Charles Johnson | Chasing Something Bigger

A part of last year’s tremendous graduating class from Dana White’s Contender Series, Kavanagh has yet to replicate his contract-winning effort inside the Octagon, but he’s continued marching forward with an unblemished record nonetheless, doing so by beating a pair of equally talented youngsters.

After blasting his way onto the roster with a first-round knockout win over An Tuan Ho in the first bout of last season, the GB Top Team representative has posted consecutive unanimous decision wins over Jose Ochoa and Felipe dos Santos; the former who has since gone on to knock out Cody Durden and push Top 10 fixture Asu Almabayev on short notice, while the latter has always been seen as a talented prospect.

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For Kavanagh, Saturday’s contest is a step up in competition and a date with a battle-tested stalwart; an opportunity to get another read on where the up-and-coming flyweight stands at the moment and better project what his future may hold based on the results.

But, for Johnson, it’s a chance to show he’s ready for more and on a different level than his 26-year-old adversary.

“He’s been fighting prospects and I’ve been fighting contenders,” he said confidently. “I fought guys that have been prospects, been ranked, and been the No. 1 now, twice — Brandon Royval in the LFA, and Joshua Van in the UFC. Both of those were close fights; one I got the KO, one of them I didn’t get the nod, but it was close.”

The fight with Van is one that sticks out for obvious reasons, as the 23-year-old from Houston, by way of Myanmar, has posted five straight wins since their encounter in Denver last July, most recently besting Royval on short notice to situate himself as the No. 1 contender in the flyweight division.

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It was a competitive fight through the first two rounds, with the judges split right down the middle — 20-18 Johnson, 19-19, and 20-18 Van — heading into the third round. Twenty seconds later, Johnson took the judges out of the equation.

While the loss clearly sparked something in Van, the question is, has his subsequent rise prompted Johnson to look inward, to grasp the power that comes from having earned a stoppage win over the emerging standout just 13 months ago?

“This is something me and my team have already known, and known for a while: when you fight and you be yourself, there’s no one who can flow with you,” he said when asked about channeling a mindset and approach that allows him to tap into the performance he conjured against Van in Denver. “When I get into that flow state, very few guys in the world can keep up, no matter who it is.

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“I’m extremely excited about this opportunity — I worked my *** off,” Johnson added. “I’m a world champion — I know it — so it’s just about performing now, at my best, not at the level of my competition, and being healthy. If I’m healthy and I focus on me, the Joshua Van fight happens every fight.”

So how does he make that happen this weekend in Shanghai?

“It’s already done; it was done in camp,” said Johnson. “Saturday I see myself winning the same way I always do: by reminding them they can’t fight back. Every time these guys get in a fight with me, they end up running, they end up looking up at the clock.

“I see myself winning by keeping that same energy I’ve had throughout camp, and it has nothing to do with Lone’er Kavanagh. Everything I say, I do, has nothing to do with Lone’er Kavanagh — he’s just the person who signed the contract.

“When that cage door shuts on Saturday, his story ends and mine begins,” he added. “Whether it’s a jab or I’m choking him out or a storm of strikes — he’s a chapter in my book and that chapter ends for me (on Saturday) night.”