Anthony Johnson

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1 Profile
2 Early MMA Career
3 UFC Career
4 Mixed martial arts record
5 Gallery
6 External links

Profile

Anthony "Rumble" Johnson (born March 6, 1984) is an American professional mixed martial artist and trains out of Cung Le Martial Arts.

He stands 6 ft. 2 in. tall and fights in the welterweight division for the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC).

Early MMA Career

Anthony Johnson made his professional mixed martial arts debut for the Pangea Fights promotion on August 18, 2006. He faced and defeated Jonathan Romero via TKO at 1:09 of round 1.

Johnson's next two fights came on the one night as a part of one night four man tournament held by the RMN-MMA promotion. Johnson won the tournament with decision victories over Rich Moskowitz in the opening round and Keith Wilson in the final.

UFC Career

With only three fights, Johnson was called up on one weeks notice for UFC Fight Night 10 to take on "The Grinder" Chad Reiner. Reiner dwarfed Johnson in terms of fights, holding 15 to Johnson's 3, however that counted for very little as Reiner and a wide open chin waded into power shots from both hands of Johnson. The fight was over in 13 seconds, with Johnson being awarded the victor via KO.

At UFC 76, Johnson was called in on short notice to face Rich Clementi. The bout was created in order to replace a light heavyweight contest between Wilson Gouveia and Jason Lambert that was scrapped due to injury. The fight was fought at a catchweight of 177 lbs. due to both fighters coming in with limited preparation. In the fight itself, Johnson took the first round after dropping the much more experienced Clementi but was outclassed in the second as Clementi secured Johnson's back and the choke, forcing Johnson to tap and concede the first defeat of his professional career.

At UFC Fight Night 13, Johnson returned to UFC action on what was meant to be the untelevised portion of a stacked a fight night. However, Johnson's highlight reel KO over opponent and TUF 6 finalist, Tommy Speer forced its way onto the televised portion.

Johnson was called back on relatively short notice for UFC Fight Night 14 on July 19th. An event which was created in order to counter program Affliction Entertainment's first MMA card, Affliction: Banned. Johnson faced Kevin Burns in a controversial bout, that was ended in the third round after Johnson was dropped by an ugly looking eye poke from Burns. The fight was ruled a TKO victory for Burns although the replay clearly showed the illegal blow. Referee Steve Mazzagati was not in position to see the blow land but later admitted his error. Johnson appealed the decision but was turned down due to lack of remedy.

Johnson had to get surgery on his eye after the fight, but returned to UFC competition at The Ultimate Fighter 8 Finale against Burns in order to set the record straight. The fight mirrored their first encounter for the first two rounds, minus the eye pokes. In the third round however, Johnson landed a devastating head kick that knocked Burns cold. Johnson pushed his professional record to 6-2 and earned himself the $25,000 "Knockout of the Night" bonus.

"Rumble" next competed at UFC Fight Night 17 against American Top Team's, Luigi Fioravanti. Johnson was all over the tentative Fioravanti, stopping him with punches at the 4:39 mark of round 1.

Johnson was next scheduled to compete at The Ultimate Fighter 9 Finale against TUF 7's Matt Brown. A knee injury to Johnson unfortunately nixed the potential barnburner.