Michael Johnson (photo via UFC)

By FCF Staff

Michael Johnson is apologizing for how he acted, after he knocked out Dustin Poirier at UFC Fight Night 94, but the lightweight’s also explained why he was so emotional following the win.

Johnson quickly put Poirier down with a right-left combo in the card’s headliner, and then finished the fight with punches from above. As Poirier was being attended to by officials, Johnson walked over and taunted the downed fighter. In his backstage, post-fight interview, however Johnson said this:

“I said some things after I knocked him out and I went and apologized to him. I’m better than that you know? Like I said, it was an emotional thing. I like Dustin; he’s a good guy. I was wrong for saying what I did after…I hope we can be cool in the future.”

“I’ve known Dustin for a while; we’ve crossed paths, and I felt really disrespected to hear what he was saying about me in the press,” Johnson said earlier in the interview. “In his interviews, he said I walked out like I was a big shot, and he said I was nothing, and this-and-that, and that rubbed me the wrong way, because I’d been showing him the utmost respect in all my interviews… That right there was to a prove a point and he should have respected me more.”

With the win, Johnson ended a two fight losing streak and moved his overall record to 17-10. The Florida fighter was ranked #10 in the UFC’s 155 division, leading into this weekend’s action. Poirier’s record now stands at 20-5. The lightweight is currently ranked #7.