One lesson that life teaches many of us is that even if you don’t truly believe in something, sometimes, for the sake of a relationship or your career, it’s much more expedient to at least pretend that you do. It does not seem that Anthony Johnson has learned that lesson.
The last time we saw Anthony Johnson in the UFC it was at UFC 142 in Brazil. Johnson stepped on the scale the day before his fight and weighed in at a hefty 197 pounds—not even close to the 186-pound middleweight limit.
Johnson’s camp blamed a “medical issue” for the missed weight. They never delved into what that specific medical issue was. Speculation arose that the issue was his body shutting down from a bad weight cut, an opinion that may have been given some credence when Johnson posted the following on Facebook:
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.
Taking that approach right after he missed weight for the third time in his career was probably not the wisest approach. What made things worse was the fact that “Rumble” had moved up a weight class to face Vitor Belfort at UFC 142.
After the UFC 142 weigh-in debacle, Johnson was mandated that he not weigh more than 205 pounds on fight day, a weight he did manage to make. Belfort, however, made short work of Johnson, submitting him at the 4:49 mark of the first round.
Not long after the loss, Johnson was cut from the UFC, with UFC president Dana White telling MMAJunkie:
I knew what the decision was when I talked to you on Friday. This is his third time. Listen, the guy was having problems making 170 pounds. He wanted to stay at 170 or whatever his deal was. You go to 185, and you blow it as bad as he blew it? That’s bad, man.
Johnson is now fighting for Titan Fighting. His next fight is scheduled to take place on May 25 in Kansas City, KS, where he will meet fellow UFC veteran Dave Branch.
Speaking recently to MMAJunkie about his past, Johnson could have—perhaps should have—fallen on his sword, admitting that he royally screwed up by missing weight for the Belfort fight, a fight that was the co-main event of the evening. Instead, Johnson still does not seem to take responsibility for all the pre-fight drama:
When it came down to making weight for 185, I just think my body had to adjust from losing muscle to packing on muscle, then trying to lose it (again), my body was just confused. ‘What are you doing to me.’ But it is what it is. I can’t complain about it, I just have to keep going forward and not even think about the past and just think about my future.
Johnson would be well served to think about his past. He was fighting in the co-main event in the UFC, a position that many fighters only dream about. By missing weight three times, Johnson now finds himself fighting in a 3,500-seat arena, a far cry from the 15,000-seat HSBC Arena in Rio de Janeiro for UFC 142.
Johnson needs to acknowledge his mistakes and admit to his failures, while also correcting his weight-cutting issues. If he can do those things, he may end up back in the UFC at some point in the not-too-distant future. Anything short of that and Johnson’s most likely looking at a long grind in the minor leagues.
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