandoned low kicks after round one against diaz and got suckered into a diaz brawl.

It wasn't a brawl. He was more outboxed than outbrawled (when Diaz got away from pumping the jab on the outside and tried to do more in the pocket, Johnson actually tended to have more success).
 
Johnson hit all air against Nate but rocked Khabib.
 
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