Worthy vs Johnson – More Hours Please!

If Chaka Worthy could get 25 hours out of a day, he’d love it.

Worthy is always on the go. According to the 155-pound fighter from Pittsburgh, he gets about four hours of sleep a night, waking up at 5 a.m. to squeeze in a six-mile run and lift weights, before heading off to his day job as a social worker. Worthy said that he then logs another six miles on his lunch break before heading back to work. His night are spent at The Academy of Martial Arts and Fitness, working in eight five-minute rounds of sparring. Later on, he’ll head to LA Fitness to get another hour in on an elliptical machine and core work. Somewhere in between all of that madness, Worthy manages to spend some time with his young son and his girlfriend. And maybe, just maybe, take a moment to breathe. 

“It’s hectic, and I’m always on the go. But that’s what I like about fighting, if you keep grinding and grinding,” Worthy said. “It’s kind of weird, because I’m always busy and doing multiple things at the same time, but…You have to keep everything in its own focus, so that everything gets the right attention.”

Worthy vs Johnson – Nonstop Action

What has Worthy’s attention is a bantamweight showdown at 247FC’s Brawl in the Burgh 3 on March 14. Worthy comes into the bout at 3-2 as a professional fighter, while his opponent, Mike Johnson Jr., is 4-4. Both are coming off of second round technical knockout wins in their most recent fights. And, each fighter has a supreme belief in his own conditioning leading to victory.

“It should be nonstop action,” said Johnson Jr., who pointed out that he is able to log nearly nine miles in a one-hour run, and averages five miles of running a day during the week. ”There’s no reason for him to slow down, and no reason for me to slow down.”

Slowing down, Johnson Jr. went on to say, just isn’t his style. Fighting out of Stars and Strikes MMA just outside of Detroit, Johnson Jr. is looking forward to putting his cardio and aggressive striking to the test. Johnson Jr. said he’s been training more than five hours /day for the last three weeks. And, with a background in wrestling, he has no qualms about either standing and trading with his opponent, or with taking Worthy down and knocking out a win on the ground.

“I can change up the game at any moment,” Johnson Jr. said. “[Worthy] probably thinks he’s going to knock me out. I see myself knocking him out, or winning by unanimous decision.”

Worthy vs Johnson – “I don’t think anybody can strike with me “

Worthy, meanwhile, has a tactical game plan of his own. It starts by controlling the pace of the fight, continues by using his distance to strike, and ends with chipping away at Johnson Jr. until something gives way.

“If you just constantly work your game plan over and over, the openings are going to be there,” Worthy said. “Eventually, their cardio is going to slow down, or something is going to slow down, and the opening will come. You have to be patient.”

Worthy continued, “I think that I can just wear guys down…if you want to try to take me down it’s going to tire you out, because you’re going to have to pay to get me to the ground. And standing up, I don’t think that anybody can strike with me—anybody. I don’t think anybody wants to strike with me.”

That kind of strategy is just fine by Johnson Jr, who believes that he will strike moving forward, and keep Worthy backpedaling all night. After all, Johnson Jr. thinks that people don’t understand what kind of fighter he is yet. However, Johnson Jr. does plan on clearing up any misconceptions and aggressively introducing himself to Worthy, and everyone else in attendance, at the Brawl in the Burgh 3 event.

“If he fights like that, that’s on him,” Johnson Jr. said of Worthy. “A lot of people don’t know me. It’s whatever. They can get to know me on [March 14].”

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