UFC bantamweight Miles Johns is preparing to face the biggest name of his UFC run to date when he returns to the Apex this weekend. At UFC Vegas 100, he will take on the former 135-pound champion, Cody Garbrandt.
Johns has been on a good run recently with three unanimous decision wins and a no contest against Dan Argueta in between. For his fight against Garbrandt, he intends on making use of the smaller Octagon inside the UFC facility.
He wants to put pressure on “No Love” and is expecting the former champion to try and counter strike off the backfoot, using his speed and footwork to circle around the outside of the cage. However, Johns believes that he can disrupt this by playing on his opponent’s tendencies.
We have seen a far more reserved version of Garbrandt in his recent fights with the likes of Deiveson Figueiredo, Brian Kelleher and Trevin Jones. When he was on his difficult run of results after losing the belt, he was more well known for getting into firefights but it wasn’t working in his favor.
Therefore, Johns told MMA Junkie in a recent interview that he believes he can try to bait Garbrandt to stray from a more patient style if he is able to pressure him and play on his emotions. He wants to bring out the old version of the former champion who would often throw strategy out of the window and engage in a kill or be killed approach.
“I’m expecting for him to crack back but I think that if I get him up against the wall and I start putting some heat on him, he’s not going to like that and I want to make it an exciting fight. I want a fight that the fans have fun watching and that they enjoy so we’ll see what happens. Hopefully, I also know he’s a little bit emotional so if he’s waiting a little bit and I tell him like, ‘Come on man, what we waiting on? Let’s get this thing popping.’ I think that he will oblige but we’ll see.”
