Two years since his last Octagon outing, Anthony ‘Rumble’ Johnson has finally put pen to paper on a new deal with the UFC.
‘Rumble’ was released from the promotion back in January of 2012 after failing to make the scheduled weight limit for the third time in his UFC career.
The former welterweight fighter has since reinvented himself, competing at light-heavyweight, and even heavyweight, for promotions like Titan FC and most recently World Series Of Fighting.
Along the way he’s gone six fights unbeaten and defeated other former UFC competitors like Andre Arlovski, Mike Kyle, Jake Rosholt and Dave Branch, while simultaneously proving that he now has his weight issues under control.
‘Rumble’ was known as a heavy hitter at 170lbs, having racked up five clean KO’s in his last stint in the UFC, and impressively he’s managed to maintain that despite moving up several weight classes, with four of his previous six wins ending by either KO or TKO stoppage.
So, there’s no doubt that it’s good news for the UFC to have Johnson back in the mix, but that doesn’t mean they’ve done him any favors with his first assignment upon his return as he’s been immediately lined up to face current No.4 ranked light-heavyweight Phil Davis at UFC 172 on April 26th.
Davis is currently on a three-fight winning streak, with his most recent victory coming by decision against Lyoto Machida back in August of last year.
UFC 172 will be headlined by a title fight in the same division, as Jon Jones attempts to defend his belt against Glover Teixeira.
