The UFC’s heavyweight gatekeeper — fittingly, a former National Guardsman — returns to his post Saturday night.

Tim Johnson, a onetime sergeant in the Minnesota National Guard, will battle Junior Albini (13-2) in the Brazilian’s UFC debut at Nassau Coliseum on Long Island, New York. It’ll be the sixth UFC fight for Johnson (11-3, 3-2 UFC) — his fifth against a foreign-born fighter and his fourth against a foreign-born fighter making his UFC debut.

“I was a little surprised to get another debut, with it being my sixth fight, being 3-2 and ranked in the top 15,” Johnson told Military Times on Thursday, “but I was talking to my agent, it was either I could take this fight now or I had to wait until November, December or maybe even next year in January until I got my next fight. That would’ve been too long of a wait.”

Albini’s on a nine-fight win streak but hasn’t competed since August 2016. Four of the nine wins came via submission, one reason Johnson said he’s hoping to keep the fight off the ground.

Another reason: After four straight fights decided by the judges, including a victory in March over Daniel Omielanczuk in London, the heavyweight is looking to make an impact.

“You want to throw something extra out there,” he said. “I don’t think I want to do much more of the grindy clinch-work against the fence. This fight, the game plan … we’re going to get some good striking in, basically. I think my punch has a little bit more power than his, and we’re going to try to get a good KO out of it.”

Now No. 12 among all UFC heavyweights, Johnson hopes a successful night on Long Island will put him in line for a higher-profile matchup later this year. One potential target: Derek Lewis, the UFC’s seventh-ranked heavyweight and a rising star with a five-fight win streak … until veteran “Super Samoan” Mark Hunt stopped him in the fourth round last month.

Johnson has two fights, including Saturday’s bout, left on his UFC contract. He’s working 30 hours a week at a bar while training at the Academy of Combat Arts in Fargo, North Dakota.

He has given up gigs as a trucker and Uber driver that were supplementing his income, though he hasn’t ruled out another stint in the Guard, which he left late last year to focus on his fight career.

“There’s a unit that’ll be deploying here late next year,” he said. “One of my friends in my old unit is a first sergeant, and he’s like, ‘Hey, need an answer by September, I can probably sneak you in.’ So that’s on the mind a little bit, get another deployment in. Deployments are alright, it’s all the training and that other stuff. …”

Though not in uniform — his trademark mustache has grown more and more removed from grooming regulations since his separation — Johnson said his friends from service remain a big part of his support structure.

“That’s the nice part about being in a Guard unit,” he said. “My town had 700 people in it, and there are five or six people in my unit from my town. We’re from a very rural area. Everyone knows everyone their whole life.”

Johnson’s fight will air as part of Saturday’s preliminary card on the UFC Fight Pass streaming service. Action begins at 4 p.m. Eastern, with more prelims on Fox at 6 p.m. and the main card, featuring a middleweight main event of Chris Weidman vs. Kelvin Gastelum, starting at 8 p.m.

Kevin Lilley is the features editor of Military Times.

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