Danny Castillo. Tony Ferguson. Shane Roller. Myles Jury. No slouches, that group, and Michael Johnson knows it.

The UFC lightweight and “TUF 12” runner up is 3-1 against that batch, with just an upset loss to Jury in December keeping him from a perfect 2012.

Next week, Johnson (12-7 MMA, 4-3 UFC) meets Reza Madadi (12-3 MMA, 1-1 UFC) at UFC on FUEL TV 9 in Madadi’s home country of Sweden. But after that, Johnson is ready for the names standing across from him on fight night to be stepped up a notch.

“I’m sick of fighting guys that don’t get me anywhere right now,” Johnson on Thursday told MMAjunkie.com Radio (www.mmajunkie.com/radio). “I’m not saying I’ve been doing that, because my last four fights have definitely been guys that should boost me up in the rankings.”

And the first three started to. After a loss to Paul Sass in October 2011, the Blackzilians-trained Johnson started off 2012 right with a decision win over Roller in Chicago, then beat Ferguson at UFC on FOX 5. In October, he picked up a “Knockout of the Night” bonus when he stopped Castillo in the second round for arguably the biggest win of his career.

But he wasn’t able to bring much to the table against Jury, getting swept on the scorecards at UFC 155 for a sour ending to an otherwise excellent campaign. Johnson surmises that the pace he’s been keeping since turning pro may have caught up to him. He fought six times in 2008, five times in 2009 and since signing with the UFC, he’s had seven official fights in about two years – not even counting his time on Season 12 of “The Ultimate Fighter.”

“Not taking away from Myles – he’s undefeated for a reason,” Johnson said. “But I might have been burned out. I’m not a guy that makes excuses; he was the better guy that night. You see it with fighters all the time – they have an off night and lose a fight they’re not supposed to lose. It just didn’t go my way that night.”

Still, Madadi may not be the level of opponent Johnson was hoping for to get back on track.

“I took a step back fighting Myles, and maybe it wasn’t a smart move on my part, but I wanted to get it done and I felt like it was good for me,” Johnson said. “Now I’m fighting Reza Madadi, who really doesn’t boost me up in the rankings, either – it just gets me back on the winning side. But at the same time, I still think I’m deserving of a top 10 guy in this division.”

When it comes to those guys in the top 10, Johnson probably wasn’t going to get one this time around, coming off the loss to Jury. And he’s not alone in the lightweight division in discovering that the fighters further up the rankings are all booked up.

But that isn’t stopping him from thinking down the road about the kind of name he’d like to hear on the other end of a fight booking phone call.

“All these guys that have been winning (are who I want to fight),” he said. “Evan Dunham and Rafael dos Anjos, those two are fighting. (Donald) ‘Cowboy’ (Cerrone) is fighting K.J. Noons. I wanted to fight Ross Pearson, but now he’s fighting on this card (against Ryan Couture). T.J. Grant or Mark Bocek – all the guys that are up there, top 10 guys. Gray Maynard or Joe Lauzon – I just want to fight somebody to get me up there, and I think I match up pretty well with those guys.”

But for now, he’ll have to hope for that after the Madadi fight and instead concentrate on ruining Madadi’s night in front of his home Sweden fans.

Johnson said he’s more than fine being the villain, especially when it means he gets to see a new part of the world.

“I can play the bad guy for this one and go in there and be the spoiler,” he said. “Any chance I get to travel outside of the country and see places I never would normally get a chance to, I’m all for it. I’ve never been to Sweden; I’m excited to get over there and get out of my comfort zone a little bit. I’m blessed to be in that position. I might need some extra bodyguards, going into his home country to get this win.”

A win would give him four in his past five and certainly would keep him in the conversation for that next level of opponent sometime in the summer, given he keeps his always-busy pace going after Madadi.

“I’m always there if someone falls off or gets hurt,” Johnson said. “That’s what I’m here for. I’m here to fight. I want to get to a title shot as quick as possible. I’m not sitting around waiting for my chance. I’m going to go and take it.”

UFC on FUEL TV 9 takes place April 6 at Ericsson Globe Arena in Stockholm. The main card airs on FUEL TV following prelims on Facebook. The Johnson-Madadi fight closes out the Facebook stream.

For more on UFC on FUEL TV 9, stay tuned to the UFC Rumors section of the site.

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