The UFC returned to St. Louis, Missouri this weekend for the first time since 2018, with Derrick Lewis headlining the event, taking on Rodrigo Nascimento.
Just two fights into the event saw a homecoming as flyweight, Charles Johnson took on Brit, Jake Hadley. In his last outing, ‘InnerG’ did enough to earn himself a new contract with the promotion, beating the undefeated Azat Maksum.
‘White Kong’ Hadley on the other hand was looking to rebound from the loss he suffered to Cody Durden in August last year.
Charles Johnson impresses with a win on home turf
The 27-year-old, Hadley, began the fight extremely fast with a lot of forward pressure and dictated the pace of the fight early on.
Hadley didn’t give the 33-year-old any room to maneuver through the first half of the round and looked to invest in the body shots. Despite that, he didn’t land anything of note and slowed down midway through the opening round.
Johnson, who has always possessed an extremely impressive gas tank, took advantage of Hadley slowing down in round two and began landing some crisp combos. With just over a minute left of round two, ‘InnerG’ landed a stiff right hand down the pipe, dropping Hadley.
Hadley did well to stay in the fight, and a round three was needed to separate these two high-level 125lbers.
The conditioning of Johnson paid dividends in round three as he was able to be the more active of the two, landing more frequently than Hadley in the final five minutes.
Charles Johnson wants a ranked opponent next
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After winning a flyweight title on the regional scene at LFA, Johnson came into the UFC with a lot of expectation behind him.
The 33-year-old has now been in the UFC for 22 months, competing eight times, averaging a fight every 82 days (credit @AndyHickeyMMA on X).
Despite being one loss away from being cut from the promotion last year, he is now just outside the flyweight rankings and is looking for a ranked opponent in his next fight.
“Everybody knows I’m the best five-round flyweight in the world, I’m stuck in the three-round format, I’m trying to work on that. I know I make you all (St Louis fans) a little bit scared at times but don’t worry, these dudes can’t f*** with me.
“We want a number next, we want a ranking, you all see what I can do, the second fight (of the night) and it’s packed in here. Let’s go UFC, put me on.” Charles Johnson said in his Octagon interview.
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