UFC 142 will be Anthony Johnson’s last fight in the UFC, period.
Even UFC president Dana White said that Johnson’s job is on the line—even if he manages to defeat Vitor Belfort in UFC 142’s co-main event!
White went so far as to call Johnson’s botched weight cut “complete and absolute unprofessionalism.”
After all, Johnson is no stranger to missing weight.
The behemoth fighter has missed weight twice before while trying to fight in the 170-pound division.
He came in at 176 pounds against Yoshiyuki Yoshida at UFC 104 and came in at 177.5 pounds against Rich Clementi at UFC 76.
Johnson was simply too big to continuously hit welterweight. When it was announced that he was going to move up to middleweight, the MMA community was thrilled. People thought “Rumble” would be able to dominate the division.
Then, the weigh-ins happened.
Johnson came in at 197, 12 pounds over the 185-pound limit (although they give a one pound leeway, so he was really only 11 pounds shy).
Johnson’s camp claimed it was because he was sick and that the UFC’s doctors forced him to re-hydrate before the weigh-ins, making him miss by such a wide margin.
Can Johnson be saved?
It’s unlikely. He’ll need to have a truly epic victory against Belfort to win, anything else will land him in the minor leagues.
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