Khabib Nurmagomedov initially wanted to impress the New York City crowd more than usual by standing with Michael Johnson at UFC 205, but eventually scrapped that idea and resorted to his grappling game to get the job done.
Besides himself, no one else from Nurmagomedov’s camp wanted him to trade shots with “The Menace” on the feet, as Johnson’s most likely way of winning the fight was, by far, knocking the Russian out.
Johnson clipped the lightweight contender regularly on the feet in the first round — probably more than what the undefeated lightweight was comfortable with — which led to a successful takedown attempt from Nurmagomedov, and eventually a submission victory for the 28-year-old.