UFC contender Charles Johnson wasn’t too thrilled when he got the call to fight in China.
UFC Shanghai goes down this weekend with a 12-fight card headlined by light heavyweight knockout artists Johnny Walker and Mingyang Zhang.
The co-main event is a five-round fight at featherweight between Brian Ortega and former bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling.
A fight on the undercard that many fans are excited for is a flyweight bout between #15-ranked UFC flyweight Charles Johnson and the undefeated Lone’er Kavanagh.
Johnson went 4-0 in the Octagon last year and knocked out #1 contender Joshua Van 13 months ago. One of the most active fighters on the roster, ‘InnerG’ looks to bounce back from a decision loss to Ramazan Temirov in March.
Bloody Elbow got Johnson’s thoughts on fighting another top, unranked prospect, especially so far from home for the St. Louis native.
- READ MORE: ‘I KO’ed the #1 contender’ … Charles Johnson’s ‘time is coming’ after Joshua Van win a year ago
Charles Johnson: ‘I’m being brought in for someone else once again’
Johnson’s opponent Kavanagh has been praised as a ‘problem’ by UFC Lightweight Champion Ilia Topuria ahead of his upcoming fight.
Johnson seems to know how good the unbeaten 26-year-old is.
“I think he’s special,” Johnson said of Kavanagh in an interview with Bloody Elbow.
“I think he’s built for the long run. He’s surrounded with a great coaching staff and a great environment, and they’re putting him in a position that I feel like I should have been put in after winning four fights. They’re giving him a guy that can put him into the rankings.
“Basically, they’re making me the test for all the prospects which is, in my opinion, because I’m doing more than the guys in the rankings,” Johnson explained.
“I’m fighting tougher fights, I’m fighting more often, and I’m winning this past year, two years.”
As far as fighting in China, Johnson isn’t a fan.
“I don’t like having to travel to China and pay those f—— taxes,” Johnson said.
“I don’t think anybody would like that. I don’t like feeling like I have to go and I’m being brought in for someone else once again, like, I have to go to China for him and because his mom’s from China and he’s part Chinese and he likes to fight in China. So, you’re taking me and making me go to China…
“But it’s cool. At the end of the day, I’m getting paid. I’m doing my job, I’m doing what I love to do, and I can take care of my family. So, that’s what I have to focus on.
“I just wish—I’m praying that I’m able to go out here and do what I need to do, that for once, after this fight, I’ll be able to get some things on my terms…”
Charles Johnson hoping for ‘great opportunity’ after knocking out Joshua Van a year ago
Johnson thinks he could be a win or two away from fighting former champion Brandon Moreno or someone of that caliber.
Should Johnson defend his ranking against the 9-0 Kavanagh, the flyweight will have won five out of his last six fights, with one of those victories over the likes of #1 contender Joshua Van.
“[This win could] put things in position where, luckily, the guy that I knocked out is the number one contender,” Johnson said of Van.
“Hopefully that puts me in a position where I get a great opportunity. I just go out here similar to Van, and what I can take from Joshua Van, from these guys who’ve got these opportunities, is that you just got to go out there and do something special, man…
“Go out there, put on a show, put some hands on some people and put the ball in your court,” Johnson said.