On the night Michael Johnson made his first appearance on a UFC fight card, the No. 1 single on the Billboard Hot 100 chart was Rihanna’s “Only Girl (In the World),” and the penultimate instalment in the Harry Potter series — Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 — was on its third week in theaters.
Next Saturday night at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, the 39-year-old Johnson will make the walk for his 32nd appearance inside the Octagon, stepping in against Alexander Hernandez in one of a collection of competitive bouts that makes up the UFC 324 preliminary card.