Anthony Johnson (Photo by Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images)
Former UFC veteran Anthony ‘Rumble’ Johnson (10-4) has moved on from his dismissal from the Ultimate Fighting Championship this past January by signing with the Texas based Titan Fighting Championship promotion.
Johnson made the announcement today as a guest on “The MMA Hour” (MMAFighting.com) pointing to the promotions upcoming May 25 show as his debut date.
“I’m going to fight a few times and eventually come back,” he said. “There’s a time for everything and right now just isn’t my time to be with the UFC. But when my time comes again, if that’s what UFC wants, you know I’m there.”
“… As far as if it was fair, life isn’t fair sometimes,” he said. “You’ve got to roll with the punches. Either you can sit on your ass and cry about it or get up and do something. And I’m not going to just sit around boo-hooing and not do anything.”
“… There’s tons of talent outside of UFC,” he said. “Of course UFC is where everybody wants to be. It’s the Super Bowl of MMA, like everybody says. There’s talent outside of UFC of course but we’ll see. Someone is eventually going to say they’ll fight me and take a chance. That’s what life’s about, taking chances.”
Johnson was released from the UFC in January following a failed weight-cut in his middleweight debut. ‘Rumble’ was having difficulty with his weight cut to the point that a physician with the promotion stepped in to order that Johnson re-hydrate immediately.
When it came time to weigh-in for the middleweight bout, Johnson hit the scale at 197-lbs. His opponent Vitor Belfort agreed to take the fight with a caveat that Johnson not weigh more than 205-lbs on fight day. Belfort would also earn 20% of ‘Rumble’s’ purse.
At the UFC 142 event, Belfort would end the fight by rear-naked choke submission in the first round. Immediately afterwards, UFC president Dana White released him from the promotion.