Immediately after defeating Pure Fitness MMA’s Josh Russell at HeatXC in November, Kajan Johnson was hoping to fight Derrick Noble or Yves Edwards at MFC 23.  Those hopes were not coming to fruition and the Revolution MMA fighter realized that his next bout would be in February 2010 at MFC 24.   That all changed last week when Kajan was asked by Mark Pavelich, the president of Maximum Fighting Championship, to step up on fifteen days notice to take on Ryan Machan.  Ragin’ accepted and Joe Duarte, Machan’s originally scheduled opponent, was off the MFC 23 card and Ragin’ Kajan was on. 

 Johnson wants to climb the MFC ladder and get a Lightweight title shot against Antonio McKee, so why not wait for a higher ranked opponent?  Kajan answers, “I’d rather fight Yves Edwards but he is not coming to the MFC in December.  Josh is a more risky fight for me as he is a great opponent but he is not ranked high.  I’ll take whatever opponent that I can get at this point, because I really want to keep busy.”

 Ryan Machan is definitely a tough opponent who has compiled a 7-0 record in Maximum Fighting Championship. With a 9-3 record overall, Machan has defeated notable Canadian Lightweights like Simon Marini and the very dangerous Brad Cardinal.

 An interesting twist to the fight is that Machan is also a training partner of Josh Russell – the fighter Kajan just finished in the second round of their Heat XC match.  There is no doubt that Machan will be looking to avenge the loss of his Pure Fitness teammate.

 “Machan has a very similar style as Josh Russell but he’s a little bit bigger and a little bit stronger,” Kajan observes.  The British Columbia native is not over confident coming into this fight. “I am taking Ryan Machan more seriously than I took Russell.  I believe Machan is a much tougher opponent.” 

 Like his teammate Russell, Machan favors the ground with the majority of his wins coming by submission. “There is no way that Machan will submit me.  I MMA sparred with world champion Bibiano Fernandez for thirty minutes and he only subbed me once,” states Johnson.

 Maximum Fighting Championship president Mark Pavelich believes that this should be an incredible fight.  He says, “I think it’s time for Machan to step up and see if this is something he’s going to be great at. Kajan is for real and has a tremendous amount of talent and really can go places in the MFC. This fight is a test for both guys.”

 One thing Kajan promises is to step up the pressure on Machan in all aspects of the fight.  “I was very safe and not testing myself in the Russell fight.  If I take the fight to him everywhere, that is what breaks people.  If I beat him standing and I beat him on the ground and I defend his takedowns and beat him in all aspects - that will break him.”