\u201cThe Menace\u201d is beaten \u2014 but far from broken.<\/p>\n
Longtime Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) veteran Michael Johnson suffered a brutal knockout loss to Drew Dober at UFC 326<\/a> earlier this month (Sat., March 7, 2026) inside T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada (watch highlights<\/a>).<\/p>\n The 32-fight UFC veteran was immediately transported to the hospital following the knockout<\/a>, and until now, had remained silent on the setback.<\/p>\n \u201cLast week was a tough pill to swallow,\u201d Johnson said in an Instagram video. \u201cDamn, everything was going so good \u2014 but I guess that\u2019s when the worst happens, right? When things are going too good.\u201d<\/p>\n Johnson didn\u2019t make excuses for the loss, giving full credit to his opponent.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was no fluke. It was no lucky punch or no bullshit like that. He caught me right on the f\u2014king chin,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cI just made a small mistake and got a little too comfortable in there and I paid the price.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cDrew fought a good fight,\u201d he continued. \u201cHe stayed patient and took the little damage I was giving him. I didn\u2019t fight my fight at all. Maybe my mind was going a million places. Maybe it was the back-to-back camps, the weight cuts \u2014 who knows? But at the end of the day, Michael Johnson went in there and lost.\u201d<\/p>\n Despite the setback, Johnson made it clear he isn\u2019t going anywhere.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve lost some battles, but we\u2019re in it for the war,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cI\u2019m not f\u2014king leaving. I\u2019m not leaving anytime soon.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m a winner, and I\u2019m going to win,\u201d he added. \u201cI want a lot of the rematches I\u2019ve lost. I want the Gaethje rematch.<\/a> I definitely want Dober again \u2014 I just made a small mistake. In this game, small mistakes lead to huge consequences. I was a little emo, a little depressed, a little ashamed, but now we\u2019re back and ready to get to work.\u201d<\/p>\n For what it\u2019s worth, Johnson vs. Dober was surrounded by controversy<\/a> before the fight even happened. In the hours leading up to the bout, Dober went from a +115 betting underdog<\/a> to nearly a 2-1 favorite, which led several sportsbooks, including FanDuel, to pull the fight from their platforms. DraftKings Sportsbook also removed all prop bets and left only the moneyline available \u2014 in the end, nothing happened because, according to UFC CEO Dana White, it had zero legitimacy<\/a>.<\/p>\n The loss snapped Johnson\u2019s three-fight win streak, which included victories over Daniel Zellhuber, Ottman Azaitar, and Darrius Flowers.<\/p>\n Now sitting at 24-20, the 39-year-old owns 16 losses inside the promotion \u2014 the second-most in UFC history \u2014 but, according to him, he\u2019s not slowing down anytime soon.<\/p>\n