Dana White’s latest vlog walks us through the behind the scenes drama at yesterday’s weigh-ins. Before the action unfolds we get to tag along with the multimillionaire fight baron as he soars over the slums of Rio in a private helicopter. Poetry.
Things get interesting when Vitor Belfort checks in at the arena. Watching “The Phenom” gnaw away on a towel of crushed ice like a starved animal as he learns that “Rumble” is nowhere in the vicinity of 185lbs makes Johnson’s massive failure all the more unforgivable. Vitor had the option of stopping his cut and fighting at a catchweight, but ultimately chose the path of the professional and made the contracted weight. That 20% of Johnson’s purse probably didn’t hurt his decision.
Join us back here this evening as we kick off our Liveblog with the prelims on FX!
Dana White’s latest vlog walks us through the behind the scenes drama at yesterday’s weigh-ins. Before the action unfolds we get to tag along with the multimillionaire fight baron as he soars over the slums of Rio in a private helicopter. Poetry.
Things get interesting when Vitor Belfort checks in at the arena. Watching “The Phenom” gnaw away on a towel of crushed ice like a starved animal as he learns that “Rumble” is nowhere in the vicinity of 185lbs makes Johnson’s massive failure all the more unforgivable. Vitor had the option of stopping his cut and fighting at a catchweight, but ultimately chose the path of the professional and made the contracted weight. That 20% of Johnson’s purse probably didn’t hurt his decision.
Join us back here this evening as we kick off our Liveblog with the prelims on FX!
UFC 142 will be Anthony Johnson’s last fight in the UFC, period.Even UFC president Dana White said that Johnson’s job is on the line—even if he manages to defeat Vitor Belfort in UFC 142’s co-main event!White went so far as to call Johnson’s botc…
UFC 142 will be Anthony Johnson’s last fight in the UFC, period.
Even UFC president Dana Whitesaid that Johnson’s job is on the line—even if he manages to defeat Vitor Belfort in UFC 142’s co-main event!
White went so far as to call Johnson’s botched weight cut “complete and absolute unprofessionalism.”
After all, Johnson is no stranger to missing weight.
The behemoth fighter has missed weight twice before while trying to fight in the 170-pound division.
He came in at 176 pounds against Yoshiyuki Yoshida at UFC 104 and came in at 177.5 pounds against Rich Clementi at UFC 76.
Johnson was simply too big to continuously hit welterweight. When it was announced that he was going to move up to middleweight, the MMA community was thrilled. People thought “Rumble” would be able to dominate the division.
Then, the weigh-ins happened.
Johnson came in at 197, 12 pounds over the 185-pound limit (although they give a one pound leeway, so he was really only 11 pounds shy).
Johnson’s camp claimed it was because he was sick and that the UFC’s doctors forced him to re-hydrate before the weigh-ins, making him miss by such a wide margin.
Can Johnson be saved?
It’s unlikely. He’ll need to have a truly epic victory against Belfort to win, anything else will land him in the minor leagues.
When a smiling Anthony Johnson tipped the scales at an unapologetic 197 pounds, many observers were shocked at how someone coming up from welterweight could possibly miss weight by so much jumping up in weight class.Really though, all the signs were th…
When a smiling Anthony Johnson tipped the scales at an unapologetic 197 pounds, many observers were shocked at how someone coming up from welterweight could possibly miss weight by so much jumping up in weight class.
Really though, all the signs were there, and it didn’t surprise me one bit. In fact, only hours before I’d been talking to my friend about the possibility that something like this might happen.
How a Former 170 Pound Fighter Weighed In at 197 Pounds
A quick glance at Anthony Johnson’s welterweight record should show you that he’s no stranger to missing weight. That said, even when he missed the 170 pound limit, he’d weigh in at 177.5 pounds, or 176 pounds, still nowhere near the 197 pounds he weighed in at yesterday.
Yet if you heard Johnson speak beforehand, you might just have gotten a little hint that it might happen.
Prior to failing to make weight, Johnson had spoken about how much fresher and stronger he would be with an extra 15 pounds.
He’d spoken about how much happier he was now that he didn’t have to watch what he ate.
But when you think about it, that doesn’t make any sense.
Having already weighed in at as much as 177.5 and 176 pounds before a fight, already looking sucked out, Johnson wouldn’t be 15 pounds heavier at 186 pounds, he’d be 10 pounds heavier at maximum.
And adding 10 pounds isn’t very hard to do at all for a guy who can weigh in at at over 220 pounds when he’s not training for a fight.
For some of you out there, none of this will make any sense, but let me explain it in a different way.
Think of a man with a $10,000 debt who wins the lottery. Surely with $10 million that same man couldn’t possibly go broke, right? Wrong. Lottery winners go broke all the time, because the issue is never about $10,000, it was always an issue about money management in general. If you can’t save money when you’ve got none of it, imagine how you’re going to do when you’ve got more than you can count.
Or, think of the procrastinating student who gets a two-week extension on his assignment and says, “Thank God the pressure is off, who wants to go drinking tonight?” He’s never going to get that assignment done on time.
The only problem with the case of Johnson is that it’s a little bit more complex because Johnson was a HUGE welterweight who would have had time making 170 even in the best of times. But he wasn’t just a huge welterweight, he was a huge welterweight who gained weight just by looking at a sandwich, and a huge welterweight who never thought he had a problem even though he’d missed weight massively twice before.
In fact, he still doesn’t think he has one. He’s responded to this whole situation by laughing at the criticisms, and brushing it off as some kind of unprecedented medical issue.
Congratulations Anthony, you’ve now joined Cris Cyborg and BJ Penn in the “delusional MMA fighters who can’t admit it when they’re wrong” club.
Somehow I doubt that this incident will change anything in Johnson’s mind. Maybe he wouldn’t have problems making 205 pounds.
The final question is what will Dana White do about this?
In the past, White has been lenient with Chris Leben, a two-time convicted DUI who has tested positive for steroids and banned painkillers.
In my mind, driving under the influence is a million times worse than missing weight.
But will White see Johnson like he sees Leben, as a man with inner demons, or like Josh Barnett, a man who is trying to mess with his bottom line?
Vitor Belfort vs. Anthony Johnson was an anticipated matchup until Johnson missing weight the way he did cast a shadow over the fight and over the event itself.However, the fight is still on; Belfort and “Rumble” will be doing battle in the Octagon in …
Vitor Belfort vs. Anthony Johnson was an anticipated matchup until Johnson missing weight the way he did cast a shadow over the fight and over the event itself.
However, the fight is still on; Belfort and “Rumble” will be doing battle in the Octagon in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
So who will win the fight?
It depends on two things: Johnson’s gameplan and his conditioning.
If he goes out and tries to strike with Belfort, one of the most technical, fast and powerful strikers in MMA, he’ll get his head knocked into the nosebleed seats via a Belfort punching flurry.
The best bet for Johnson therefore is to try and grapple Belfort and put him on his back, where the Brazilian’s fearsome striking is negated.
Johnson has the wrestling chops to do it, but with the botched weight cut, no one knows what his conditioning will be like. It’s uncertain if he’ll have the energy to bring Belfort to the mat and be able to hold him down/submit/TKO him during the fight.
Belfort will likely be looking to exploit any conditioning issues Johnson may have; look to see him force a high-paced fight on Johnson.
For Belfort to win, he needs to stay off the ground; having a man like Anthony Johnson on top of him may well tire him out. Also, grappling too much will make his shoulders feel heavy with lactic acid, slowing down “The Phenom”s punching.
When you consider all of this, it’s most likely that Belfort will escape with a (T)KO victory. He’s better than Johnson in the striking department and knows he’ll be shooting for a takedown a la the fight with Dan Hardy.
Filed under: UFCAnthony Johnson vs. Vitor Belfort is on at UFC 142.
Johnson, who weighed in at an absurd 197 pounds on Friday, showed up to his unusual second weigh-in on Saturday at 204.2 pounds — way over the contracted weight of 186 pounds, but lo…
Johnson, who weighed in at an absurd 197 pounds on Friday, showed up to his unusual second weigh-in on Saturday at 204.2 pounds — way over the contracted weight of 186 pounds, but low enough that Belfort is willing to take the fight. Belfort, who came in at 186 pounds on Friday, had said he would refuse to fight Johnson if Johnson couldn’t weigh in below 205 pounds on fight day.
UFC President Dana White was furious at Johnson for missing weight, but Johnson didn’t seem to care. Johnson posted a statement on his Facebook page saying he’s “laughing at” the people who have criticized him and adding, “I don’t give a f–k.” Johnson claims he has a medical issue that required him to get intravenous fluids, and that’s why he couldn’t cut weight on Friday.
But while Johnson may not care, it’s clear that White does. If Johnson loses to Belfort on Saturday night, it wouldn’t be at all surprising to see the UFC release him.
So the fight is a must-win situation for Johnson in a hostile environment against Belfort, who’s one of the most popular fighters in Brazil. But at least the fight is on: Johnson is overweight, but he’s close enough that Belfort is willing to fight him.
Filed under: UFCUFC welterweight David Mitchell got his first hint that fighting in Brazil would be a little different than your average Las Vegas fight night when he was in the airport on his way down to Rio de Janeiro. While waiting for his flight, h…
UFC welterweight David Mitchell got his first hint that fighting in Brazil would be a little different than your average Las Vegas fight night when he was in the airport on his way down to Rio de Janeiro. While waiting for his flight, he got to talking to a Brazilian traveler about his role in the UFC’s first event in Brazil in over a decade, and he casually mentioned that he was slated to fight Paulo Thiago — an accomplished, but far from famous welterweight, by North American standards.
“He told me that Paulo had just done a big movie or something,” Mitchell recalled. “I thought, okay, whatever.”
The movie, Tropa de Elite, was actually a wildly popular Brazilian film about the BOPE — an elite police unit that Thiago serves in. It was also the source of Thiago’s entrance music when he and Mitchell squared off at the HSBC Arena in Rio that Saturday night, and the response from the crowd was enough to jar Mitchell out of his pre-fight game face, if only for a moment.
