Oct-15-2009

Anthony Johnson - Ready to 'Rumble'

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By Rhett Butler

Since stepping into the Octagon at UFC Fight Night 10 against Chad Reiner back in 2007, Anthony Johnson has set himself apart from the rest of his fellow prospects. It was his debut in the big game, a swift rise to the majors after only three professional bouts in other organizations, all of which resulted in a soon-to-be known Johnson trademark: winning.

However, just like his very first mixed martial arts fight, where he knocked his opponent out in the first round, his debut in UFC would prove the same: a KO over Reiner in 13 seconds of the first round, sending the vet out of the UFC.

This soon started yet another trademark: KO’s and an ability to stand out amid the fray thanks to pure excitement and athleticism. As a former collegiate wrestler, Johnson has the goods to deliver a wrestling clinic to any fighter, yet most fans would cite his striking abilities first. A comparison can be made to Chuck Liddell and even the “new” Josh Koscheck in that regard, but in Johnson’s eyes, he stands alone in this regard and wants it to stay that way.

“I don’t think I’m similar to anybody,” he said, “I just think I’m me. I don’t try to be like nobody, I don’t try to be like Chuck (Liddell) and I don’t think I resemble anybody. My style in every way is different. Chuck Liddell, when he fought, people shot on him and they didn’t touch his leg. People can get my leg but it’s still hard for them to take me down because that’s how good my hips are when it comes down to shifting around. I just do me.”

The product of Georgia farm rearing, Johnson traveled west to Susanville, California, a small town of 16,324 in the northeastern part of the State, on a wrestling scholarship. That journey changed his life in multiple ways beyond the educational aspects, and reluctantly, his MMA career took shape.

“I came to California on a wrestling scholarship to Lassen Community College,” he recalls. “I completed my goal of winning a national championship in college and then my neighbor kept asking me to come by his gym and I kept blowing him off because I didn’t think he knew anything, it was just a small town. My girlfriend at the time, she was like, ‘check it out and if you like it, stick with it, and if you don’t, then don’t go back, plain and simple.’ So I went and now I’m here doing an interview with you.”

Once Johnson began MMA training, it isn’t really clear when striking overtook the wrestling side, but one can only assume it was a natural transition for him. Hope for the young stud was at an all-time high during his early development, as his then mentors pushed him towards competition. Foregoing the amateur testing grounds, Johnson was placed immediately in the pros, a fact he didn’t realize until he had already begun competing.

“I never had one amateur fight; they threw me right in with the wolves and my first fight was a pro fight. I was so new to the game I didn’t know the difference, I didn’t know there was an amateur game, I just always thought it was professional. I thought fighting was fighting. I was just glad to be hitting somebody. They put me right in there and I didn’t even know the difference until after that it was a pro fight. I didn’t even know they had amateur rankings or pro rankings but it is what it is.”

Around the time that Johnson let his hands fly successfully into Jonathan Romero’s face for his first fight and win, his UFC opponent at UFC 104 on October 24th, Yoshiyuki Yoshida, began a nine-fight win streak that would include six TKO/KO’s. On that list were notables like Dan Hardy (DQ) and Jon Koppenhaver (Sub/Anaconda Choke in 56 seconds of the first round upon his entrance into the Octagon at UFC 84). The latter win sent Koppenhaver out of the UFC as well and exhibited the well-rounded ability of the Japanese judoka.

And while there are many similarities between Johnson and Yoshida, to Johnson there is only one.

“I don’t see nothing the same or similar except that we’re both men, that’s it. I don’t see his knockouts being nearly as severe as mine, I don’t see his knockouts being nearly as brutal as mine but he’s a good fighter. He is a judo guy and he’s really good at his judo, but we’ll see how everything turns out. This is a fight, and every time people fight, you always have to change up your game plan a little bit, so we’ll see how his game plan is and of course you’re going to see how my game plan is.”

One interesting fact about this fight is that the first and only time that Yoshiyuki has been knocked out was in his fateful meeting with Josh Koscheck at UFC Fight For The Troops last December. The first round knockout was one of the most dazzling in UFC history and to Johnson it showed his opponent’s susceptibilities.

“His weakness right now, obviously, is his chin. Koscheck proved that with the way he hit him and I think I hit way harder than Koscheck does. Koscheck laid him out cold. So you never know; if I hit him just as hard as Koscheck did, the results are going to be more deadly than what Koscheck did.”

The dictionary defines the word doppelganger as ‘a ghostly double or counterpart of a living person.’ With Yoshida as accomplished if not more accomplished in judo as Johnson was in wrestling, yet equally skilled at striking - record-wise - as Johnson, this match draws interesting comparisons, and is yet another reason why the UFC continues to outpace the rest in matchups; as the complexities unravel, the Octagon seems more like a matchup of twin tornados decimating the world stage with displays of equality and power, than simply a sporting event.

Tickets for UFC 104 are Available: Ticketmaster