The UFC has released another installment of 'Fighter Diary', and this time, it gives us an inside look on the camp of Anthony Johnson. He has had trouble making weight at times during his days as a welterweight, and now, he will be moving up to take on middleweight contender Vitor Belfort at UFC 142 in Brazil.
Basing on looks alone, it already appears that Johnson would be a great fit at middleweight. Without having to diet and cut as much weight to make 185 lbs, he seems roughly the same size as his training partner, former light heavyweight champion, Rashad Evans.
Now that he doesn't have to compromise his conditioning by cutting that much weight anymore, could this be his Alistair Overeem moment? Could this move up in weight make him perform much better? I guess we'll find out for sure this weekend.
1 recs | 81 comments
I really hope he gets past Vitor
I don’t know why but I’ve always wanted to see Anthony Johnson succeed. After he got screwed by those eye pokes I’ve always cheered for him
Hashmo - January 10, 2012
I think he can beat Vitor.
If he uses the same strategy he used against Hardy (don’t stand with the guy, out wrestle and tire him out on the ground first)
Anton Tabuena - January 10, 2012
I'm worried I may be exaggerating how good Rumble's wrestling is
It was Dan Hardy after all
Our Bovine Public - January 10, 2012
Wrestling
Nah, we all know wrestling vs. MMA wrestling are a different story, but regardless, Johnson’s wrestling is up to par on both counts I believe. He was originally a wrestler and wrestled in JC as well. (I know that may not mean much in most sports, but even your average JC wrestler is an absolute beeeast.)
Anthony Kang - January 10, 2012
BRING ON THE RUMBLE!
JayT86 - January 10, 2012
he looks yoked
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ - January 10, 2012
Just watch
He’s still going to somehow come overweight for the fight.
av1o3 - January 10, 2012
He looks like a LHW and Rashad looks like the MW
rscott94 - January 10, 2012
No kidding. Why a guy who walks around at 230 is not fighting at 205 is beyond me....
theprodigy1981 - January 10, 2012
maybe because he can make 185??
press700 - January 10, 2012
Do health and quality of life mean anything?
At least he’s not 170 anymore
halitosis - January 10, 2012 via mobile
probably cuz
Rashad is at 205 and was the former champ and didn’t wanna fight his teammate and probably thought that GSP would be easier than Anderson Silva?
Cindjor - January 10, 2012
UBERJOHNSON!
Rod Mapada - January 10, 2012
That's his porn name.
av1o3 - January 10, 2012
He makes Rashad look small.
Hopefully he can be a force in the division.
The Armchair Juggernaut - January 10, 2012 via mobile
Because Rashad is smaller
he’s the smallest at LHW and doesn’t even cut weight to make LHW.
av1o3 - January 10, 2012
So you’re saying he’s an explosive and athletic version of Frankie Edgar?
Pyrgz Krum - January 10, 2012
haha!!
thuggis - January 10, 2012
Uh no
Rashad weighed in at 216 in the week before the Tito fight.
joker24 - January 10, 2012
I wouldn't be surprised if Johnson weighs more than that in the video
av1o3 - January 10, 2012
He looks way bigger than Rashad. In fact, he didn’t look that much smaller than Bigfoot Silva in this video!
I will be interested to see how Johnson adapts to the middleweight division – the weight-cut alone is going to be more favourable to his body this time around. I think Vitor takes it, but Johnson is going to give him some problems in the there, for sure.
@KatanaClothing - January 10, 2012
Bigfoot sighting. 1:51
MicahtheCynic - January 10, 2012
Michael Johnson and Claude Patrick training with Blackzilians too.
mma.ly - January 10, 2012
True to form, it's kinda blurry.
pdl - January 10, 2012
At 3:03 as well.
brad23 - January 10, 2012
Good fighters cut weight but great fighters are the ones that don’t depend on it
terzergoss - January 10, 2012
Lol fail
WanderChe - January 10, 2012 via mobile
Frankie Edgar?
dv8shun - January 10, 2012
I've said for a long time that Rumble won't be a top level fighter until he focuses more on getting better and training
and less on managing to make an insane weight cut. Really happy he’s making the move to 185 and I expect him to be a serious player in the division, win or lose against Vitor.
pdl - January 10, 2012
Yeah, he's in a win-win position for this fight
He’ll wreck a lot of guys at 185, no matter what happens against Vitor. Fast tracking to a title fight with a win might not even be the best idea for him straight away.
