Anthony Kewoa Johnson was born on March 6, 1984 in Dublin, Georgia, U.S.
The Blackzilian team member is the #2 ranked light heavyweight in the world. He holds the most sub-minute’ KO wins in UFC history, with four.
Rumble has had a storied struggle with weight limits. He twice missed weight at 170 in the UFC, once losing 20% of his purse, plus an entire Knockout of the Night bonus because of it. Then he moved up to 185, and weighed in at 196 vs. Vitor Belfort, who choked him out in the first. Then he was released.
Johnson’s next fight at 185, he weighed in at 194, vs. David Branch at Titan FC. Johnson won that. His next fight for Titan FC was at light heavyweight, and he made weight and won that too. Then he won two more. Then he beat Andrei Arlovski, at heavyweight. One more win, over Mike Kyle at World Series of Fighting 8, and Johnson was back in the UFC.
Once back in the UFC, he won three more in a row, over Phil Davis, Antônio Rogério Nogueira, and Alexander Gustafsson. That landed him a fight for Jon Jones’ vacated title with Cormier. Rumble lost that one, and has won two more, beating Jimi Manuwa and Ryan Bader.
After being cut from the UFC, I really had to reevaluate everything and see what I needed to do to be better, said Johnson, as transcribed by Tom Ngo for 5thRound. And I’m very glad that they cut me the first time, because if they hadn’t, I’d probably still be that knucklehead that was missing weight and didn’t care.
After each fight after I got cut, I could tell the steps I was making to change my life around were working. So I just kept going and gradually it was coming together.
Johnson now stands a symbol for a cure for the culture of extreme weight cutting, that currently bedevils the sport. If fighters fought at their own weight, they would be able to put on a better show, and might be better fighters, as Rumble clearly is.
