For one round, it was as if Anthony “Rumble” Johnson was trying to prove to the world he could wrestle.
Then he came out and gave the fans in Las Vegas what they expected to see.
Johnson knocked out London’s Jimi Manuwa with a ferocious right hand to the jaw in the second round of their UFC 191 fight on Saturday night. The time of the stoppage was 0:31.
“That’s just muscle memory,” said Johnson (20-5), who won for the 10th time in his past 11 fights. “You don’t train for that.”
Johnson tagged Manuwa (15-2) early in the opening round. And while the crowd at the MGM Grand Garden Arena sensed the kill, Johnson instead went to the ground, where he easily outworked Manuwa for the bulk of the stanza.
In the second, he set Manuwa up with a leg kick before landing his vicious right hand for his 14th career KO.
After the bout, Johnson said he hadn’t planned on showing off his ground game.
“I saw an opening and I took it,” Johnson said. “This fight is for all the people who supported me through thick and thin, and for those that didn’t, this was for you, too.”