Former UFC fighter Anthony ‘Rumble’ Johnson’s continued problems with his weight has once again become an issue, forcing his Titan FC debut tonight against David Branch to be changed from a middleweight contest to a 195lb catchweight.
Up until a few days the fight had been set to be contested at 185lbs, but then suddenly it emerged that it was now being moved to a catchweight, and lo and behold Johnson then weighed in a 194lbs, while Branch came in at 189lbs.
Titan FC are keen to play down the significance of this, but it’s obvious that the change is down to ‘Rumble’ who was thrown out of the UFC back in January after wieghing in a remarkable 11lbs over the limit for his middleweight debut against Vitor Belfort.
That was the third time in his UFC career that he’d been overweight for a fight and was the final straw for the promotion, though Dana White did indicate that the door wasn’t neccessarily closed to him forever.
It seemed obvious that this was a cue for Johnson to prove that he could meet the required weight in some fights for the smaller promotions before making his way back to the UFC, but the fact that he’s still unable to get the problem under control may well result in them seeing him as more trouble than he’s worth.
