Michael Johnson talks about his Justin Timberlake parody, mixing it up before Jury fight

The world of MMA sometimes needs a little boost to get fans interested in a fight. Outside of names like Chael Sonnen, Ronda Rousey and the recently retired Tito Ortiz, most fighters are more focused on training than promoting. UFC lightweight and The Ultimate Fighter season 12 runner-up Michael Johnson is well aware of that and decided to inject a little fun into the build for his fight with Myles Jury at UFC 155 with the parody video “Fist In A Box.” The video made its rounds on the World Wide Web, including on LowKick this past Wednesday, and has brought some extra interest in his preliminary fight on Saturday. It’s especially important to Johnson considering a victory will put him at 4-0 for the year. But what made him do the goofy parody based on Justin Timberlake’s SNL skit “Dick In A Box?”

READ MORE:  Meryl Streep's callous comment about MMA motivated Conor McGregor to prove her wrong with 'Road House'

“That’s the new single!” Johnson said with a laugh to LowKick in an interview. “Myles sent out a boring and typical blog so I thought we needed to mix something up. Me and my guy Ryan Loco decided we needed to one up him. I thought we should do a music video. I ain’t no singer but that’s not the point. The point was to get people to tune in.”

And tune in they did. Although he was terribly off key (“When I was shooting it I was like ‘God, I sound horrible!'”) Johnson has stirred up some interest in his fight as the video hit multiple blogs and a few good laughs. With the interest generated, Johnson figures that it’s something that he’ll keep doing.

READ MORE:  Ian Garry has no interest in a fight with Michael 'Venom' Page: 'His number is not higher than mine'

“It has to be an ongoing thing where we bite somebody’s song and flip it,” Johnson says. “I’m looking forward to showing the other side of me. You don’t have to be too serious in MMA. Everyone knows how tough you are but you don’t have to act like a tough guy all the time.”