Charles Johnson showed up to UFC 330 expecting one opponent and learned during fight week that he would be getting another.
With money already spent, his family and team in Philadelphia and a paycheck on the line, Johnson wasn’t about to let a last minute opponent change keep him from stepping into the cage.
“I wasn’t because I didn’t know,” Johnson told Cageside Press at his post-fight scrum.
“I was signing posters, and they called me and they said, ‘Hey your opponent’s not going to make the fight, but we have this person.’ I was like alright. Okay, that sucks, but alright.”
For Johnson, getting the fight in was about a whole lot more than just adding another win to his record. With his team and family already in Philly, Johnson couldn’t afford to leave without a paycheck.
“I spent a lot of money training, I spent a lot of money doing recovery, getting my whole team here, bringing my family here. Not getting a payday is very important, I don’t make enough money, yet,” he said.
“I wanted to fight tonight, in Philly most importantly, and show my work and my effort, and my team’s work and effort.”
Things got a little chaotic after Johnson ate an eye poke and then an illegal knee for good measure. The knee didn’t hurt Johnson, so he used the timeout to let his blurry vision clear.
“It was blurry up until he landed the second illegal shot, which was the knee, so I just used that so I can get my vision back from the eye poke. The knee landed above, like on my eyebrow, it didn’t land on the eye,” said Johnson.
“My eye wasn’t recovered from the eye poke. I just wanted to get the eye clear. I wasn’t hurt or anything.”
Johnson knew exactly how to get the Philadelphia crowd on his side before ever stepping inside the cage. Walking out to the Rocky theme finally woke up a Philly crowd Johnson thought had been too quiet.
“Dude, when that hit, everybody turnt up right? I was like, about time Philly! It was a little quiet,” he said.
“I heard some boos back there, I was like what is going on? This is Philly the best fans in the world. Philly fans are the best. They love you, but you better win.”
Watch the entire post-fight scrum with Charles Johnson above.
