Anthony Johnson was not happy with performance at Bellator 258.
‘Rumble’ was supposed to fight Yoel Romero in his promotional debut on Friday.
Unfortunately, Romero failed his pre-fight medical and was pulled from the fight.
Instead, Johnson squared off against late-replacement opponent Jose Augusto in his first fight since 2017.
Augusto hurt his hand early and appeared on the verge of being taken out.
As ‘Rumble’ pushed forward he got caught clean by his opponent.
The Brazilian followed up to drop Johnson who did well to survive the round.
In the second stanza, ‘Rumble’ landed a big shot to drop Augusto.
A ground strike was landed but it wasn’t necessary, Augusto was out cold and got Johnson got his first win since 2016.
‘Rumble’ was not happy with his performance and made that much clear when speaking to media post-fight.
“(I’m) pissed,” Johnson told MMA Junkie. “He hit me. I don’t mind getting hit, but I got hit and I dropped. I mean, what the hell? That ain’t me. That was a piss-poor performance on my part. I’m better than that. I know I’m better than that. You guys know I’m better than that. I’m not going to call it a lucky shot – he hit me. He caught me slipping. He got in on me. That was all on me and I’m pissed at myself that he hit me.
“I’m getting mad at myself. That was a dumbass performance.”
Johnson will now work on improving his game ahead of a fight against Bellator light-heavyweight champion, Vadim Nemkov later this year.
“Fighting Nemkov, though – that’s an honor to fight him,” Johnson said. “He’s a beast. He’s the most complete fighter of this tournament. He can strike, can wrestle, can submit people fairly easy. I’m a big fan of his.
“You’re only as good as your last performance,” Johnson added. “If I fight Nemkov, I definitely have to be better than I was tonight – and I will. I know that.”
How do you think Anthony Johnson looked at Bellator 258?