Michael Johnson opens main card against Jamie Mullarkey at UFC Vegas 58

We’ve got a very exciting Fight Night event going down this weekend at UFC Vegas 58, where former UFC lightweight champion, no. 7 ranked Rafael dos Anjos faces off with no. 10 ranked Rafael Fiziev.

UFC Vegas 58 is to go down on July 9, 2022, live from the UFC Apex in Enterprise, Nevada.

Opening up the main card is another lightweight bout, this one between former top contender Michael Johnson and fellow knockout artist Jamie Mullarkey.

Michael Johnson came to the UFC in December of 2010 following a very successful 4-0 stint on The Ultimate Fighter 12. He also held the MFL & XCF lightweight championships prior to joining The Ultimate Fighter cast.

Though he’d make it to the TUF 12 finals, he’d lose the title to Jonathan Brookins, and honestly, he’s been quite back-and-forth since then, both winning and losing consistently.

But that doesn’t take away from what Johnson can do, because when he’s on point, he’s one of the most technical and dangerous talents in the whole sport.

Johnson boasts wins over the likes of Tony Ferguson (UD), becoming the first, and only man to defeat ‘El Cucuy’ through his first 16 octagon bouts, longtime top five lightweight contender Edson Barboza (UD), who’s a black belt in Muay Thai & Taekwondo, and is a 25-3 (22 knockouts) professional kickboxer that Johnson defeated entirely on the feet, and he also KO’d future, now former interim UFC lightweight champion Dustin Poirier in a mere 95 seconds.

As we said, when he’s on, he’s on, but he’s had issues with consistency throughout his career.

Johnson did just snap a four-fight losing streak in May with his second round KO victory over Alan Patrick, and he aims to get another win streak going at 36 years old.

Then we have Jamie Mullarkey, who came to the UFC in October of 2019, and he too was a champion prior to joining the promotion, having claimed the BRACE featherweight championship, as well as the UFN & SFMMA lightweight championships.

Mullarkey boasts a black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, though it’s his striking that he’s really known for, as he knocked out fellow knockout artists Khama Worthy and Devonte Smith in two of his last three appearances.

How do you see this epic lightweight contest going down?

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Brady Ordway

I became a fan of combat sports when I was 12 years old. I was scrolling through the channels and landed upon Versus, where WEC was televised. Urijah Faber fought Jens Pulver for the second time that night. That's the first fight I ever saw, and I was immediately hooked. So eventually, I began covering the sport in the fourth quarter of 2018, and have since started writing about animals as well. If you'd like to see those pieces, be sure to check out learnaboutnature.com!

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