A story of perseverance
Yolo Rum continues to proudly support Charles “InnerG” Johnson. Johnson is a flyweight fighter and former LFA champion with four consecutive wins. He spent time at the renowned Tiger Muay Thai gym, where he currently trains to face off against his upcoming opponent Mohammed Mokaev on July 23rd during UFC Fight Night in London England! Charles Johnson’s UCF debut is a story of perseverance.
A story about how Charles overcame adversity while training was shared by Johnson, which will surely get your adrenaline pumping until the fight arrives this weekend.
Back in 2020 when Charles was training at Tiger Muay Thai, Mohammed came to visit the camp for a few weeks, and this wasn’t Mokaev’s first visit, he was very familiar with the coaches in the past. Johnson was on sponsorship with Tiger Muay Thai since the try-outs. Johnson even briefly went toe-to-toe a couple of times, it wasn’t anything serious, just a few stand-up rounds, and a few grapples.
Johnson definitely took notice of Mokaev after he was signed with the UFC, shortly after Johnson’s first title defense. CJ figured if Mokaev could be called up, so could he. Once Johnson did join the UFC roster, his one-time sparring partner Mokaev, now a 6-0 professional fighter, will be the one stepping into the octagon to welcome him.
The UFC has been gradually paying more attention to Mokaev, and for good reason, he’s young, fired up, and brings a lot of value to the UFC brand. Mokaev is the favorite to win this bout by many analyses, but that hasn’t slowed Johnson’s debut drive and actually helped the InnerG push even harder to win.
How does Johnson feel about being a 4:1 underdog?
“Well, it tells you a lot about the casualness of MMA fans, you know, like they just see this kid. Even the betting line, like they just see “oh undefeated”… a lot of betting lines are like that.”
“A lot of casual fans don’t know me, you know, get behind, young kid, everybody wants to see the next great thing right. He is a really good fighter, but I dig the lines, I always see the betting lines are pretty ridiculous.”
“Fighting is one of those sports where betting lines get very blurry really fast unless you’re a Valentina Shevchenko. I think that’s the only individual in our sport that stands out in a betting situation, to be honest. Because I think the women are really far behind her in that weight class.”
Johnson is coming into this fight as the underdog and will have to put on a spectacular performance if he wants to come out with his hand raised. With the odds stacked against him, Mokaev might want to keep his eyes wide open, because this will be not be an easy victory. Tune in to UFC Fight Night on July 23rd to see who comes out on top!
