There’s an old professional wrestling saying about the ideal result of a match that goes, “One guy goes over. The other guy gets over.”
What that means is that in a competitive fight with a properly told story, the loser can gain just as much respect and popularity as the winner. That’s one of the principles of a form of entertainment where the outcomes are predetermined, but it can be applied to countless MMA bouts as well.
That’s the situation Kajan Johnson appeared to find himself in moments after losing a close split decision to Rustam Khabilov last Saturday at UFC Moscow.