Miles Johns was just boarding his flight to Las Vegas for a fight against Cody Garbrandt when he got a call from his manager. He knew there was no chance it was good news.
“Jason [House] called me and if he calls me on fight week like that I already know something’s not good,” Johns told MMA Fighting. “He lets me know Cody is out but just stay the course, we’re going to look for a new replacement, we’re going to look for a new opponent. I’m staying on the diet and everything. I really thought that they were going to find somebody.”
The fight cancellation was understandably frustrating considering Johns was already cutting weight and jumping on a plane bound for Las Vegas when he got word. The matchup was scrapped after a previous delay pushed the fight back from October to November.
This time around, Johns found out Garbrandt was actually dropping out of the fight but he wasn’t upset about the cancellation as much as he was the lack of response he heard from his opponent.
“I’ve had to pull out of a fight on the Wednesday before a fight because during my training session, I freaking dislocated my shoulder, tore my labrum, tore my chest,” Johns explained. “I know how that happens. But immediately after it happened, I put up something on social media [saying] so sorry to my opponent Raoni Barcelos, I feel bad for him, I feel bad for everyone who is expected it, things happen but it’s the way you go about it.
“The thing about Cody, he supposedly had vertigo and he was getting dizzy at the [UFC Performance Institute]. I mean this dude has had vertigo since 2012. He’s been going to therapy for it this whole time. I feel like he’s been dealing with this. He decided he was going to take the fight. He pushed the fight back and then decided ‘oh yeah, I’m going to do this’ and then I don’t know if he felt my energy fight week or if he was watching my stuff and thought ‘this young dude is going to come in here and knock my ass out and I’m looking to go out on my last fight with somebody with a bigger name.’ I don’t know what it was. Then he pulls out and just goes radio silent, doesn’t say anything.”
As much as he wishes Garbrandt at least messaged him privately to apologize or explain what happened, Johns isn’t holding a grudge but he also had no desire to revisit that matchup again.
“I’m still giving him the benefit of the doubt,” Johns said about Garbrandt. “I still like the dude. When I was watching him growing up before I was in the UFC, I always looked up to him, I always had a lot of respect and I don’t want to lose that respect.
“I don’t really know what he’s going through. At the end of the day, I just hope he’s happy with his decisions. Because it seems like he just wants to ride off into the sunset on a motorcycle and that’s all fine and good but before you do that, you better walk through the fire or your soul is not going to be free. I’m moved on past it. Forget that dude and we’ve got bigger things ahead of us.”
Johns actually had every intention of fighting anybody the UFC could throw at him that week in Las Vegas but when the promotion couldn’t secure a new opponent, he had to shift gears to a later date.
Now he’s scheduled to face Felipe Lima at featherweight at UFC Tampa on Saturday with Johns revealing that it was his idea to put the fight at 145 pounds because he was only six pounds over the bantamweight limit when he got the word that he wouldn’t be competing in November. Going through another grueling weight cut just a few weeks later wasn’t going to be good for his body so Johns was happy to move up a division, if only for one night.
While the change in opponents isn’t ideal, Johns still sees benefit in his new fight against Lima versus the matchup he was supposed to face with Garbrandt.
“I feel like this fight reaps more benefits,” Johns said. “I feel like if I would have knocked Cody out, everybody’s just going to say he’s on his way out, he’s on his last leg anyway. But for some reason people are counting me out of this fight. They do this to me every single time. I’m like I’m finally going to shut you guys up. I’m going to go out and put this kid away and I think this one will give me some respect on my name.”
If all goes well on Saturday, Johns already has an idea about his next fight and that might actually be a matchup that he could potentially take away from Garbrandt if he plays his cards right.
“I’m done with [Cody] but him and [Dominick] Cruz had a long rivalry,” Johns said. “I go out there and I have a really good performance this time, I saw that Dominick Cruz was saying that he’s looking for one last dance. Looking to put a show on and if I have a good performance, why not throw me in that fight?
“I have a lot of respect for him. He’s always giving me advice as a commentator. I’d be honored to give him his last fight.”
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