Issue 128
May 2015
Jon Jones may be king of the UFC jungle, but next challenger Anthony Johnson packs a bone-crunching bite more destructive than any of the champ’s previous foes, and boy is he hungry.
Respect is earned, not given. Jon Jones earned his by becoming the youngest world champion in UFC history, then going on a highlight-reel-rammed, eight-defense reign of terror that’s featured the destruction of more former champions and leading contenders than any other belt holder in Octagon history.
It’s taken ‘Bones’ to the very top of mixed martial arts’ pound-for-pound poll. His 2009 DQ aside, the 205lb flag bearer is undefeated. Not only that, he’s made a habit of beating his esteemed rivals at their own game: outwrestling Olympic wrestlers, outstriking former boxing champions and even submitting BJJ black belts.
Jones is so exceptional, he’s coming under increasing pressure to move up a weight division to fight as a heavyweight and test himself against athletes who are naturally broader and stronger than himself. It’s a seemingly inevitable switch that he’s actually come to terms with this year.
However, first things first. One challenger remains. Like Jones, he’s earned his respect the hard way. The path to the top has been anything but straightforward for Anthony Johnson. The one-time welterweight has endured more highs and lows than most gyms’ entire stable of fighters combined. Yet on May 23rd, at UFC 187, the former junior college national wrestling champion will get his shot at MMA’s most celebrated current champion.
All of the trials and tribulations of his career have built to a crescendo. At one point in time, it had descended into absolute chaos, but it’s rebuilt from the rubble and been reinvigorated two weight divisions up. Rumble vs. Jones is real and has got every man and woman on the planet excited.
It’s exactly what the 31-year-old wanted in his career and he’s determined not to let it pass him by. “It’s an honor to even set foot inside the Octagon with Jon. He’s achieved so much and proven so many people wrong. I’m excited to get in there and see what I can do against a guy of his caliber,” Johnson tells FO. “This is what dreams are made of: fighting for the UFC world title. I’m going to prepare right and just get in there and see what happens. If it’s meant for me, it’s meant for me. And if it’s not, it’s not, and I’ll keep going.”
Johnson admits the champion is multi-faceted when it comes to both his defensive and offensive arsenal. With 15 stoppages in 21 career wins, the fact that Jones has gone to decision in his last three fights doesn’t wash with Rumble. After all, he insists, their May encounter is unlikely to be left in the hands of the judges.
Asked what Jones does particularly well, Rumble laughs: “Everything... he’s defended the UFC title eight times, going for his ninth defense, that’s unheard of in any sport. The guy doesn’t have any holes in his game. And if you think you’ve spotted something you can exploit, then you better believe he’s already come up with something new. He’s definitely a warrior.
“He’s probably the best fighter I’ve ever faced, but he’s not the toughest. I’m my toughest opponent. Jon is the most skilled fighter I’ve come up against in my career, but I’m definitely my toughest opponent.”
Indeed, Johnson fought himself for a long time. Throughout the first chapter of his career, between 2006 to 2012, he routinely killed himself to beat the scales. Locked in a wrestler’s mindset, Johnson’s career suffered from some of the most dramatic and unhealthy weight cutting the sport has ever witnessed. After missing weight three times, he was shunned and left alone to pick up the pieces of his career outside of the UFC.
But free from the pressure of the Octagon and finally free to grow and mature as a man and an athlete, Johnson blossomed into one of the most dangerous fighters in the sport. When he returned to the UFC two years after his release, he was transformed from dried-out welterweight to light heavyweight juggernaut. He believes he’s finally the fighter he was destined to be.
“If I had the same mindset I have today back when I was fighting at 170lb, then I’d be undefeated for sure,” he says. “I’m unbeaten at 205lb so, like Jones, I feel like I’m an unbeaten fighter.
“These days I don’t specifically train any style for my fights because at this level both me and my opponent are at the top of our game. We’ve both trained everywhere. You’ve got to be ready to fight everywhere at this level. So my camp for this last fight never altered to how it’s been for my last few fights. We never switched anything up, we just sharpened and tightened everything.
