Anthony Johnson (Photo by Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images)
Ultimate Fighting Championship fighter Anthony ‘Rumble’ Johnson was only 1.5 pounds from his goal of making 186-lbs for making the middleweight Friday night for his UFC 142 bout versus Vitor Belfort.
With about three hours to go before the weigh-ins at the HSBC Arena in Rio de Janeiro, that’s when things apparently started going wrong for the young fighter.
According to Johnson, who posted a notice on his Facebook page, he started to feel weak and at one point lost the feeling in his legs.
That’s when UFC physician Jeff Davidson stepped in and ordered Johnson to consume a large quantity of fluids in an effort to rehydrate. By the time Johnson started to feel better, it was too late there wasn’t any time left to shed the weight he had just put on and stepped onto the scales at 197-lbs.
Despite his entire camp “freaking out” over the incident, Johnson laughed off the incident posting this message on Facebook (via BloodyElbow.com).
I’m already laughing at what ppl are saying. Yeah it was for medical reason and I did what the UFC Dr Told me to do. Believe it or don’t I give a f**k cuz the ppl close to me were freaking out but I’m still alive and something like this has never happen before. Say what you want I’m still gonna do my thang. You try not having feeling in your legs and can’t move then and see how you look at life after that
Meanwhile, Johnson’s manager Glenn Robinson explained the rest of the story to Sergio Non of USA Today.
“They called in the local doctor, who made him drink a bunch of fluids to see if that made him feel better,” Robinson said. “About an hour later he started feeling better. By the time he started feeling better, it was an hour to weigh-ins. … There was no time to shed the weight.”
Johnson will have to forfeit 20% of his purse to Belfort, with ‘The Phenom’ agreeing to a bout at light heavyweight if ‘Rumble’ weighs in at, or under, 205-lbs on fight day.