Tom Szczerbowski-USA TODAY Sports
Anthony Johnson believes a UFC return is imminent.
One of the hardest hitters in UFC history is angling for a return to the Octagon. Anthony Johnson (22-6, 12-6 UFC), who twice challenged for the UFC light heavyweight title, has been out of the cage since April 2017 but believes that he could step back in as early as April 2020.
He stated as much at a Dominance MMA press event today (via Marc Raimondi of ESPN):
Anthony Johnson says at a Dominance MMA media day that he’s targeting a UFC return in April.
— Marc Raimondi (@marc_raimondi) October 8, 2019
He will clearly be returning as a heavyweight this time around, as Rumble has stated in the past that he’s around 240-245 pounds. He admitted that his weight has risen well above that when he hasn’t been training, and revealed that he’s not back in the USADA testing pool as of today:
Rumble Johnson says he has not yet re-entered the USADA drug-testing pool. Not sure when he’ll do that. “I’m just training.” He said the heaviest he got was 276 pounds when he wasn’t training during retirement.
— Marc Raimondi (@marc_raimondi) October 8, 2019
A fighter that is re-entering the USADA testing pool needs six months of clean tests to be able to compete in a UFC fight. So even if he entered tomorrow, he wouldn’t be eligible to fight until April anyway. He better get on that if he wants to stick to his prediction.
It’s still hard to believe that Rumble fought in the UFC as a welterweight once upon a time.