Highly touted welterweight prospect Anthony Johnson has had a great deal of difficulty fighting at 170lbs., just not against his opposition. His problem is making weight. AJ walks around well over 200lbs., and as high as 220lbs. during the lull between fighting and training. Cutting down to 170lbs. has been excruciating for him in the past and things seem to have come to a head today. Anthony Johnson weighed-in for his UFC 104 bout against Yoshiyuki Yoshida a full five pounds over the 171lbs. limit. He has been fined 20% ($3000) of his purse (to be paid to Yoshida) win or lose for missing. The commission gave him an hour to lose the extra weight and he told them he couldn't and wasn't going to try. Moreover it was a disrespectful thing to do to his opponent, who rightly could've said "I'm not fighting" given the circumstances--but never would because of the unwritten code in MMA and boxing (take the extra money and suck it up by fighting at a disadvantage). You have to wonder if Johnson can continue to fight in this division. You certainly have to question the CSAC for letting this kind of error slide. Obviously it is well within their right to tell him he has an hour to make weight or the fight is off, but I can't recall a situation where they have put their foot down like that before. IMHO the UFC should have a much stricter policy against missing weight. If you miss weight you should be fined/suspended and your fight should be canceled, IMHO. It's bullshit. If both fighters miss weight, fine, go ahead and fight at catch weight.
I think it would be even more disrespectful to cancel the fight, honestly. In that case, that means the other fighter had a training camp for nothing. I think you're being a little to over the top here? I mean, fighters miss weight...it happens. Thiago Alves has missed weight a lot of times. I don't know if I'd call it disrespectful in both of these guys cases, as they've got to cut down a shit load of weight. What I think is stupid is the fact that they don't fight @ 185. I don't necessarily know if I'd call it disrespectful, though. I mean if it was a guy who could easily make weight and didn't, then yeah I'd say it was disrespectful. Eh, w/e, I don't think Yoshida cares much if he accepted the fight and gets an extra $3,000.
Maybe it wouldn't be so bad if it weren't for the fact that everyone knew he was going to have trouble and a lot of people expected him to miss weight. Missing by five pounds is just wrong.
No, but the last time he took the fight on relatively short notice so nobody gave him too hard a time over it. By now he should know how much time he needs and what he needs to be at in order to make weight. Cutting from 220 to 176 is just dangerous.
if the guy wants to fight at 170 he should drop around 20 pounds permanently or else fight at 185. I know he's trying to gain a size advantage but then you look at guys like GSP and Anderson Silva and realize size isn't everything (even though the two guys I mentioned aren't exactly small) I like Rumble but he's doing too dangerous of a cut, that can't of suffering can't be good for the body.
I think he'll be up @ 185 sooner or later. If this is his first, legitimate time missing weight, I think he deserves somewhat of a break. Like you said, cutting that much weight is dangerous. He underestimated how hard it would be and Yoshida is being fairly compensated for that.
If he loses to Yoshida, then move up to 185, because it'll be a while before he'd get a title shot if he were to lose, and sooner or later he'll be better off at 185. If he wins, then stay a little bit lighter in the offseason, and work his way to a title shot. If he loses at any point, then move up to 185. I'd even say if he wins the belt, then move up (and fight a contender at 185), and then he could be one of the very few to claim to hold 2 belts at one time. (and then obviously relinquish the WW belt after he wins the 185, because he shouldn't cut to WW anymore with his extra weight).
I don't see how you can say Yoshida is being fairly compensated. Yoshida will go into the fight weighing 180, 185lbs, Johnson will be 10-15lbs. heavier. That's kind of fucked up.
An extra $3,000 is fair compensation. He also, obviously, isn't too concerned if he accepted the fight after the weigh-ins. Plus, he figured he was going to get KTFO anyways, so an extra $3,000 isn't bad.
Anthony Johnson misses out on not only $3000, but also on an additional $60 000. Dana White says Anthony Johnson was passed over for the knockout of the night-bonus, due to his failure to make weight at UFC 104: "He should have (won it)," said UFC president Dana White. "He should have won it, but because he didn’t make weight, he wasn’t eligible for it, but he would have won."
So the injured knee excuse seems a little weak in light of his recent comments. http://mmajunkie.com/news/16634/ufc...on-as-i-didnt-make-weight-my-life-changed.mma Sounds like he's not blaming his knee anymore, but rather his lifestyle--or his commitment to training and fitness. I like him and I think he's a great part of the WW division.
