Saturday night will bring us Kickdown 94, a card loaded with great match ups. I had the chance to catch up with and find out what’s happening in the world of Ricky Johnson…

FF: Haven’t seen you in a while, how have you been?

RJ: I’ve been doing real well, just training a lot, working out and trying to better myself.

FF: Last time we saw you was when you went up against Angelo Duarte…kind of a controversial ending that night. What have you taken away from that night or has it affected your training?

RJ: Absolutely, it was my own fault for letting the fight go to the judges, or not pushing a little bit more. I just think I was…you know, sometimes you just have an off night, and that was my off night. I have definitely been working hard and killing myself in training every day. There were a few times in that fight I should have pulled the trigger, and I hesitated, and I have been working a lot with my coaches on putting the fight where I want it, and fighting my fight, not the other persons fight.

FF: What weight are you fighting at this time Ricky? 45’s , 55’s?

RJ: 45’s…Fighting at 45’s still. A few promoters and my coach are trying to persuade me to go down to 35’s, but we’ll see where that road ends. I like 45’s and I feel like I’m definitely one of the higher level guys at 45 in the state. We’ll see where it goes from here and maybe in the future I’ll be one of those competitive guys that drops down to 35.

FF: You’re going up a guy out of Riverton Wyoming, Sammy Rind. Do you know anything about him?

RJ: No, I don’t know anything about him. I actually kind of like that. It sounds weird but it’s helped me focus more on my training, just because I’m expecting him to be excellent at everything. Rather than me being worried, like with Angelo, I knew he was a wrestler and was going to shoot on me. That kind of got in my head a little bit and detoured me from my fight. I think that going in there not knowing much helps my game a little bit. Yeah, I don’t know anything about him I hope he takes it as serious as I do and I hope he comes to bring it this Saturday.

FF: That makes for an exciting fight…So given that, where would you like to see the fight take place?

RJ: I have been working a lot on letting my hands go. Like I said I expect him to be good at everything. I know my ground game is a strong point, so at any point in the fight, if I get the opportunity you can look for me to take it to the ground and submit him or finish it with some ground and pound.

FF: You talked a little earlier about pulling the trigger and letting your hands go, is there anything else you have been focusing on for this fight?

RJ: I have. I was told that that Vellore mentioned my name in one of the FIGHTFAN interviews and I read About him cutting back on the weights and working more on the dynamics, you know more performance oriented working out for explosiveness, and that’s more of what I have been doing. I haven’t been doing as much weight lighting as much as explosive drills and I feel like that’s helped me a lot. It’s made the weight cut a lot easier for sure. I’ve noticed my overall performance has gotten better because I’m not worrying about all these muscles and trying to be strong. I’m working on the performance aspect of it and building strength rolling with other people. I would definitely say that one area of fight training I have been working on is my overall explosiveness.

FF: Great. Speaking of Vellore, he’s headlining the card. Any thoughts on that?

RJ: I think the whole mishap with him and his last fight and his opponent not making weight…He trained his butt off and then had his fight cancelled. You know I have been there and had fights cancelled, and I think it’s awesome that Steve stepped up and offered him a fight. He was already training and there’s no use in letting that go to waste. So he’s headlining and no disrespect to Matt, but I see Vellore winning that fight Saturday and when he does win that belt he will have me gunning for him even more.

FF: Awesome, that answers my next question… obviously you want the belt, and I know you are looking at Vellore, but should he not win, still interested in fighting him?

RJ: You know I have never had a problem with Vellore and I thought that his call out in his interview was one of the classier call outs I have seen. He said nothing but respectful things, and I agree with him that our styles match up very well and like he said, we would give the fans an exciting fight. Looking past that, right now at this point in both of our careers, I don’t see that fight happening any time in the next few months or maybe even this year. But when and if it does happen, look for an exciting fight. I don’t think we’ll be going in there with any ill will towards one another, I think it will be one athlete against another competing to win.

FF: That would make for an epic ground war. I would love to see that fight.

RJ: I definitely think that fight would be a fun fight and a fight that would test us both. I think we would be evenly matched and I think it would be a fun fight…to say the least.

FF: For sure…Okay Ricky, any sponsors or anybody else you would like to thank?

RJ: Yes, I would like to thank, of course my trainers Adam and Kate Martinez for all the dedication and time they have put in with me, all my team mates, Performance MMA, Max Muscle Loveland/Ft Collins, Old Chicago Restaurants, Mama Tried tattoo, Ruckus Apparel, M&E Painting, and all my friends and family. You know, it’s not easy being around a fighter during camp and they have to sacrifice just as much as we do for us to make this happen. Thank you guys for the interview. Without the fans, it makes what we do pointless. I feel positive for this fight.

FF:  As usual in Steve’s shows, the KICKDOWN 94 card is stacked and I gotta tell you man, I love watching your fights, you always put on an exciting show. I’m really looking forward to Saturday night. In closing is there anything you would like to say to Sam?

RJ: I don’t go in there with ill will towards anybody but you can look for me to be dangerous from any point in the fight. Im going to push the pace. I hope he’s trained his butt off, I know I have, so come in there ready to bang. I hope you bring you’re A game that night.