Top-ranked UFC light heavyweight Anthony “Rumble” Johnson will finally have another chance to defeat current champion Daniel Cormier when the two stars meet for a second time in the main event of next Saturday’s (April 8, 2017) UFC 210 from the KeyBank Center in Buffalo, New York.
On a torrid streak since May 2012 where he’s won 12 out of 13 bouts including nine by knockout, “Rumble” has quickly built a reputation as MMA’s most feared knockout hitter. But the only man who has been able to weather the storm since he stopped cutting down to absurd weight classes was Cormier, who utilized his world-class wrestling to wait out “Rumble’s” early power and submit the hulking behemoth in the third round of their first fight at 2015’s UFC 187.
Johnson has knocked out Jimi Manuwa, Ryan Bader, and Glover Teixeira since to earn his rematch with “DC,” and he recently said he’s a new kind of combatant during this week’s UFC 210 media call (via MMA Fighting):
“I’m definitely not the same fighter I was two years ago,” Johnson said. “Every day, every week, every month, every year I’m getting better and better, so you’ll see a different guy out there the next time you see me fight.
“[The loss] definitely lit a fire under my ass to train harder and know what I needed to do to beat this guy.”
Cormier recently insisted his opponent will only be dangerous in the “first seven minutes,” but “Rumble” nonchalantly refuted that notion, insisting Cormier and anyone can think that if they want to:
“The majority of the community believes I’m just a first-round fighter because most of my fights end in the first round,” Johnson said. “But they’re entitled to their own opinion, and that’s fine with me. I have nothing to prove to anybody but myself, so if [Cormier] wants to believe that and everybody else wants to believe that, that’s completely fine with me.”
Cormier then responded with some harsh yet clear words of his own, stating he doesn’t necessarily think Johnson will be anything different from the early-round knockout striker we’ve seen in the past:
“If it makes me a bad guy because I tell the truth, or the truth as I believe it, then I guess that’s what I am,” Cormier said. “I believe everything (I say). I’m not lying. I don’t lie about anything. All I do is state the truth. If people don’t like the truth, then that’s on them. I’m not sitting here making stuff up. I’m not over here pretending. I’m over here stating facts. And if me telling the facts makes me the bad guy, then okay.
“[But] when we talk about him being a completely different fighter, I don’t necessarily know what you guys are basing this on,” Cormier continued. “He beat Jimi Manuwa and he took him down, but of course he’s going to take Jimi Manuwa down. He’s a wrestler. Jimi Manuwa can’t wrestle. Then you’re talking about him and Ryan Bader. If I would’ve shot on Anthony from across the Octagon, he would’ve done the same thing to me. He fought for a total of seven minutes since him and I fought, but he’s this completely different fighter? I have no idea where you guys are getting this from.”
Johnson remained steadfast in his quest, however, describing his ultimate goal of being champion “an obsession”:
“Getting the belt would definitely put everything in place for me,” Johnson said. “And mentally, it’s like an obsession.”
As the only two clear top light heavyweights in the UFC outside of dominant but troubled former champion Jon Jones, Cormier and Johnson know each others’ games, and they probably also know what the other one is going to say by now.
The talk will be over soon, and Cormier will look to make his first title defense since 2015 against the man he initially won the belt against. The 38-year-old AKA superstar believes “Rumble” will be dangerous early, and indeed he’s felt that storied power before early in the first fight.
But it’s “Rumble” who’s been active in knocking out three Top 5-ranked contenders without breaking a sweat while “DC” was on the sidelines with multiple ailments. Will it be “Rumble” who’s the different fighter in the rematch, or has Cormier lost a step himself?
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