LAS VEGAS – Ode Osbourne beat Charles Johnson with a split decision Saturday on the preliminary card at UFC Fight Night 220 in Las Vegas.
Take a look inside the fight with Osbourne, who had to rally from a first-round low blow that kept him on the canvas trying to recover for five minutes.
Charles Johnson vs. Ode Osbourne
Result: Ode Osbourne def. Charles Johnson via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
Updated records: Osbourne (12-5 MMA, 4-3 UFC), Johnson (13-4 MMA, 2-2 UFC)
Key stat: Johnson won the striking battle 74-50, but Osbourne landed three takedowns, which may have been the difference with two judges.
Osbourne on the fight's key moment
“I was trying to chop his leg. To be honest with you, I was trying to break his legs through the whole fight because I know he didn’t check any kicks. My whole mentality going in was breaking his legs. I was trying to break his legs. And I knew when he started talking to me, I was like, ‘Yeah, I’m getting close. I’m getting closer and closer.’ And I was just chopping his legs away. So I know he’s going to be waking up feeling that tomorrow morning for sure because my kicks are no joke.”
Osbourne on having a full camp
“Never take a fight on two weeks notice. That’s what I learned (after my loss to Tyson Nam) because I had a terrible weight cut and I was cramping up so bad. It made me do stupid things that I didn’t want to do. I was trying to force the fight and do random flying knees because I felt like I couldn’t go the distance because the weight cut was so terrible, and I was cramping, and all the emotions of everything going on.
“But it was meant to happen because after that fight, I ended up leaving Syndicate (MMA) and meeting up with Dewey Cooper and Jason Manley, and that was the best decision ever because Dewey had me running Mt. Charleston (near Las Vegas) and running the Red Rock (Canyon) mountains and running all these mountains, and I’ve never ran before in my fights. When I got to the top of the mountain, just looking around and being like, ‘Man, there’s nobody else up here on these mountains. It’s just me.’ And that’s the feeling that I felt like, OK, so this is what it’s going to be like to be a champion.”
Osbourne on what he wants next
“Once I get my eye situation figured out, we’ll plan it out and I’ll talk to my managers and my coaches. But there is a guy that I would love to fight because I think he’s a very exciting fight, and I think we would put on a show, a banger – and that’s Matt Snell. I think we’d put on a great performance because he comes to fight (and) I come to fight. That’s the game. People want to see entertaining fights, and I think we would be an entertaining fight.”
To hear more from Osbourne, check out the video of the full post-fight interview above.
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 220.
