Anthony "Rumble" Johnson has a lot of time in his hands. The undisputed number 1 contender for the UFC's Light Heavyweight Title was scheduled to face champion Daniel Cormier on UFC 206 this December 10. But a groin injury forced Daniel Cormier to withdraw from the main event. This leaves Anthony "Rumble" Johnson without an opponent for UFC 206. And with Daniel Cormier sidelined with an injury, Anthony "Rumble" Johnson may have other plans to fight.
Daniel Cormier is expected to return to action from his injury on the first quarter of 2017. If Anthony "Rumble" Johnson wishes to stay active, this gives "Rumble" time to have a fight before his scheduled Light Heavyweight Championship battle with Daniel Cormier. Anthony "Rumble" Johnson could probably fight around February or March, which gives him enough time to train and fight Daniel Cormier once Cormier recovers from injury.
Anthony "Rumble" Johnson was in fact given an option to fight streaking Middleweight and former Strikeforce Light Heavyweight champion Gegard Mousasi as a replacement bout for Daniel Cormier on UFC 206. However, Anthony "Rumble" Johnson declined the fight saying it was too risky.
"When Gegard was presented to me, it would've been a good fight, but it wouldn't have done anything for me. And if I had lost, I would have to start from scratch. It was just too risky." Anthony "Rumble" Johnson said. With these statements, we can expect Anthony "Rumble" Johnson to stay away from Light Heavyweight fights unless its against Daniel Cormier.
But Anthony "Rumble" Johnson is open to fights in the Heavyweight division. "Yeah. I'll fight heavyweight. If it's a fun fight, I'd definitely try it out. I always said I was going to go up to heavyweight in the UFC before I retired anyways. If some people out there that wanted to fight me again that's at heavyweight, we'll see if we can make that happen." Anthony "Rumble" Johnson said.
That someone who might want to fight Anthony "Rumble" Johnson again is most likely Andrei Arlovski. The two have fought back in 2013 with Anthony "Rumble" Johnson winning with a unanimous decision. Andrei Arlovski meanwhile has lost three straight fights in 2016 and may look to avenge his loss to Anthony "Rumble" Johnson and halt Arlovski's losing streak.
The pieces are already in place for a UFC heavyweight debut for Anthony "Rumble" Johnson. The question now is will he wait or will he fight?
