When Michael Johnson first announced that he was dropping down to featherweight he called out Jose Aldo, but now he’s set his sights on another top contender, Cub Swanson instead.
“I think me and Cub would be a great fight,” Johnson told FloCombat. “I wanted Aldo first, but it looks like him and Ricardo [Lamas] are going to fight, and man, I mean, Cub would be the next great option. I’ve gotten into this business with one thing on my mind, and that’s to fight the best guys in the division, to fight whoever’s the champ, whoever’s beaten everybody. Those are the guys I want to fight, so a fight with Cub, you know, that’s right up my alley.”
The 31-year-old Johnson has had a rough time of it lately in the lightweight ranks, losing four of his last five fights, albeit against a series of highly regarded fighters in Justin Gaethje, Khabib Nurmagomedov, Nate Diaz and Beneil Dariush.
However, in amongst that he KO’d Dustin Poirier and prior to his slump had also emerged victorious against other significant players like Edson Barboza, Gleison Tibau and Joe Lauzon, which explains why he still holds down the No.9 spot in the 155lb rankings.
As for Swanson, he’s currently the UFC’s No.4 ranked featherweight after compiling a four-fight winning streak at 145lbs that included a ‘2016 Fight Of The Year’ victory over ‘The Korean Superboy’ Doo Ho Choi.
