Michael Johnson Was Speechless After Beating Dustin Poirier

Michael Johnson spoke with MMAjunkie following his win over Dustin Poirier in the main event of last night’s UFC Fight Night 94. Some highlights are below:

On his reaction to his win: “I was speechless. It felt really good. I was telling you guys (Thursday), my back’s against the wall and I have to fight my way off of it. But I still feel like my back’s against the wall. So the next victim has to deal with that.”

On feeling disrespected heading into the fight: “Everybody doubted me, of course. Everyone was doubting me, and that’s what motivated me: seeing everyone picking Dustin. He was on a four-fight winning streak. But I told you guys (Thursday), whenever someone feels like he’s untouchable, it’s the biggest mistake he can make. It happened tonight.”

On the animosity from Poirier: “I don’t know where it came from. I have the utmost respect for Dustin, and to hear the things he was saying in his interviews, it was just shocking. I took offense to that, and I felt a little disrespected. He called me a nobody. You just got beat by a nobody, and beat badly. Hopefully he swallows his words, and that was a humbling defeat, I hope. After the fight, I stood over him and I mouthed some things to him, and that’s not me. I got a little too emotional. I apologized to him afterward, and I hope we can stay cordial in the future. He looked up right at me like he wanted to get up and fight again. … I didn’t need to take it that far, but I felt really disrepected this week, so that’s where it came from.”

On his next fight: “After a win like this, I think I’ve got a little bit of a target on my back…I want to fight again before this year’s over with. I hadn’t fought since December, so that’s a huge layoff. In this sport, out of sight is out of mind. So I want to keep this train going and I want to get paid.”