UFC Suspends Anthony Johnson Following New Allegations of Domestic Abuse and Intimidation


(Photo via Getty)

UFC light-heavyweight contender Anthony Johnson has been placed on an indefinite suspension, following new abuse allegations from the mother of his children. Here’s the vague, detail-free official statement via UFC.com:

We are aware of the situation involving Anthony Johnson. As a result, we are suspending him indefinitely. We are using a third-party law firm to conduct a formal investigation and once we have more information, we’ll determine whether further course of action is necessary.

As with Nick Diaz’s DUI arrests, the UFC wants you to know that it’s aware of the situation, but the promotion no interest in informing fans what that situation is. BloodyElbow has the entire rundown on the new allegations against Johnson, but here’s the short version:

— Two years ago, Anthony Johnson allegedly punched the mother of two of his children in the face, knocking out two of her teeth. The incident took place at the victim’s place of employment, a supplement store. The victim claims she has security footage of the incident in her possession.

— The victim says that Johnson talked her out of pressing charges at the time. Since then, the victim has regularly received threatening calls and text messages, which she believes have been coming from Johnson’s friends.


(Photo via Getty)

UFC light-heavyweight contender Anthony Johnson has been placed on an indefinite suspension, following new abuse allegations from the mother of his children. Here’s the vague, detail-free official statement via UFC.com:

We are aware of the situation involving Anthony Johnson. As a result, we are suspending him indefinitely. We are using a third-party law firm to conduct a formal investigation and once we have more information, we’ll determine whether further course of action is necessary.

As with Nick Diaz’s DUI arrests, the UFC wants you to know that it’s aware of the situation, but the promotion no interest in informing fans what that situation is. BloodyElbow has the entire rundown on the new allegations against Johnson, but here’s the short version:

— Two years ago, Anthony Johnson allegedly punched the mother of two of his children in the face, knocking out two of her teeth. The incident took place at the victim’s place of employment, a supplement store. The victim claims she has security footage of the incident in her possession.

— The victim says that Johnson talked her out of pressing charges at the time. Since then, the victim has regularly received threatening calls and text messages, which she believes have been coming from Johnson’s friends.

— As we previously mentioned here, Johnson was arrested in 2009 after an altercation with a different woman; Johnson allegedly “pushed her around, picked her up by her armpits and slammed her to the ground. He then put her in a headlock and dragged her up a flight of stairs.”

— For the 2009 incident, Johnson was charged with domestic violence, battery, death threats and destroying a phone to prevent the report of a crime, and pleaded “nolo contendere” in 2010 to a misdemeanor charge of domestic violence, for which he was sentenced to serve three years probation, community service, and domestic violence counseling.

— Johnson’s lawyer Frank Smith issued the following statement on the recent allegations: “Anthony categorically denies all allegations and looks forward to his court date in the civil matter, where the truth and lies will be established.”

Following the announcement of his UFC suspension, Johnson had this to say:

The shit ppl will say and the lengths ppl will go just to tell a Fucking lie is ridiculous.
That’s all I’m going to say and thank you all for the support and positive feedback that I’m getting.

We’ll keep you posted as this situation develops. Keep in mind that the UFC has suspended Johnson, not released him; the UFC reserves the right to quickly re-instate him if the alleged victim stops cooperating with the investigation.