Flyweight Charles Johnson arguably had a higher profile than ever despite coming off a loss, thanks to wins over current champ Joshua Van and the recent breakout performance by Lone’er Kavanagh over Brandon Moreno.
“Inner G” Johnson, who returned at UFC Vegas 114 against Bruno Silva, has wins over both.
Johnson vs. Silva kicked off the night’s main card.
Silva held center early in the fight, which kicked off Saturday’s main card at the Meta Apex in Las Vegas. Before long, however, the pair had clinched up, with Johnson reacting to Silva’s forward pressure before landing a right hand and a teep kick from distance.
Near the midway mark, Silva, who was still leading the dance and moving first, found a home for his right hand. Johnson found himself tangled up with Silva after that, the Brazilian getting a bodylock in place up against the fence.
Not much would come of the position, but Silva was back to pressuring early in the second frame. 30 seconds in, he changed levels and drove Johnson up against the fence. Johnson, despite being the taller, longer fighter could not seem to get the fight at his preferred range. And Silva, despite his height disadvantage, wasn’t having much difficultly connecting. Johnson tried working in kicks, to the body and up high; Silva blocked, returned fire with counterpunches, and seemed to just eat a head kick attempt.
Johnson was spending way too much time on the fence in defensive mode.
Round three saw Silva take the reigns out of the gate once again. Johnson had his back to the fence, with Silva dropping down to grab a leg. Johnson fought off the takedown attempt but couldn’t break free of the Brazilian, at least for a moment. Went he finally did, a jab connected for Johnson, but Silva answered with a combo. That said, Silva’s face was starting to show a bit of damage. Soon after it was Johnson clinching up, though he couldn’t hold it. And instead, Silva ripped off another combination. Johnson fired a head kick, only to have it blocked.
The final 90 seconds saw Silva pressing forward, with Johnson firing a knee in the clinch. Silva, however, was up. Johnson needed a finish. He took a big swing, missed, then missed on a hook from the opposite side. They’d open up in the final ten seconds, swinging to the final horn. Come the scorecards, the judges were split.
“The champion is Joshua Van, knocked his ass out. Kavanagh, number six, knocked his ass out,” Johnson exclaimed following the win, before calling for a top five opponent. He then had a list of names: Brandon Royval, Kyoji Horiguchi, or Asu Almabayaev.
Johnson has a loss to Royval on his record dating back to the pair’s LFA days.
Official Result: Charles Johnson def. Bruno Silva by split decision (29-28, 28-29, 30-27)