Charles Awad - January 10, 2012
I am afraid of that man.
Earl Montclair - January 10, 2012
I really hope he beats Vitor
Just blitzes him.
Nothing against Vitor…but I’d like some new blood in the division.
Chris Groves - January 10, 2012
Very excite for fight!
MSEMCEE - January 10, 2012
Insane that this guy fought
at 170. It boggles my mind how this kid made welterweight. He is clearly bigger than Rashad Evans. Whichever weight class he settles on he is going to be a threat to the title holder.
CRWHITLOCK - January 10, 2012
I hope me makes 185!
Looks way better in this – so long as hasn’t used this to add bulk and another killer weight cut. It will be interesting to compare his weigh-in photo with these camp shots.
taptomyarmbar - January 10, 2012
Rumble took that 10-9 against Rashad
yellopanda - January 10, 2012
Johnson is going to run through Vitor
Pandanus - January 10, 2012
I don't know...
if he’s just being lazy because of the camera in his face or what, but those arm bar transitions were horrible. You’re supposed to be able to swing that leg around in a fluid motion, not hobble like you’ve had too many drinks.
TheBlackChip - January 10, 2012
as he said,
“I’m not going for armbars, I’m punching from here”
Anton Tabuena - January 10, 2012
Yeah I know he’s no BJJ whiz but it’s not often you see someone show such wooden technique
StevenGiles - January 10, 2012
Rumble winning a couple fights at mw would definitely make things interesting for the division. He’d be a worthy contender for Silva at least.
Tats16 - January 10, 2012
not saying he'd beat Anderson
but it would be a fun fight.
Tats16 - January 10, 2012
i would say he is an ample replacement for Nate the great
lets see how he fairs against the phenom though, opinions change quickly once that blitz hits
elmojo - January 10, 2012
War "Midnight"
X5-452 - January 10, 2012
It’s good to see him training with the right people as he is training in Florida with Rashad Evans at Imperial Athletics and the Blackzilians. Middleweight is such a good fit for him too as he is a good height and should be able to safely cut to 185. While he is capable of beating Belfort if he uses the right strategy, I would have liked to see him fight someone more mid-tier at this new weight first before fighting someone like Belfort.
chrisbboy82 - January 10, 2012
Win or lose against Vitor, I really hope he stays at MW. Looking forward to seeing him on saturday, think this is a great move, finally.
Horselover Fat - January 10, 2012
Nothing in that video showed me he has the tools to beat someone like Belfort. That was all half-assed training with not too much going on. All i know now is that he is a massive, massive dude.
MMAussie - January 10, 2012
Rumbleweight 2.0
190 lbs?
taptomyarmbar - January 10, 2012 via mobile
I always thought Johnson would do leaps and bounds better at middleweight. Vitor might be above him for now, but at Middleweight he’s still going to be much stronger relative to his competition, faster, and he won’t be near-murdering himself with the cut every fight.
Patrick John McGreevy - January 10, 2012
I’ve long been critical of Johnson, but most of that has stemmed from my annoyance at his weight cutting issues. A move to MW should end up making me a big fan and I really hope he makes the most of it.
Empty Thoughts - January 10, 2012
his lack of bjj acumen sure isn’t going to scare anyone
flamingmo - January 10, 2012
yeah his armbar SUCKED
T.P. Grant - January 10, 2012
Strong wrestler
Strong-jitsu.
I suspect Rumble’s game is more defensive grappling off his back, get to his feet, throw bombs.
AngryTwinkie - January 10, 2012
oh yeah I agree, I think he is a great fighter overall
but he was going to the armbar from mount, and it was awful
T.P. Grant - January 10, 2012
good to see he's taking his training on the ground seriously...
the guy with the big nose - January 10, 2012
I think right now
Rumble is thinking, "why did I ever fight at Weltetweight this is all soooo much better when that weight cut isn’t looming! "
I think Rumble could be a force at 185
T.P. Grant - January 10, 2012
Looks like he still has a sizeable cut ahead of him to make 185.
