Las Vegas, NV — Just when did Charles Johnson find out his was going to be the father of a baby girl? Right there in the cage at UFC Vegas 67 on Saturday.
Flyweight Johnson (13-3) kicked off the first UFC card of 2023 against the returning Jimmy Flick, earning a TKO finish inside of a round. Then, he found out he was going to be having a girl.
“Today. Right there in the cage,” Johnson confirmed, explaining to media outlets including Cageside Press that a doctor had written down the news in a note for him, as he was in Norway training for the fight. “My lady opened up the note without looking at it to show my nutritionist, who wrote it on a note for me, but I left it in the [hotel] room.” When Johnson arrived at the arena on Saturday, he texted his nutritionist, who in turn sent the note to his strength and conditioning coach, since Johnson couldn’t have a phone while fighting.
That coach broke the news to him in the cage after the fight. And while Johnson didn’t care at the end of the day if he knew the gender or not, “it’s fun. What’s a bigger gender reveal than after a fight in the UFC, national, everybody, friends, family watching?”
Johnson will no doubt be extra motivated moving forward, with a new baby on the way. And he’s got a good base to build on now with two straight wins under the UFC banner, with his first finish in the promotion coming Saturday.
Jiimmy Flick did protest that stoppage, feeling it came early. But “Inner G” Johnson shut that argument down following the bout.
“He did say ‘I’m good,’ but it doesn’t matter if you’re not defending yourself intelligently.” Johnson believes that lack of defense was the impetus behind the bout being halted. “It doesn’t matter if you say ‘I’m good, I’m good,’ you’re still taking shots, you’re getting elbowed, you’re getting split open, you’re getting hit, and you’re covering and turning away.”
“The moment he turned into me and tried to grapple, and then I pushed him back down, I knew that was going to be the moment, because he didn’t improve his position after that. So that’s why I opened up a little bit more, because he wasn’t improving his position.”
“Understand the rules, understand what the judges are looking for or what the ref is looking for, and get the finish,” Johnson added.
He did just that on Saturday, and is now 2-1 in the UFC overall.
Watch the full UFC Vegas 67 post-fight media appearance by Charles Johnson above.
