Seven months after he unexpectedly announced his retirement from the sport, Anthony ‘Rumble’ Johnson appears to be on the verge of making a comeback.
That’s the word from Johnson’s own manager Ali Abdel-Aziz, who revealed the 33-year-old will be talking to Dana White about his potential return to the Octagon later this week.
However, it seems that money matters for ‘Rumble’, with Abdel-Aziz noting that, “it has to make sense for him,” if he is to return, while it seems that the former 205lb title contender is now setting his sights on stepping up a weight class.
“He’ll come back as a heavyweight. We want him to come back as a heavyweight.”
As one of the hardest hitters of all-time in the sport, the UFC would no doubt love to welcome Johnson back to the Octagon, and the prospect of him fighting at heavyweight would certainly help add new life to a somewhat stagnant division.
“Dana White really loves Anthony Johnson,” Abdel-Aziz noted. “How can you not love Anthony Johnson? He’s terrifying.”
When Johnson first revealed he was retiring he was walking away from the sport after an unsuccessful title bid against 205lb champ Daniel Cormier at UFC 210 he had indicated that he’d been offered a lucrative job in another industry, which later turned out to be in the medical marijuana field.
Later Johnson spoke about wanting to get out of the sport before he took too much punishment, citing his concerns about traumatic brain injuries and openly questioning why other veteran stars were continuing to compete, using Diego Sanchez as a prime example.
With that in mind, Johnson may have to answer some tough questions if and when he does return to action, but if he can get back to the winning ways that saw him rack up no less than five clean KO victories in his light-heavyweight run alone in the UFC then that will all quickly be forgotten about.
