Flyweights
Charles Johnson (12-3) vs. Jimmy Flick (16-5)Odds: Johnson (-345), Flick (+285)
Premature retirements in mixed martial arts almost never stick, and Jimmy Flick is the latest to return from a self-imposed layoff. "The Brick" is an interesting fighter that figures to have some success going forward, but also a low ceiling; while his striking is functional, Flick is a pure grappling specialist, chaining together his techniques in impressive fashion to either tap out his opponent or just plain wear them out. Flick's contract-earning win was a highlight of the 2020 edition of the Contender Series, but his UFC debut against Cody Durden painted a much clearer picture of the positives and negatives of Flick's style, as he ate some hard offense before suddenly pulling out a flying triangle choke for the win. Flick then announced his retirement ahead of a May 2021 bout before unretiring late in 2022, making his return here in an interesting pairing against Charles Johnson. A former track star, Johnson is a clear athlete with some impressive size for the flyweight division, but he tends to fall back on his physical gifts rather than leverage them; all else being equal, Johnson is more than content to apply pressure and fight at a slow pace, picking his moments to land his most potent offense. But "InnerG" can be patient to a fault; he needed a late finish to win some of his higher-level regional fights, and his UFC debut against Muhammad Mokaev mostly saw Johnson cede the initiative for Mokaev to implement his wrestling. Even though he probably should've lost his November fight against Zhalgas Zhumagulov, it was at least nice to see Johnson keep up the pace in an absolutely grimy fight, and it'd be helpful if he was a bit more aggressive here against Flick. Johnson seems skilled and athletic enough to avoid diving into a submission, tricky as Flick is, which makes this a strange matchup to parse - since even if Flick can't score a finish, Johnson is likely going to give him a ton of time and space to try and make something work. This looks like a fight where the judges will have to decide between Flick's control time and aggression opposite Johnson's more impactful offense, and the lean goes to the latter here; the pick is Johnson via decision.
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