UFC president Dana White has made plenty of controversial decisions over the years. Most of the time he sticks to his guns, but he has also reconsidered and backpedaled once his temperature cooled off. For those hoping White might rehire recently-fired Anthony Johnson (Pictured), don’t hold your breath.
“He needs to go fight somewhere else, get some wins and come in on weight,” White said following Thursday’s press conference. “He needs to prove to me that he can be a professional, show up on weight and do the things that he needs to do.
“[If] he gets a few fights under his belt and does that, we’ll talk.”
FYI, Strikeforce is out of the question, as well.
White lambasted Johnson two weeks ago for missing weight in his UFC 142 shootout against Vitor Belfort. For a non-title middleweight affair, fighters are allowed to weigh a maximum of 186 pounds, which is exactly what Belfort checked in at. Johnson tipped the scales at an astonishing 197 pounds.
It was the third time in Johnson’s 11 trips to the UFC’s scales that he missed the mark. “Rumble” weighed 177.5 pounds in his September 2007 contest against Rich Clementi and was 176 pounds for his October 2009 scrap with Yoshiyuki Yoshida. Both welterweight bouts were fought at catchweights based off Johnson’s respective weight.
White immediately fired the 27-year-old after getting submitted by Belfort. Johnson owns a 10-4 professional record and posted a 7-4 mark for the world’s premier mixed martial arts promotion.
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