Johnson: How I want to be remembered

Anthony Johnson’s fight game and retirement at UFC 201 left fans scratching their heads, and his corner equally baffled. Rumble chief second Henri Hooft reacted with characteristic Dutch frankness.

This is stupid,” he said at one point, as transcribed by Steven Marrocco for MMAjunkie.

A transcription of the corner reveals bafflement and frustration.

Round 1

Hooft: Don’t wrestle him.
Hooft: You don’t have to wrestle him, AJ. Just relax.
Hooft: Get out of there. Get out of there.
Hooft: This is stupid.
Hooft: F*** it, man. Just get off the cage.
Voice: Why isn’t he listening?
Voice: Why isn’t he listening?
Hooft: I don’t know why he’s doing that. We have no f***ing eyes.

Between Round 1 and Round 2

Hooft: Can you tell me why you’re wrestling? Now, you’re not going to wrestle. You take your distance. Stay away, two steps away. Why are you so worried about everything? The kicks and the knees are really good, but no kicks. Where’s your hands?
Hooft: If you stand your distance, it’s an easy game. Why make it difficult?

Round 2

Hooft: Movement. Athletic. Movement. That’s it. Take your distance.
Hooft: You need distance.
Hooft: I’m not saying nothing.
Hooft: It’s going the same as last time.
Hooft: Why, why the f*** does this happen every f***ing time, man? Crazy.

Johnson looked around for Hooft prior to announcing his retirement, but the coach was nowhere to be found.

At the post-fight press conference, Johnson tried to explain.

It’s just business, said Johnson as transcribed by Shaun Al-Shatti for MMA Fighting. I want to do something besides going to the gym every day punching and kicking and rolling around with another dude. That sh*t gets old. I’ve been doing this for so long, I’ve been in sports since I was 8, it’s just time to move on to something different. I won’t say better, but just different.

And no, I am not about to play football for the Rams, said Johnson added, who has Rams’ tributes on his social network. Because everybody’s hitting me up and saying some crazy stuff about I’m about to play for the Rams. Why would I go into another sport that’s the same thing as this, and you take all this impact and stuff? That’s absolutely insane.

Johnson said he knew all fight week that he would retire.

I was just soaking it all in, he said. But no matter what, I was going to go out there and do my best. I hadn’t checked out or anything, but I knew what I needed to do regardless. And of course, I’m an athlete. I’ve always been an athlete, so I wanted to go out on top. It’s been a fun ride. Honestly, it leaves you kind of speechless. You just don’t know what to say, really.

Every fight to me was a career highlight. I’ve just had so much fun, from my very first fight in the UFC until now.

I felt great. I trained my butt off to fight Daniel. You still saw ‘Rumble’ out there trying to knock heads off and going out there and give it his all. So, I went out there and did my thing, and whatever happened was going to happen, so I wasn’t really worried about anything.

The game plan was to win. Keep my composure, control the pace and things like that. And just in the middle of the fight, I just kind of fell off track and started playing his game, which was wrestling and things like that. I felt fine. I felt great. It wasn’t like I was tired. He beat me. I don’t take anything away from him.

Johnson also talked about the one that got away from him – Jon Jones.

I’m an alpha male, he’s an alpha male,” he said. “I wanted to see what I can do against him. I’m pretty sure he wanted to see what he could do against me, because you guys hyped it up so much, that I was supposed to be the guy to beat him and all this and that. You guys do your job very well, hyping things up, so props to you.

But I feel I’m more, I don’t know if I want to say sad, disappointed, for the fans, because I know they really wanted to see it. Day in and day out, people were always talking about Jon Jones and myself fighting each other, and it just never happened. Maybe if I decide to come back one day, we can fight at heavyweight or something like that.

And Johnson was asked how he would like to be remembered.

Just a guy who went out there and went all out and just never gave up, he said.

The toughest fight I can possibly think of was always with myself. That’s just what it is. That’s everybody’s fight. You always battle yourself and not the opponent.

Johnson may be remembered by his coaches and by the fans as someone more complex than, “a guy who went out there and went all out and just never gave up.”