Michael Johnson believes he's just the type of guy who can upset Khabib Nurmagomedov at UFC 205

Things hadn’t really been going Michael Johnson’s way, but when he turned them around, he turned them around big-time.

In September in the UFC Fight Night 94 main event, Johnson upset Dustin Poirier and snapped his two-fight skid. He also snapped Poirier’s four-fight streak since returning to lightweight, and he upset the division’s contenders apple cart just a little bit in the process.

Johnson lost a highly debatable split decision to Beneil Dariush at UFC Fight Night 74. Then he was outgunned by Nate Diaz this past December for a two-fight slide that came on the heels of a four-fight winning streak over Joe Lauzon, Gleison Tibau, Melvin Guillard and Edson Barboza.

The loss to Dariush would’ve probably been overlooked by the UFC matchmakers and brass, given none of the media outlets scoring the fight gave it to Dariush, and a couple (including MMAjunkie) scored it 30-27 for Johnson.

The Diaz setback put him back in the pack, despite being a “Fight of the Night” winner – until he took out Poirier. That win gave Johnson the ability to go after a big-time callout, and when he did it, he got what he was asking for.

Johnson (17-10 MMA, 9-6 UFC) next month will try to become the first fighter to beat Khabib Nurmagomedov (23-0 MMA, 7-0 UFC) when the two tangle at UFC 205, which takes place Nov. 12 at Madison Square Garden in New York City. The main card airs on pay-per-view following prelims on FS1 and UFC Fight Pass. Johnson and Nurmagomedov will be part of a jam-packed preliminary card on FS1.

Johnson said he knew the fight with Nurmagomedov might be possible when it appeared Nurmagomedov’s hope to challenge lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez – who is still friendly with Johnson from their days training together at the Blackzilians camp in South Florida – had been thwarted so Conor McGregor could challenge Alvarez in UFC 205’s main event, instead.

“Me and Eddie still keep close contact with each other,” Johnson told MMAjunkie Radio today. “He’s a good friend of mine, so I was talking to him about his fight and I was thinking to myself, ‘If they get Conor to fight (Alvarez), Khabib’s gonna be left open for me to fight, and this is perfect.’ I think you guys heard me after my last fight – I wanted to fight in Madison Square Garden, and the timeline couldn’t be more perfect. Everything was just lined up.

“I’m fortunate Khabib got passed up, and I knew that he wanted to fight. I knew there was no way he was going to sit out that long and not fight. So I just took my chance, and I got it.”

Johnson said the fight with Nurmagomedov is the kind of win that could get him a lot closer to his dream of fighting for a UFC title. Nurmagomedov is No. 2 in the latest USA TODAY Sports/MMAjunkie MMA lightweight rankings; Johnson sits at No. 11 after his win over Poirier.

He also believes Nurmagomedov might just benefit from a culture of fear from opponents thanks to the hype behind him. Nurmagomedov returned earlier this year and stopped Darrell Horcher in the second round after a two-year layoff.

“It’s a big fight, and it seems like they can never get anybody to fight him,” Johnson said. “And they’ve built so much hype around him and they think everybody’s scared to fight him. So I’ve just been training, taking out my opponents on my way to get to the title. I have to go through him, so let’s get this fight out of the way. I wanted to fight him earlier, and now I’m getting my chance.”

For more on UFC 205, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.

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