LINCOLN, Neb. – Michael Johnson is determined to find success in the featherweight division before he considers a return to lightweight.

After stumbling in his 145-pound debut earlier this year, Johnson (17-13 MMA, 9-9 UFC) will give it another go in the weight class when he takes on Andre Fili (18-5 MMA, 6-4 UFC) in Saturday’s UFC Fight Night 135 co-headliner.

Johnson, 32, is currently in the midst of a three-fight losing skid and has dropped five of his past six overall. He hoped the change of division would bring a change in results, and although that didn’t happen the first time around, “The Menace” expects things to be different now.

“I considered going back up, but everyone knows how stubborn I am in this sport,” Johnson told MMAjunkie. “I was like, ‘No, hell no. I need another win.’ So I’m going to put myself through the torture of getting down to 145 again. I can’t just go into a division then run away after another loss. That’s not me. I want to show everybody that, ‘Hey, I’m here. I can compete with these guys and I’m going to take the division over and come back in and finish what I started at lightweight.’”

It’s easy to look at Johnson’s record and notice how lopsided the win-to-loss ratio is in recent years. However, when viewing things closer, it’s clear Johnson has been fighting the highest caliber competition. Some of his recent opponents include UFC lightweight champ Khabib Nurmagomedov, former WSOF champ Justin Gaethje, Nate Diaz and Darren Elkins.

There’s no shame in losing to any of those names, but Johnson is of the belief he should have won those fights, and he thinks he’s corrected than issue that will get him over the hump.

“My mindset, my last few fights I haven’t been full focused enough,” Johnson said. “This training camp I’ve been really focused. Just me taking my time, focusing on what I need to do. Speaking everything into existence. I know how great I am. I know I’m better than these guys that I’m fighting, I’m better than these guys I’m losing too. I just need to stay focused for 15 minutes, 25 minutes, whatever it is. Get back on the winning track, because (expletive), I really miss that feeling. Especially when you’re beating these guys and end up losing. There’s no worse way to lose than that.”

Johnson provided high praise toward Fili and said the matchup is going to be no walk in the park for him. He said he doesn’t feel that same respect coming back the other way, though, and promised that Fili overlooking him could lead to a disastrous outcome.

“He’s definitely underestimating me,” Johnson said. “I’ve been hearing around here. So that’s a bad thing for him. He’s a (expletive) idiot if he’s doing that. … He thinks it’s his time, he thinks I’ve came and gone already. But this is my second breath. I’m in it to win it and you guys are going to see the old Michael Johnson in there.”

For more on UFC Fight Night 135, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.