Athletes
Donte Johnson | Clocking In
Dana White’s Contender Series Grad Talks Rapid Rise, UFC Debut
Donte Johnson claimed his place on the UFC roster on August 26 with a first-round stoppage win over Darion Abbey in the opening bout of the third week of action on Season 9 of Dana White’s Contender Series.
The bout was contested at heavyweight, as each of the Fon du Lac, Wisconsin native’s first three professional bouts were before he downshifted to the light heavyweight ranks. Despite giving up considerable size and weight — the five-foot-eight Johnson weighed in at 209 pounds, Abbey is six-foot-two and weighed in at 226.5 pounds —the undefeated 26-year-old quickly found his footing and blitzed his way to victory, flashing quick, powerful hands in putting his larger, more experienced foe out in a grand total of 64 seconds.
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Saturday night, Johnson makes his promotional debut, stepping into the Octagon for a middleweight clash with fellow DWCS grad Sedriques Dumas.
“It’s good,” Johnson said with a smile when asked about dropping two weight classes ahead of this weekend’s first UFC appearance. “My motto this camp was ‘If you don’t hunt, you don’t eat,” and the past three days, I’ve been eating 4,000 calories a day, so that just puts into perspective what me and the team have been doing. I’m excited; I haven’t been 185 since middle school, but I feel good here.
“I was meant to be down at these weights; I just like eating,” he laughed. “But my body feels good here —my muscles, my joints; it all feels good here.”
The conversations about Johnson moving down started even before he was awarded a contract earlier this year, and truth be told, it was always his intention to slide down the scale, as he went so far as to ponder if he could make welterweight during his media availability following his win over Abbey in August. But regardless of where he’s landed and which divisions, plural, he competes in going forward, the most striking thing about his journey to this point is that Johnson only made his pro debut last August.
After six fights in the amateur ranks between July 2022 and October 2023, Johnson stepped into the cage as a professional prizefighter for the first time on August 17, 2024, registering a 33-second stoppage win over Gabriel Sayeg at an Anthony Pettis Fight FC event in Waukesha, Wisconsin.
Four fights, four wins, and 344 days later, he walloped Abbey, moved to 6-0 while maintaining his first-round finishing streak, and impressed UFC President Dana White enough to get the call to the Octagon.
“All I did was row the boat; God steered me the whole way,” he said when asked about the whirlwind journey. “He brought me here as speedily and as fast, because, as you said, it is unheard of, but I can’t take credit for that.
“It has been a whirlwind, but every day I wake up and I check myself,” continued Johnson, whose longest fight lasted four minutes and 27 seconds. “There are days I wake up, and there are tears of joy because it’s like ‘Wow!’ because it did happen fast, but it’s also more motivation to just get up and do it, and that’s what we do.
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“We’re prepared for it, and we’re ready for it.”
Though there is no denying that his ascent to the biggest stage in the sport has been faster than most, some of that is a function of Johnson’s all-in approach to his craft and leaning into his family lineage of fighting.
In the preview vignette ahead of Contender Series appearance, Johnson talked about his grandmother being one of his best coaches and how her grandmother was the first in the family to be out in the streets throwing hands, doing what she needed to do in order to keep her family fed. That mentality has been passed down through the generations and took root with Johnson, who quickly decided that punching other individuals inside the Octagon was a much more enjoyable career pursuit for him than punching a clock.
“What I meant by ‘I can’t settle for that’ is that I know God had brought me here for bigger things,” began Johnson when asked to expand on a statement he made about being unable to settle for a 9-5 lifestyle during his post-fight media session in August. “Being a follower of Christ, being a man of God, it’s up to us to reach out full potential and really express —we’re all gifted with something; God didn’t just bring us here to work for other people, work at something 9-5.
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“There are things deeper inside of us that God has gifted us with, and for me, I realized that fighting was it. I realized at a young age that athletics were it — I played football, played college football, I wrestled — and these were things that I really loved and that I picked up on really fast. Once I got a taste of it and I saw glimpses of what I could make of it, I was like, ‘I gotta go all-in!’
“I was tired of waking up and clocking in, and it’s not that I have a problem with it — I love working, and (it’s not a knock on anybody that) loves that,” continued Johnson, who listed off a string of hands-on, labor-intense stops he’d made before opting to put his powerful hands to better use. “There are people that love waking up, drinking their coffee, going to work, coming home, seeing their children, and there is nothing wrong with that at all, it’s just not for me.
“I feel like God sent us here to rule, reign, conquer, and subdue, and I’m gonna do that with fighting.”
This weekend, the debutant gets the opportunity to make an instant splash in his new weight class and new promotion as he steps in with Dumas, who tagged in when Nick Klein was forced to withdraw.
While not a veteran in the sense that he has a copious amount of overall experience and a resume littered with fights against established names, the 30-year-old Dumas is at a different stage of his career than Klein and represents a more formidable challenge for Johnson straight out of the gates. A member of the DWCS Class of ’22, the Pensacola, Florida representative has already logged as many appearances inside the Octagon as he did outside the Octagon, and comes into this weekend’s contest looking to snap a two-fight run without a victory, after falling to Michal Oleksiejczuk in April and having his last bout with Zach Reese declared a no contest less than a minute in after taking a punishing accidental low blow that left him unable to continue.
“I was working on my wrestling with some top-tier dudes, sharpening my grappling for (Klein), but that’s why I’m excited for this fight, because SD likes to throw hands, and so do I,” said Johnson, a wide grin spreading across his face as he struggled to contain his excitement. “I like to conserve energy! I like to get in there and find a way to get it done as simply as possible and as effectively as possible.
“Yeah, I know it’s MMA —I can wrestle, I can kick, I elbow, I do all that, but it’s like (Ilia) Topuria and how he fights: he can do all that, he’s a mixed martial artists, but what’s the most simple way? Put your hands up and locate the jaw.
“What it is is ‘walk in the rain and don’t get wet,’” he added. “What that means is be defensively responsible, keep your eyes open, and be aware. After that, go ahead and fight; take care of business.”
Just a couple of months ago, Johnson was an unbeaten fighter with a dream and the drive to chase after it. Now, he’s on the cusp of making his UFC debut and giving himself the opportunity to begin looking at the next set of goals he invariably has for himself.
It’s been a hectic, but fruitful 15 months as a professional, but on Saturday night, all that time, effort, and energy committed to reaching the biggest stage in the sport begins to pay off when he gets the chance to make the walk to the Octagon for the first time.
“It’s amazing and I’m excited for what’s to come,” said Johnson, quickly making it clear that he’s not content with just being here. “We got the job, God is good, but now it’s time to get promotions.”
And how’s it going to feel to stand in the center of the cage, arm raised in victory this weekend, just a handful of weeks after — as he said —getting the job?
He smiles and giggles, taking a quick sip of his water to steady himself and try to respond, but the joyous, childlike reaction already says it all.
“It’s gonna feel amazing,” he said. “It’s gonna feel amazing.”
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