No one expected Tim Johnson to be in this position when the Professional Fighters League regular season started four months ago. Not even Johnson himself.

The 6-foot-3, 265-pound Xtreme Couture export will take on Denis Goltsov when their heavyweight semifinal headlines PFL 7 this Friday at the Nashville Municipal Auditorium in Nashville, Tennessee, with the winner moving on to face either Oleg Popov or Linton Vassell for $1 million later this year. Johnson only has one PFL appearance under his belt but made it count, as he cut down Danilo Marques with first-round punches as a short-notice replacement at PFL 4 in June and banked the six points he needed to qualify for the playoffs. Goltsov, meanwhile, has established himself as a promotional mainstay. The Sambo Piter product steps into the spotlight on the heels of back-to-back technical knockouts of Thiago Santos and the aforementioned Vassell. Goltsov was a heavyweight finalist in 2023.

As Johnson and Goltsov move ever closer to their Music City main event, a look at some of the numbers that have accompanied them to this point:

34: Years of age for Goltsov, who was born in St. Petersburg, Russia, on June 10, 1990.

11: Goltsov victories by submission, accounting for 32% of his career total (34). His methods of choice: two triangle chokes, two armbars, two Ezekiel chokes, one straight armbar, one guillotine choke, one kimura, one brabo choke and one arm-triangle choke. Goltsov holds 17 other victories by knockout or technical knockout (50%) and six more by decision (18%).

78: Rounds started by Goltsov as a professional mixed martial artist. He has gone the distance on seven different occasions and carries a 6-1 record in those bouts.

18: First-round finishes on the Goltsov resume, highlighted by his 18-second knockout of Yorgan De Castro at PFL 5 in June 2023.

.777: Cumulative winning percentage between the eight men—Renan Ferreira, Ante Delija, Ali Isaev, Mukhomad Vakhaev, Akhmed Sultanov, Alexander Volkov, Dmitry Poberezhets and Ibragim Ibragimov —who have beaten Goltsov. They boast a combined record of 140-39-3.

39: Years of age for Johnson, who was born on March 13, 1985 in Lamberton, Minnesota.

10: Johnson wins by knockout or technical knockout, accounting for 55% of his career total (18). His list of victims includes Tyrell Fortune, Matt Mitrione, Shamil Abdurakhimov and Travis Wiuff. Johnson owns three other wins by submission (17%) and five more by decision (28%).

34: Seconds needed for Johnson to punch Dean Lamb into submission under the Max Fights banner on March 23, 2013. More than a decade later, it remains his quickest stoppage to date.

15: Consecutive calendar years in which Johnson has fought at least once. In addition to his 2-0 mark in 2024, he went 1-0 in 2010, 0-1 in 2011, 1-0 in 2012, 2-0 in 2013, 4-0 in 2014, 1-1 in 2015, 1-1 in 2016, 1-1 in 2017, 1-1 in 2018, 0-1 in 2019, 3-0 in 2020, 0-2 in 2021, 0-1 in 2022 and 1-0 in 2023.

207: Combined victories between the nine men—Volkov, Vassell, Fedor Emelianenko, Valentin Moldavsky, Vitaly Minakov, Cheick Kongo, Junior Albini, Jared Rosholt and Lance Peterson—who have defeated Johnson. They sport a cumulative .773 winning percentage at 207-60-2.