“It’s just so natural now to do the things that I do. I just go with the flow and if it’s clicking or whatever, then fine. But I just fight and if I see an opening I go for it. For instance, I can unload a combination in a fight that I haven’t necessarily trained for the past two months. At this point in my career, it all just feels so natural to me.”
Asked to rank his position in the sport, Johnson says: “I can’t say I am the best – yet. I feel like I’m one of the best, but I’ll never say I’m the best. I believe in my skills and my talent. And I do believe that nobody can beat me, but I won’t say I’m the best – not until I have the title.”
Leading contender Alexander Gustafsson was the latest athlete to try and fail to derail Johnson’s title push. The Swede was closer than anybody else has been to emerging with the UFC championship belt when he beat Jones up in September 2013, only to lose out on points in Toronto.
And while Johnson is quick to accept his latest foe ultimately unlocked his own championship opportunity, he’s also determined to keep his feet on the ground and not get too excited by the fact Jones’ sternest test to date lasted little more than two minutes locked in a cage with him.
He says: “Just because I knocked out Gus’ and he took Jones five rounds doesn’t mean anything. Styles make fights. Obviously Gus’s style, it wasn’t bad, it’s just that I caught him at the right time and got it done. Jon probably took him for granted a little bit and we all saw what happened. But I know he won’t take me for granted and I expect a war.”
Gustafsson became a global star with his performance against Jones. He ultimately lost out on points at UFC 165, but sections of both fans and MMA media believed his display warranted perhaps the crowning of a new champion. Johnson disagrees.
“I believe Jon lost the battle, but won the war,” he recalls. “Gus’ won the battle, he beat Jon up, but Jon won the mixed martial arts competition. Just like GSP beat Johny Hendricks. Johny Hendricks beat the hell out of GSP, but GSP won the fight in terms of it being a mixed martial arts contest. Had it been a street fight then I would say Gus’ won and Hendricks won. But this is MMA and in both cases, the martial artist won.”
Johnson, typically, was cool, calm, and collected when he was matched with Gustafsson for a 205lb title eliminator in Stockholm in January. The pressures of the event – the first stadium card in Europe, the second biggest in UFC history and live on Fox in the US – landed on Gustafsson’s shoulders alone. Johnson was carefree and clinical.
While Rumble stops at accepting his performance was punch-perfect, he admits things couldn’t have gone much better for him in Stockholm. “It certainly worked out in my favor,” he says with a shrug. “I didn’t expect it to end the way it ended, but I’ll count it. I caught him and that’s it.
“I’m always relaxed before I fight. I was the same before the Gus’ fight, the Nogueira fight and Davis fight. It’s just the way I am. I go out there and have fun. I don’t worry about anything, I just go out there and give it my all.”
Though with a title fight awaiting the victor, surely experience of a full five rounds would have been more beneficial to prepare for a matchup with the world number one? “Hell no!” Johnson laughs. “I don’t do five rounds and have no intention of ever doing five rounds. I like to finish fights.”
Previous challengers have attempted to get under Jones’ skin, ruffle the champion in an effort to cloud his thoughts and bring out his emotions. Rashad Evans, ‘Rampage’ Jackson and Daniel Cormier all goaded and teased the champion at every opportunity. But Johnson, rather like Gustafsson, isn’t playing that hand.
Rumble sees no reason to antagonize Jones. After all, he isn’t a fighter who needs to have contempt for his opponents anyway. He never has. “I don’t need to feel any animosity towards anybody to punch them in the mouth,” he says. “That’s the easy part.
“Me and Jon aren’t exactly friends, but we’re cool. I don’t know him really from the man on the moon really. He’s just an athlete and another human being and I show him respect – no matter what he may have done in the past.
“The things he has done outside of the Octagon – in his private life – have nothing to do with me. I don’t judge him for anything he may have done. He’s a man and he deserves respect, especially for what he has achieved in this sport.”
Johnson even spoke to Jones backstage at their first pre-fight meeting in March, and conjured up a prank against Dana White. The pair recreated Jones’ heavily criticized press-conference scrap with Cormier, just to punk the jittery UFC president.
