With UFC 142 less than a week away, fight fans everywhere eagerly await the company’s return to Brazil, a hotspot for mixed martial arts.
The fight card features a lineup full of Brazilian nationals, highlighted by Jose Aldo’s defense of the UFC Featherweight title against Chad Mendes, who has yet to lose in his 11-fight pro career.
MMA legend Vitor Belfort also returns to the Octagon, and looks to have a good showing in front of his home country’s fans.
Belfort has won seven of his last eight bouts, with the only loss coming against middleweight champ and pound-for-pound king Anderson Silva. He’s going to have his hands full, however, once Anthony “Rumble” Johnson steps into the cage with him.
Johnson is blessed with jaw-dropping knockout power in both his hands and his legs, and will likely be looking to drop Belfort with a variety of strikes. With Johnson’s resume stocked full of first-round finishes, the 34-year-old Belfort is going to need to win the mental aspects of the fight.
The fight in Rio is actually Johnson’s first fight at middleweight in his UFC career, which seems like it should benefit Belfort. In fact, the jump up to 185 lbs should make things a lot easier on “Rumble.”
In 2004, Johnson won an NJCAA national title as a 174-lb wrestler for Lassen College. This means that as a 20-year-old, Johnson was wrestling at an even heavier weight than he has competed at for his entire MMA career.
At middleweight, Johnson will be able to focus more on strength and technique in his training, and less on cutting weight. Cutting weight can make training significantly more difficult, as it can drain your energy and make you a lot weaker than you’d like to be.
As a welterweight, Johnson looked slender, quick and athletic, and was able to fight inside his game plan, which made him a force to be reckoned with at 170 lbs.
Now 15 lbs heavier, “Rumble” looks even more intimidating, as seen in his appearance in the MMA flick, The Warrior, in which he played himself as a middleweight.
Expect Johnson to come out of the gates much faster and with even more power behind his strikes. Don’t be surprised if on January 14th he upsets a lot of Brazilian MMA fans when he finishes one of their longtime heroes right in front of them.
In an interview with UFC.com, Johnson said, “Compared to him (Belfort), I’m a nobody, but after January 14th, the world’s going to know who I am.”
Anthony Johnson, like all fight fans, has some serious respect for his opponent, “The Phenom” Vitor Belfort. But now at his natural weight, Johnson looks to make a name for himself in Rio de Janeiro.
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