“I think he got the biggest response from the crowd of anybody,” Mitchell said of Thiago. “I didn’t expect him to be so popular. It was just an electric environment. When I walked out to go fight, it was just 15,000 Brazilians spitting snake venom at me.”
For foreign fighters — but especially Americans going up against Brazilians — it’s a unique fight night environment, and one that not all fighters are fully prepared for when they arrive.
“Some guy just told me I was going to die,” Forrest Griffin said moments after arriving at the open workouts on Rio’s famed Cobacabana Beach. “But he said it in very poor English, so I was able to ignore him.”
‘Hostile’ is one word to describe the environment for visiting fighters. All week long, at press events and weigh-ins, they were greeted by gleeful chants of ‘Vai morrer!’ You’re going to die. Granted, it seemed good-natured and not at all intended literally by most fans, but as some fighters admitted later, it was a little unsettling the first time they heard the translation.
Unlike in the U.S., where fans might start up the occasional ‘USA’ chant but generally spread their loyalties out according to their own individual whims, the Brazilian fans tend to be both exuberant and unanimous in support of their countrymen.
“They’re so passionate,” said UFC lightweight Spencer Fisher, who faced Brazilian Thiago Tavares at UFC 134. “The Americans, it seems like they’re always for whoever wins. If a guy’s losing they don’t like him, but if he comes back they’ll switch sides. But in Brazil, they’re country strong and they’re loyal.”
Fisher, too, was met with a partisan crowd when he walked to the cage — and like Mitchell, he also ended up on the losing end that night. But also like Mitchell, Fisher insisted that the hostile environment didn’t affect his performance in the cage.
“I remember Jose Aldo saying once about the Americans, ‘They can scream all they want to, because I don’t understand what they’re saying.’ I kind of felt the same way.”
If anything, the enthusiastic reception — whether negative or positive — actually helped fighters like Mitchell, who came into the bout struggling with a neck injury that required a cortisone shot just to get him into the cage, he said.
“Honestly, after everything I’d been through, dealing with injuries and a real difficult training camp, it was like I had to go fight this guy in his hometown or I was going to get cut. After all that, the crowd, if anything, was a positive,” said Mitchell. “It was a charged atmosphere, like a World Cup game or something.”
That’s something that Anthony Johnson‘s coach, Mike Van Arsdale, is planning on when it’s his fighter’s turn to take on Vitor Belfort at UFC 142.
“Anything like that, whether they want him to win or don’t want him to win, he feeds off that. It’s like Rashad Evans, everywhere he goes they boo him. It makes him fight better. I hope they don’t cheer for Rashad ever. I really do.”
For American heavyweight Brendan Schaub, who took on Brazilian MMA legend Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira on the card, it helped that he’d had a chance to come down a couple months before the bout for an early press conference. He even paid for an extended stay out of his own pocket to do some training and visit the favelas as part of a community outreach program, which made him a little more comfortable when he returned for the fight, he said.
“It was definitely hostile once the fight got going, but one thing I did right was getting down there and embracing the culture and giving back to the community. I think that went a long ways.”
Of course, Schaub, Fisher, and Mitchell all lost that night, as did most foreigners on the card. Of the eight fights that pitted a Brazilian against an outsider, only one — Stanislav Nedkov’s TKO of Luiz Cane — didn’t go the way the crowd wanted it to. It’s one thing for fighters to say the environment didn’t play a factor, but it clearly didn’t help much either.
And yet, the fighters said, once their bouts were over it was as if all the vitriol vanished immediately. They were no longer the enemy. Suddenly they were beloved former foes, and were embraced with the same energy that had gone into despising them moments before.
“When I came out they were booing me, hating me, but I think I earned their respect,” said Mitchell. “When I walked back people were cheering for me and hugging me. This little kid wanted my hat, so I gave it to him. I ended up just kind of cruising around and meeting people. I met the mayor of Rio. It was really cool.”
Even Schaub, who suffered a heartbreaking knockout loss, managed to make the most of the sun, sand, and surf once the fight was over.
“Obviously, I planned on it going a different way, so it wasn’t the best time,” he said. “Still, it’s never a bad time when you’re on the beach in Brazil.”
For Fisher, the post-fight experience ended up being even worse than fight itself. While playing pool volleyball with “Shogun” Rua the next day, he said, he felt as if he’d gotten water in his eye. The sensation didn’t go away all day, and continued even when he returned to the U.S.
“It just kept getting worse and worse,” he said. “I was like, man, how can I still have water in my eye? Then we started boxing and right away I could tell it was something else. That’s when I realized my retina was detached.”
Five months later, Fisher still doesn’t have full vision back in his eye. His doctors tell him it was likely a mix of accumulated damage and blows he took in the fight that night in Rio, and his peripheral vision still hasn’t returned.
“They said I’ll never have the 20/20 vision I had before. Now I’m near-sighted,” Fisher said. “So it was good trip, but a bad one at the same time.”
UFC welterweight