Anthony Johnson seemed like a lost cause in January of 2012. Coming in overweight for his match against the legendary Vitor Belfort, he not only sacrificed a portion of his purse for the weight infraction, he lost the match as well, looking winded early on. A big man who originally cut to welterweight, it was his third time blowing weight in the UFC, and the final straw. UFC president Dana White cut him lose. He turned up next in Titan Fighting Championships, and blew weight yet again. Intense weight cuts leading into a fight are common in MMA, where fighters will take every advantage they can to get the win. It's a way to somewhat circumvent the weight class system, and it's perfectly legal. Sweat out twenty pounds leading up to the bout, weigh in Friday evening, rehydrate and come in to the fight Saturday weighing 20 pounds more than advertised. The problem is, when cutting to welterweight, Johnson was cutting to dangerous levels. He has gone on record to state that he was cutting upwards of 50 pounds to make fighting weight. Kidney failure becomes a problem at that point. In fact, even making middleweight (185) rather than welterweight (170), doctors had advised him to cease his weight cut going into the Belfort fight for just that reason. After the Titan FC fight, however, Johnson began to mature. He started taking his weight seriously, accepting the fact that he was a light heavyweight - and he still has to cut weight to make that 205 limit. As a result, Johnson managed to go on a six fight win streak outside the UFC, becoming a headliner on WSOF cards and defeating the likes of Mike Kyle, DJ Linderman, and even Andrei Arlovski at heavyweight. It was a new Anthony Johnson, and the UFC took notice, signing him to a new contract. In his second debut with the organization, Johnson looked like a beast, giving highly ranked contender Phil Davis far more than he could handle. Johnson had arrived, in his proper weight class, and could easily challenge champion Jon Jones for the title soon.
Primarily covering the sport of MMA from Ontario, Canada, Jay Anderson has been writing for various publications covering sports, technology, and pop culture since 2001. Jay holds an Honours Bachelor of Arts degree in English from the University of Guelph, and a Certificate in Leadership Skills from Humber College.
