Tristan Johnson looks to stay undefeated at Ringside
One of the hardest things for a mixed martial artist to do is sit on the sidelines at a young age because of injures. Tristan Johnson has been doing that for about a year now with a shoulder injury. He is now ready to get his career back on track as he faces Guillaime Lamarche this weekend at Ringside: Invasion. Johnson comes into this fight undefeated at 5-0 and is ready to step in the cage.
“I feel in good shape,” says Johnson
“This is my first fight since my shoulder injury, I feel like I am ready to get it on.”
Johnson injured his shoulder last year after his win against Brad Duguay at Absolute Fighting 3 early in the match. While his shoulder was popped he was still able to win by TKO. The surgury afterwards sidelined him for six months. While everything has been going well for him since being able to train again, ring rust could be a factor going in against Lamarche but he feels that it is nothing then just talk.
“It could, but it is hard to say,” says Johnson.
“You never really know. Sometimes guys get it in there and it is fine and other times it isn’t. I have been laid off before for this long and fought before so it is not the first time it has happened to me so I am not too worried about ring rust.”
Before the injury was there, the Digby, Nova Scotia native has been a rising star in the mma scene in Atlantic Canada. He does have the perfect record and now fights out of Dartmouth at Fit Plus where he trains along guys like TJ Grant and Chad Cox. While he has only had five fights in his career of mma, he was also a professional boxer where he went 3-2-1 according to boxrec.com. Johnson has some major KO power and has been advancing in his Maui Thai and ground skills. While Lamarche may be expecting nothing but a standup game from Johnson, he could be in for a surprise.
“Everyone thinks that since I used to be a boxer that I don’t work jiu jitsu in the gym,” says Johnson.
“I am always working constantly on my jiu jitsu in the gym as well as my wrestling and my Maui Thai standup too.. I am ready to go if it hits to the ground. I don’t go in every time and think I am going to catch somebody with a punch, I am working on everything.”
While Johnson has been improving in all aspects on his game. this is expecting to be a classic standup vs ground fight on paper. Guillaime Lamarche comes into this fight at 6-3 with 5 of his wins coming by submission. Lamarche also does have a wealth of experience having fought in TKO and past fights in Ringside. He is however coming off a lose Michel Gagnon at Ringside :Rage in April so he will be trying to get back on the winning track. While he does have the record and a bit of a name in Quebec, Johnson doesn’t seem to know he resume of work.
“To be honest I do not know too much about him” says Johnson.
“I know he is more of a ground guy. I know that he trains at a Maui Thai gym I do believe. I fought a guy from his camp before (Eric Leclerc) and I heard that they fight similar but I have never seen him fight before.”
While Leclere and Lamarche could be the same kind of fighter on paper, it could be a whole other story going in to the fight on Saturday. All we know right now is that Johnson will be looking for the same result.
