Ultimate Fighter viewers were treated to the sight of not one but two fighters getting choked into unconsciousness in the Octagon on Wednesday night, as both of the fights on this week's episode ended with submissions.As we do each week, MMAFighting.com interviewed Michael Johnson, a member of Team GSP, about the show. Johnson talked about the two fights, his trash talk with rival coach Josh Koscheck, and how the guys on Team GSP felt about improving their record to 5-1 after the sixth fight.
The interview is below.
Michael David Smith: The episode started with Koscheck saying you're overweight and your cardio isn't good. What was that all about?
I thought it was pretty funny. I think he was just talking trash and trying to get under my skin. It was all in good fun. I'm usually able to make weight pretty easily. I don't enjoy cutting, but it's part of the sport. I weigh about 175 right now, and I won't have any trouble getting down 20 pounds for my next fight.
Marc Stevens vs. Cody McKenzie only lasted a few seconds before McKenzie sunk in his patented guillotine. Could you believe Stevens fell right into what everyone knew was McKenzie's best move?
I called that fight -- I knew exactly how that was going to happen, although I didn't think it would happen that quickly. Cody came out really hard, I don't think Marc expected it, and he went right into Cody's strength, right into the guillotine. He didn't try to defend the hands at all, and he just went to sleep. Cody's guillotine is a good move.
Marc made an interesting comment about Cody: He said that Cody sits around drinking and chewing tobacco, while Marc says he is much more dedicated to being a fighter. Do you think there's any truth to that?
No, not really. Cody had a few drinks here and there, but he didn't go overboard, and it didn't seem to affect his training. Obviously, as you could tell, it didn't affect the outcome of that fight. I think Cody is a dedicated fighter.
In the other fight, Jonathan Brookins choked out Sevak Magakian in the first round. Were you surprised by how easily Jonathan finished that one?
That was over really quick, quicker than we expected. It was especially surprising because Sevak is supposed to be a superior judo guy, but Brookins showed he has good jiu jitsu, and once he gets on your back, you're going to have a hard time getting him off. Sevak had said, 'If you're going to put me in a choke, you're going to have to put me to sleep because I'm not tapping' and Brookins made him do that.
Have you ever been choked out?
Not in a fight, thankfully. I have in training, I've had someone put me in a triangle choke and I kept fighting and didn't tap and eventually went out.
At this point in the show, Team GSP leads 5-1. That must have made you guys feel pretty good.
It made us feel really good, especially the way we responded after they got that one win and went totally overboard and out of control. We showed we were the superior team in those two fights, and they didn't have anything to cheer about.
Check back every Thursday to get Michael Johnson's take on the latest episode of The Ultimate Fighter.
Get the latest gear
