He has sparred with Georges St-Pierre, the most famous mixed martial arts fighter in the world.
For any up-and-coming MMA athlete, that's the stuff of dreams. But, these days, Kajan Johnson is all about reality.
Reality TV, that is.
Johnson, a former Prince George resident who started his MMA career here and now lives in Montreal, is one of the stars of The Ultimate Fighter Nations: Canada vs. Australia, which airs Wednesdays at 7 p.m. on Sportsnet 360. In the show, eight Canadians and eight Australians live and train together in Lachute, Que., 62 kilometres northwest of Montreal. And, each week, two of them go head-to-head in the octagon, with national pride and bragging rights on the line.
There's also cash up for grabs, including $25,000 for knockout of the season, submission of the season and fight of the season. More significantly, the eventual winner will land himself an Ultimate Fighting Championship contract because the show is the brainchild of UFC president Dana White.
Johnson, 29, is intent on being a UFC champion some day and knows the experience and exposure he gets on Ultimate Fighter Nations could help him reach his goal.
"This could do everything for me or absolutely nothing," he told The Citizen from Montreal. "I could go on this show and end up not making it all the way, or losing, and end up in obscurity, or I could do everything I need to do on the show and just continue to blow my name up, continue to get fights and to do things like this -- do interviews -- and make sure that my name stays relevant and people still want to see me."
With the exception of the season finale, the show has already been filmed and, obviously, Johnson knows what has happened to date. However, he has signed a $5 million non-disclosure agreement and isn't about to let any forbidden details leak out.
"We can't release any information about any upcoming episodes and, even episodes that have already aired, we can't release any information from those episodes that wasn't on television," he said. "It's different, for sure."
Johnson attended tryouts for Ultimate Fighter Nations in late August or early September and, after thinking he had been passed over, was informed in October he had made the cut.
"I was coming off injuries -- I hadn't fought in a couple years so I was worried that they were going to use that against me," said Johnson, who had recently recovered from ligament damage in one of his knees and a rotator cuff tear. "But that was one of the reasons they chose me, I think. They really liked that comeback story. I was ecstatic when I found out I got in. I was on a massage table getting my shoulder worked on when I got the call."
Filming started in November and the first episode aired on Jan. 15. Johnson -- who has mastered boxing, wrestling, muay thai, jiu jitsu and taekwondo -- was Canada's first fighter and used a rear-naked choke to beat fellow welterweight Brendan O'Reilly by submission.
"It was a long time that I hadn't fought so it was cool to get in there and shake off a bit of the rust and also it was really cool to get a win for my team," Johnson said. "MMA is a real solo sport, it's not a team sport, but in this setting each win is going to really affect the rest of your team."
The fifth installment of the show was televised on Wednesday of this week. So far, Canadians have won three of the five matches.
In total, there will be 12 episodes. Winners will keep advancing and, ultimately, two will clash in a three-hour finale that will be broadcast live from Quebec City on April 16.
Johnson is still getting used to the idea of being a TV star.
"It's pretty cool," he said. "It's just really fulfilling to finally get some acknowledgment for all the years of hard work. It's been about 12 years now I've been at this. Hardcore MMA fans have known me for a while because I've been [fighting] in Canada for a long time but the general public had no idea who I was."
Johnson is originally from Burns Lake and moved to Prince George in his teen years. He attended Prince George secondary school and was told by a school friend about a local group that was doing no-holds-barred fighting.
"I went and started training with these guys -- Travis Galbraith and Bill Mahood and Karm Manhas, who actually still runs a gym in Prince George," said Johnson, who graduated from PGSS in 2002. "I was super-young, super-skinny. I learned pretty quickly but these guys were all massive beasts."
Johnson won his first-ever fight, in Lethbridge, when he knocked his opponent out in 24 seconds.
"I was just hooked and I never really looked back," he said. "My early career was very up and down -- more down than up probably -- but eventually I decided to really take it seriously."
Around 2005, Johnson packed up and went to Vancouver, where there were better training opportunities. He worked every job imaginable to support himself and continued to develop his fighting skills. As time went by, he found he was outgrowing his surroundings and that prompted his move to Montreal in late 2011.
In Canada, Montreal is the centre of all things MMA. Johnson now trains at the renowned Tristar Gym, home to many of the elite MMA athletes in the world -- including Rory MacDonald, John Makdessi and the legendary St-Pierre, who retained his UFC welterweight championship for the ninth consecutive time when he defeated top contender Johny Hendricks last Nov. 16 in Las Vegas. St-Pierre later announced he was vacating the title and taking a leave of absence.
Johnson is slightly smaller than St-Pierre but, in the past couple years, has sparred with him several times.
"He's a really nice guy -- super easy-going and super-humble," Johnson said. "He's never arrogant or standoffish, and to spar against, he's one of my favourite sparring partners because I'm never worried about getting injured with him. He's very, very controlled, he has zero ego in the gym. Sometimes he'll put himself in a bad position so he knows how to work out of it. He's not always trying to win every sparring session. A lot of times he's just working on something new so he's not that guy that's trying to take your head off."
Johnson, who took an overall record of 19-10-1 into Ultimate Fighter Nations and has gone 13-2-1 since 2005, has dedicated himself so completely to his sport that he doesn't plan to stop until he reaches the top -- this despite the fact he has had his face fractured in nine different places over the years.
Johnson, a personal trainer when he's not in front of the cameras or honing his own skills, said he doesn't really have any long-term health concerns. At the same time, he's aware of the risks and the fact that one day he may have to step away from the octagon sooner than he'd like.
"Obviously we do get punched in the head so I know that brain damage is a factor eventually," he said. "I believe that I'll be smart enough to get out when I need to get out.
"If my speech starts slurring, if I find that I'm not as mentally sharp as I used to be, if I'm taking a whole bunch of shots that I shouldn't be taking, then I'll leave the sport. I've got two arms, two legs, two of pretty much everything, but I've only got one brain and it's got to run everything.
"I don't want to end up like a stereotypical fighter with speech impediments and slurring problems," he added. "I want to be able to live out the rest of my life in a healthy way."
