Michael Johnson recalls fighting Khabib Nurmagomedov: 'He felt like a middleweight'

Michael Johnson fought the who’s who in MMA – including Khabib Nurmagomedov.

Johnson was submitted by Nurmagomedov in the third round of their lightweight bout at UFC 205 in November 2016. Johnson hung tough, but Nurmagomedov’s grappling proved to be too overwhelming.

“I fought mine on two weeks’ notice,” Johnson said on the “Overdogs Podcast.” “Nobody even talks about that. I was doing a tour for the troops, and they gave me the call.”

Johnson’s fight with Nurmagomedov produced one of the most infamous in-octagon clips where “The Eagle” was heard telling Johnson, “You have to give up, I need to fight for the title,” before eventually yanking his arm for the kimura win.

“I was like, ‘F*ck you!’ Johnson recalled. “Hit him with a backhand like, ‘I’m still in it. I can’t move, but I’m in it. I wasn’t going to f*cking give up. He’s good. I went into that fight, his wrestling is all I thought about. His wrestling, his wrestling, his wrestling. So, I wasn’t thinking about myself, and that was the mistake.

“I just went in there kind of waiting for him to shoot, trying to find my motions. I was kind of crouched down, and I couldn’t really move around. Bro, he’s good, strong. He felt like a middleweight, and that’s a problem. I couldn’t move, but he helped me get better. I went back to the gym and started working on that so, without that fight I wouldn’t be here.”

Nurmagomedov would go on to capture the UFC lightweight title and defend it three times before hanging up his gloves undefeated.

“Here’s the thing, if I could’ve gone in there and got a knockout, I would take over everything,” Johnson said.

Johnson (23-19 MMA, 15-15 UFC) has since had mixed results, but is still trucking in arguably the sport’s toughest division. He is fresh off a Performance of the Night knockout of Ottman Azaitar earlier this month at UFC on ESPN 63.