Anthony Johnson

Anthony Johnson Interview

 

Hi Anthony,

Thank you for taking the time to sit down with MMABay and answer a few of our questions:

MMABay - Ok, so you were last in action in February, defeating Luigi Fiorivanti in the first round. Can you tell us how you felt the fight went for you that night?

Anthony - The fight was ok, it was pretty good, but he had a pretty good game plan, he stayed out of my reach pretty good and I really couldn’t hit him solid like I wanted to. But I still got the result I wanted but not the way I wanted it.

MMABay - Your striking has improved massively over the past year, do you put that down to training with the likes of Cung Le?

Anthony - Cung is helping me out a lot with my striking, my kicks. Overall the whole team and my coaching staff have helped me improve 100%. I still have a lot of improving to do but from the time I first got involved with mixed martial arts to now, improvement with my overall skills has come up tremendously.

MMABay - Many people won’t know this but you did try out for season six of the ultimate fighter, why were you not on the show?

Anthony - I think in my opinion it was just my size overall, they thought I couldn’t make the weight. They didn’t want to embarrass themselves, me and the sport with me not making weight for the show. I don’t think want another repeat of what Gabe Reudiger did and embarrass the show like that. I think they made a good decision.

MMABay - Your next fight is against Matt Brown in what could be one of the most entertaining fights of the year. Do you have a strategy to deal with the type of aggression?

Anthony - I just do my thing and I’m sure Matt is gonna do his thing. I mean my strategy is to just go in there and win and that’s what I plan on doing. I mean I’m me, I’m not really trying to change. I’m trying to improve but not really try to change my thing with my kicks and my striking and my wrestling, I’m not trying to change any of that but I’m just trying to get it better. I’m still gonna kick and punch and do my take downs whenever I want to.

MMABay - Were you impressed by his performance last time out against Pete Sell?

Anthony - Matt keeps improving. He’s one of the fighters I can say keeps improving every time he steps in the ring. His striking has got better his kicks have got better. Matt is tough so I take nothing away from the man I actually like him. He’s aggressive and he makes this sport look good and he shows what hard work and dedication can do for you. It makes you a better person; it makes you a better fighter.

MMABay - What area of the fight do you think you excel in where Matt maybe doesn’t, an area of the fight that you think will win it for you on the night?

Anthony - The whole thing, anything, everything.  I’m a better stand up fighter, I think I’m a better wrestler. I mean he has jiu-jitsu and he’s pulled off a couple submissions. Of course I haven’t pulled off any submissions but my ground doesn’t suck like everyone thinks it does. But that’s fine with me people can say whatever they wanna say about my ground. They think that I don’t have any ground because of what happened with Rich Clementi in my second UFC fight. And I don’t take anything from Rich, I lost. I tried to lose 33lbs in a week just to fight that man. I didn’t have the energy to defend anything once my gas was gone. But you know we’ll see, if it goes down to the ground I’ll do what I have to do to win on the ground too, the right way.

MMABay - Many fans see the unlimited potential in your game and are already discussing a possible fight between you and Georges St. Pierre down the road. How long do you think it will be and what would it mean to you to get a title shot?

Anthony - I don’t man. I’m just going one day at a time, one fight at a time. I’m not even thinking about GSP. I’m thinking about Matt Brown and the other guys I possibly have to fight to get to him. I’m not overlooking anybody because there’s so many guys at 170 that are top notch that could hold the belt in the weight class. So I’m just waiting for my opportunity I’m not in a rush. I’m 25 years old, so it is whatever. Whenever it comes it comes. I’m not getting over excited trying to rush anything.

MMABay - Another welterweight that has broken out this year, especially over here is British welterweight, Dan Hardy. How would you feel about facing him down the line?

Anthony - I’d love to face him too. He’s a good guy he’s a tough fighter. I haven’t really seen him fight too much, I saw him fight Rory Markham an he caught Rory upside the head just right. But if I fight him I fight him if I don’t I don’t. It’d be a good fight so we’ll see. He’s a good stand up striker, I’m a stand up striker. With our fight I think it’s about whoever has the best strategy and whoever lands the biggest shots.

MMABay - You’re a big 170 pounder, 6 foot 2, and only 25 years old. Do you think there will be a point in your career when you switch to middleweight?

Anthony - Yeah of course I want to go to middleweight eventually. I go to 170 because there’s so much competition there and every guy at 170 is solid. No disrespect to 185 but I love the explosiveness and talent at 170 so I choose to stay there. I can fight 185 easy if I wanted to. I think I’d have the same results that I’m having in 170.

MMABay - There’s been a bit of a “war of words” between you and John Howard this year. Have you got anything else to say to the guy who says he will make you eat your words?

Anthony - I don’t have time to waste my breathe on him. It’d be pointless talking about the man. Whatever, John Howard is John Howard. He just needs to get past Tamden McCrory first before he tries to worry about me.

MMABay - Is that the fight you would like to make happen after the Matt Brown fight?

Anthony - If it happens it happens. I’m going to knock him out for sure, if I fight him. You don’t take a fight then say you’re not going to take it because you feel like you’re not ready or whatever his excuse was. Then a month later take a fight with a guy that’s 6’ 4” and doesn’t suck. I guess in my opinion I think he thinks that Tamden McCrory is a good fight for him. But to me that’s an even worse match up for him going against somebody that’s 6’4” when he had the chance to go against someone that’s 6’2”. Tamden is fast, he’s strong, he’s crafty on the ground, his stand up isn’t bad. John Howard is 5’8”, 5’10” whatever he is. I think he’s just a coward still.

MMABay - I’d like to get your take on a couple of fights in your division before we wrap it up. Firstly the UFC 100 clash between Georges St. Pierre and Thiago Alves.

Anthony - GSP’s the champ, he’s the champ for a reason but Thiago also has the power to stop Georges’ winning streak easy with one hit. But we’ll see, both of them are top notch fighters. Georges can do it all, everybody knows that Thiago can stand he’s good with the take down defence, so we’ll see what Thiago’s really made of, if he’s worthy of holding the belt. I’d just say may the best man win, I like both of them.

MMABay - And finally, what’s your take on the UFC 98 co-main event between Matt Hughes and Matt Serra?

Anthony - I’m going Matt Serra. To me he’s just a better overall fighter, his stand up is better. Matt Serra will go toe-to-toe with anybody. You see what happened with him and Georges St Pierre. Matt Serra isn’t scared to throw down. Matt Hughes has, I don’t know what kind of stand up you’d want to call it. He tries to pick and choose his shots but mostly he’ll try and take you down. But Matt Serra doesn’t mind being taken down because he’s a black belt, he’s a damn good black belt. Matt Hughes was the former champ and Matt Serra was the former champ so both of them know what it’s like to have that belt around their waist. Either one of them could win but I give the edge to Matt Serra.

MMABay - Are there any sponsors you would like to mention before we wrap it up?

Anthony - Yeah, I'd like to thank Tapout, Knox, my agent Ken Pavia of MMAAgents.com, my team and Cung Le, Josh Thompson and my coach Arron Marravella and Triple X Racing Fuel and anyone whos just supported me and I'd ven like to thank you guys for hitting me up for this interview.

MMABay - Thanks again Anthony

(An exclusive interview for MMABay.co.uk)

 

To listen to the interview in full, CLICK HERE!!!