Schwizzles - January 10, 2012 via mobile
Yeah, he said he was 213 lbs on the day of the media call last week. So that’s almost 30 pounds roughly a week before weigh-ins.
Horselover Fat - January 10, 2012
That just further illustrates how absurd it was for him to compete at 170
Schwizzles - January 10, 2012 via mobile
It looks like he is carrying a lot more muscle though.
Ulf Murphy - January 10, 2012
True, he went uber-rumble instead of starving himself.
Horselover Fat - January 10, 2012
He is still starving himself this week though.
Can you imagine the repercussions if he misses weight at 185? It is laughable thinking about it.
Ulf Murphy - January 10, 2012
Good point, as we noted it’s still going to be a big cut for him. If he doesn’t make it he’ll be a laughing stock forever, but I have a hard time seeing that happen.
Horselover Fat - January 10, 2012
I see him making the cut
but it is interesting to me that he should enter this fight without the worry of not making weight. He should have been able to keep his mind clear and focus purely on training. We might see a whole new fighter.
Ulf Murphy - January 10, 2012
Yes, exactly. I’m not a huge fan or anything but I’m legitimately intrigued to see him fight on Saturday, should be very interesting.
Horselover Fat - January 10, 2012
I can't bring myself to buy it.
I swore off the “average” cards a year or so ago, but I will tune in to the live threads to get the gist of wha tis going on.
I like the potential of AJ at 185. That potential could easil be realized on Saturday, but it pisses me off that AJ gets Vitor in his first fight up and Stann loses to Sonnen and gets to fight Sakarra. The depth is atrocious.
Ulf Murphy - January 10, 2012
Yeah, I’m not going to pay for this one either, not worth it. I’ll probably watch it on some shitty stream though, or maybe download the day after. I’ll gladly pay for good cards, like the last one, but here they’re really stretching it. Also for 141 I had purchased the UFC.tv online PPV, but the site was down. Luckily I found a shitty stream for substitute, and I guess the site began working sometime before the main event. Either way I e-mailed them asking for a refund, but they basically told me flat no, because it had began working and was available to view for 24 hours afterwards. So, to summarize, no bad feelings about pirating every now and then.
Haha, yeah it’s pretty strange matchmaking. I hope it doesn’t get Rumble the idea to go back to WW if he loses to Vitor.
Horselover Fat - January 10, 2012
Someone should make a terrible training video
Where they look slow, rusty and out of shape
Then blitz the opponent on fight night with everything they were holding back in the video
Cunny - January 10, 2012
like shogun did
except for the blitzing of the opponent with everything they were holding back part..
the guy with the big nose - January 10, 2012
Didn’t he blitz Forrest in the fight following the release of that awful strobe glasses training video?
WARistotle - January 10, 2012
Yeah, all I could think when watching that video was, “Man I hope that’s involved as part of the gym membership.” That and imagining two out of shape frat bros behind the invention high-fiving while calling it the wave of the future.
NickRingp4pGOAT - January 10, 2012
Pretty sure that was before the Jones fight
They showed him doing a bunch of football-type quick burst workouts, and he was doing them neither quick nor bursting.
joker24 - January 10, 2012
That hurt to watch
Somewhat less than the fight itself though
Cunny - January 10, 2012
191 - 192.5
is the new rumble weight?
soilworker - January 10, 2012
Ace is not impressd with your performance.
Ulf Murphy - January 10, 2012
yea, me either....
Like the Caps against the Kings last night
soilworker - January 10, 2012
He might be the most intimidating man in this sport.
T.C. Engel - January 10, 2012 via mobile
He’ll do fine as long as he protects the back of his head.
mcgriff - January 10, 2012
Wow
Cannot believe how many people on here think Johnson is going to win this fight. Vitor has the advantage in almost everything but wrestling, and even then, I think Vitor’s TD defense is more than enough to defend against Rumble’s shot. I like Rumble as much as the next guy, but Vitor is going to blow his doors off.
theprodigy1981 - January 10, 2012
Rumble Wins!
He’s going to break Vitor mentally. When Vitor can’t get off the way he wants to he will not want any more of Johnson who is just as athletic as he is.
press700 - January 10, 2012
dont forget explosive
SWEDishfish - January 12, 2012
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