Anthony "Rumble" Johnson died at the age of 38, the sports world learned on Sunday. No cause of death was immediately shared, but we know that Johnson had been dealing with an undisclosed illness.
In 2021, Johnson came out of retirement to compete in Bellator’s Light Heavyweight World Grand Prix Tournament.
Johnson won his first fight of the tournament, beating Jose Augusto in May 2021.
Johnson was set to fight in the semifinals of the tournament in October 2021, but he withdrew from the bout in September 2021 due to an undisclosed illness.
On Sept. 18, 2021, Johnson asked his fans for prayers and said he had a “battle” ahead that was not COVID.
“Really wish I could go into detail about how ill I truly am. Just know I need as many prayers as I can get and I’ll see you in 2022 God willing … Never been this afraid of anything in my life but I’ve remained strong with the support of friends and family,” his Instagram note said.
“Not asking for anything but prayers. See you in 2022 hopefully. This is gonna be a battle and I’m gonna have to dig deeper than I ever have before,” the caption to his Instagram post said.
On Oct. 8, 2021, Johnson shared a video and post saying that he had to get bacteria pumped from his stomach. He shared a few photos/videos around that time from the hospital. One of the photos was of a CT scanning machine.
On May 17, Johnson shared a positive update on his health.
“Dr just gave me good news … Big improvements and that bill of health for now is,” his caption read. His caption included a checkmark and chart trending upwards to indicate his bill of health was positive.
Johnson did not share any more posts about his health thereafter.
Whatever he was going through was obviously serious, and he declined to let the public know about it, though he tried to keep his fans updated.
Johnson went 23-6 during his professional MMA career.
More must-reads: