Lätt tungviktaren Anthony Johnson kan just nu inte tänka sig att möta någon annan än Daniel Cormier i den viktklassen. Därför kan tungvikt vara intressant igen.
Med bara ett par veckor kvar till titelmatchen i lätt tungvikt på UFC 206 drog sig Daniel Cormier (18-1) ur matchen mot Anthony Johnson (22-5) på grund av ett skadat ligament. Johnson fick inte höra detta direkt. När han fick höra om detta kontaktade han sin manager samt UFCs president Dana White. Det berättar han i en intervju med Fox Sports.
”You know how it is, word spread like a disease, like the plague. I hit up my manager and I was like ’I heard DC was hurt’. I texted Dana (White) but Dana didn’t say nothing. He got back to me the next day but by that time it was already too late. It had already got confirmed what it was. My manager had texted me back after like an hour and said ’yeah, he’s out’.
”I just see it as a blessing. Things happen whenever they’re supposed to. I’m not stressing about it. I did train hard for this. I trained really hard for this. I was probably in the best shape I’ve been in a long time. I was in sick shape. I felt amazing.”
Johnson råkade ut för någonting som inte alltid är särskilt vanligt och det är en ursäkt direkt från någon annan fighter. Cormier ringde själv honom och bad om ursäkt. Dessutom har Johnson ingenting emot mästaren.
”He called me. Much love to DC. Not many fighters will call you and say ’I apologize’. DC was a real man and called me and apologized and then apologized on Twitter. I haven’t really been signed into Twitter and I haven’t been on social media much preparing for this fight, but when I signed into Twitter, I saw his message to me. That was mad respect from him to do that.”
”I was fine with it. It wasn’t like he pulled out just to be pulling out cause he needed more time to prepare. The man was actually hurt so I didn’t have any ill will towards him because of that.”
UFC ville gärna ha kvar Johnson på matchkortet. Istället för titelmatchen blev Johnson erbjuden en match om en interimtitel i lätt tungvikt mot mellanviktaren Gegard Mousasi (41-6-2) som har erfarenhet av lätt tungvikt, enligt uppgift från journalisten Ariel Helwani. Johnson tackade nej till det då han endast är intresserad av den riktiga titeln och inte en ”fejktitel”.
”They offered me Gegard (Mousasi) and nothing against Gegard but fighting him means nothing. He’s an 85-pounder, former light heavyweight fighter, he’s good, he’s tough and some of my guys were like that’s an easy fight. Other people I know were saying that’s an easy fight I should take it. But Gegard ain’t no punk. The man can fight. I think people don’t realize how good he really is, but besides the point, it was pointless for me.”
”If I go out there and fight him and win, it means nothing. I’m the fake champ. That’s really what the interim champ is. He’s the fake champ and if I lose, I start from scratch, I lose everything. I’m not going to take that chance. I said I’ll wait and take my chances on DC but I’ve got some things in mind, I might try and do at different weight classes.”
En viktklass som han skulle kunna tänka sig att testa är tungvikt som han gick en match i mot Andrei Arlovski (25-13, 1 NC) för tre år sedan då han krossade vitryssens käke. Detta kan han tänka sig att göra i väntan på att Cormier blir redo igen.
”Yeah. I’ll fight heavyweight. If it’s a fun fight, I’d definitely try it out. I always said I was going to go up to heavyweight in the UFC before I retired anyways. I might as well try it out if I get the opportunity. There’s some good heavyweights out there. Those boys are big, so I’m definitely taking a big risk and a big chance fighting those guys. I look forward to the challenge.
”If I fight, it has to be at heavyweight because at 205, it’s just not worth it.”
Han vill inte nämna några möjliga motståndare men av det han säger att döma så kan en returmatch mot Arlovski vara ett alternativ.
”There might be. If some people out there that wanted to fight me again that’s at heavyweight, we’ll see if we can make that happen.”
Vill ni se en returmatch mellan Johnson och Arlovski?
Foto: Mazdak Cavian
