With his knockout win over fifth ranked Ultimate Season 8 winner Ryan Bader, Anthony Rumble Johnson has securely staked his claim as the man to face the winner of the highly anticipated rematch between Jon Jones and Daniel Cormier.
Few mixed martial artists have walked such an interesting path to the top. Despite his large, heavily muscled, 6’2 frame, Johnson began his UFC career as a welterweight. Routinely experiencing great difficulty making weight, the first half of Rumble’s professional MMA career made it seem as if his career was doomed to be defined by his inability to defeat the weigh-in scale much more than it would be by the time he spent fighting inside the Octagon.
Rumble’s continued difficulty making weight, along with a loss to UFC tournament winner and perennial contender Vitor Belfort earned him his walking papers in January, 2012.
Since then, Anthony Johnson has looked damn near unstoppable.
Rumble, after briefly fighting at heavyweight, has come into his own as a light heavyweight, with his only loss in the last five years coming by rear naked choke to UFC champion Daniel Cormier.
Throughout his career, the one thing that seemed to set Anthony Johnson apart from the rest was his undeniable ability to put his opponents to sleep. Now the winner of eleven of his last twelve fights, Rumble has his sights set on UFC gold and seeks to add to his ever-expanding highlight reel of vicious knockouts.
Jeff Warsaw is the former executive editor of Long Island MMA Magazine, professional combat sports public address announcer for several NY/NJ MMA and kickboxing promotions, and a proud one-stripe white belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu under the famed Joe D’Arce. He is currently a musician, coffee enthusiast and host of the Stranger In A Strange Land podcast on YouTube.