Rumble adds: “Just because we’re fighting each other that doesn’t mean we have to hate each other. The whole prank on Dana White with Jon, that was just to get everybody going. With so much talk about PEDs and with Jon’s own situation, I just wanted to do something to loosen everybody up and to get this back to what it really is.
“It’s about having fun, entertaining the fans and fighting hard. The fighting hard part comes on May 23rd. But exciting the fans and getting everybody excited, that started at the first press conference.
“The fight is going to be very entertaining. Me and Jon both have stories behind us. We’ve both come through a lot to have our success. We’ve both had a lot of ups and downs in our careers and personal lives and now we get to meet in the middle and see who’s the best.
“That’s what’s truly exciting to me. We are coming together at the peak of our powers after coming through so much adversity, and we’re going to get it on.”
Pearlene's pride and joy
When Anthony Johnson stands across from Jon Jones he won’t be alone inside the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. An exodus of supporters, led by members of the Johnson family, will be skipping across state from Dublin, Georgia to cheer on ‘Rumble’ when he challenges for the world title.
Brothers, cousins and, of course, Johnson’s own Blackzilian teammates will be in the stands when the hooter sounds for the opening round. However, perhaps the most important supporter of all has confirmed she won’t be in Sin City.
Pearlene Johnson is the inspiration behind Rumble’s incredible knockout campaign in mixed martial arts. She’s pushed him to earn a 68.4% KO ratio in the sport. Her grandson aims to put his opponents out cold to save her from undue stress.
“She’s the one that gets really nervous,” he tells FO. “She’s always nervous when I get ready to fight. She usually attends my fights and, to be honest, I think her being there actually makes me fight better too. When I can hear her voice I know she’s worried so I know I have to finish the guy, whoever it is.”
Yet Pearlene won’t travel to Nevada. “My grandmother won’t be going to Las Vegas for the fight. I asked her, but she just kept saying, ‘That’s a young folks’ city’ (laughs). But my cousin, who was raised with me, he’s going to be there. And my brothers and some other family and friends too, will all be in Vegas.
“Everybody is super excited. They watched the fight from Sweden. When I got home I went back to Georgia to see them and they’re so proud of me. They’re always supportive, but they were also saying, ‘Now it’s the big one,’ so they know we ain’t done yet. They know I can’t dwell on my last fight, I’ve got to focus on the one I have now, so they didn’t talk about it too much.
“At Blackzilians, everybody there is ecstatic too. They’re all excited about the fight and they’re all talking about flying out to Vegas to be ringside. In fact, they’re talking more about going to the fight than they are about training right now (laughs).”
Rumble adds: “When I’m fighting Jon Jones I’ll be thinking about my grandmother, like I always do. She’s the reason why I finish these fights early, after all. So she doesn’t have a stroke or something. I knock people out to keep her safe – and Jones will be no exception.”
AJ’s greatest hits
Chad Reiner, UFC Fight Night 10
Gone in 13 seconds. Welcoming party Reiner tried to go toe-to-toe with Johnson on his UFC debut, but swallowed two huge left hooks to end up face down on the canvas.
Kevin Burns, TUF 8 Finale
Johnson ‘lost’ their first fight five months earlier when ‘The Fire’ tried to touch the back of his skull through his eye socket. But Rumble made a statement in the rematch when he landed a crushing left high kick to the jaw.
Charlie Brenneman, UFC on Versus 6
Midway through the opening round and Johnson’s onslaught left Brenneman frozen holding the fence. It was all the invitation he needed to land one of the most brutal head kicks, and subsequent KO’s, of his career.
DJ Linderman, WSOF 1
Warning: do not poke Rumble in the eye. Linderman did it in the inaugural World Series of Fighting show and seconds later he was laid catatonic by a straight right hand that probably still gives Linderman shivers to this day.
Antonio Rogerio Nogueira, UFC on Fox 12
With ‘Little Nog’ pinned up against the fence, Rumble unloaded one of his favored right uppercuts, which started at his feet and finished among the clouds, capitulating Nogueira along the way.
