Charles Johnson wants a big opponent to insert his name in the conversation for a shot at the UFC title, but feels like no ranked flyweight is willing to sign a contract to face him.
Victorious in five of his last six, a run that includes three bonuses — including one for a knockout over next title challenger Joshua Van —, Johnson sees the fact that 125-pound champion Alexandre Pantoja has beaten most of the top-15 fighters as a chance to leapfrog part of the ranking and get his crack at gold in 2026.
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“I’m always going to make it known that I want the title, but I understand the landscape of fighting as well,” Johnson told MMA Fighting. “I just want a top-five, top-six opponent to show that I’m worthy of fighting for a championship belt. Most of those guys have already lost to the champion, so if Van goes out there and loses, who is he going to fight? So, for me, I just want to throw my name in the cap. It’s only like two guys, Manel Kape and Tatsuro Taira, that I think are ahead of me for that opportunity. If I can go fight somebody of their caliber.”
One name Johnson was angling for is Kai Kara-France, who came up short in his attempt to dethrone Pantoja in June. The New Zealander, however, was removed from the rankings after notifying the UFC that he is taking a time off from competition and left the anti-doping pool.
“I asked for Kai Kara-France, but he dodged me and went into retirement,” Johnson said. “The fight was booked for Australia, and he said no to it, and then he said he’s taking a year off. I mean, more power to him. I’m a fan of the guy, but he only fights once a year. Who wants to see these guys in the ranking and fighting once a year? You look at their records, he’s 8-5 in the UFC, and he’s been here for eight years. I’m 7-5 in UFC, I’ve been here for three years. I’ve been the most active. I’ve took my losses on the chin. Some of them I felt I won.
“And I just really feel like it’s my time now and these guys that are in the rankings that aren’t going to fight need to go, need to move out the way, or they need to fight, you know? Anybody in the top seven, I believe, will put me in a position where I can skip the line and I go have another fight similar to the one in China and show what I can do.”
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The next few weeks are going to be busy for the flyweight division, with most of the top talents entering the cage. UFC Qatar on Nov. 22 will have Kyoji Horiguchi returning to the octagon vs. Tagir Ulanbekov, and Asu Almabayev taking on Alex Perez. December shows will feature Pantoja vs. Van, Kape vs. Brandon Royval, and Taira vs. Brandon Moreno.
“I’d love to fight one of those guys over five rounds,” Johnson said. “And if it has to be in the APEX, let’s do it. I mean, it’s hard to do it in an arena, you know? I don’t know if my name is big enough, so if it has to be APEX, that’s fine. But I know the star power I hold. I know people love seeing me fight. I know I’ve never had a boring fight, and I know what I can do when those lights shine. I won’t disappoint. I won’t disappoint in a main event. For me, just give me somebody who you think is somebody that is worthy of that. I would say Tatsuro Taira, but I think he’s earned a chance at the title if he wins his next fight. He fought two main events already in the APEX, so I think he’s a step ahead of me in that. I’m humble enough to say, yeah, I got to win one more, maybe two, but it just depends, man. Just give me somebody who you think is worthy of that title, and I’ll show you what I can do.”
“Nobody in the UFC has seen me in five rounds,” he continued. “People don’t understand. I am made similar to that engine, like of Merab [Dvalishvili], like, I am that guy from 125. Like I go, go, go, go, and I only go this way as the fight goes on. You only get a peek of how great I am in three rounds. The sooner you put me in five rounds, the more you’ll see what you got on your hands. I asked for Kai Kara-France, he said no. You got a few big fights coming up, so we’ll see. We gotta be patient and see how it works out. I asked for [Steve] Erceg in MSG, he turned it down. That was a few couple months ago after my fight. Now it’s just like, these guys aren’t fighting. It’s pretty frustrating to be in the rankings and guys in the rankings are not fighting, or injured. But it’s about three or four fights coming up this month and next month. Just gotta let stuff play out and see what we can do.”
Johnson went 4-0 in 2024 and recently scored a knockout over Lone’er Kavanagh to get back to the winning column following a decision loss to Ramazan Temirov. Months after the bout, Temirov failed a drug test for trimetazidine, a drug used to treat heart failure and other cardiac conditions, but listed in the class of hormone and metabolic modulators under the UFC anti-doping policy prohibited list.
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“They say he was [clean that night] but, as a fighter, I just know guys know how to cycle off, know how to get away with things,” Johnson said. “And honestly, he was a cheater in fights, like he grabbed inside of my gloves multiple times in a fight. And in film study, he did that in other fights. I told the ref before, and the ref just said, ‘Don’t grab the glove,’ but it already changes the grappling sequences when he does that. So if you can cheat in fights, I know your character, you’re a cheat outside of the cage too. And when it shows that you have, it’s just like, I’m not surprised, you know? But at the end of the day, he tested negative for our fight, so I can’t really do much but continue to do what I’m doing.”
“I won four fights in a row, and I did everything I could do, and I lost to a guy who popped for PEDs,” he added, “and then I went out there and knocked out a young, they were calling him the biggest prospect in all of MMA, and for me was just another day of work. And I was excited about each opportunity. But I’m definitely excited about getting numbers and names and people that have been in this promotion for a long time. I’m excited about fighting those matchups.”
Aside from the doping failure, it bothers Johnson to have a loss to Temirov on his MMA record “especially when the whole last 11 minutes of the fight he’s throwing one or two shots and running away from me.”
“The whole fight, I feel like I’m gonna get this guy out of here if he fights me, but he doesn’t fight me,” Johnson said. “He’s throwing big shots and running. And then the third round, he just collapses. He’s just tired of shit. This guy’s not championship worthy. I’m better than this guy. He won a competition that night that the judges saw he won, but I didn’t feel that way. What can you do but go back to the gym, go back to work, and make sure it doesn’t happen.”
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In the end, Johnson considers himself to be on a 6-0 streak after a 2-4 start in the promotion between 2022 and 2023, and feels confident to be UFC championship material.
“I just focus on myself and what can I do better,” Johnson said. “I’m closing holes, I’m closing little gaps here and there. I feel like I’m the best in the world, but it’s about performing every time I step in there. And guys are gonna have moments, these are the best fighters in the world, but I know that every time the end of these fights, I should have my hand raised or I should be finishing guys. I’m feeling like I’m Charles Oliveira. When he was finishing people, I feel like I can do that. People haven’t had to see my grappling, but I’m working so hard, and I’m grappling with some great guys, and they’re all giving me praise. I’m just excited about when I get those positions in fights, and I can show people another layer. Until then, I’m just gonna keep doing what I’m doing, win the fight where I need to.”
