Anthony 'Rumble' Johnson Misses Weight By Mile

by Dr. Octagon, J.D.

Wow, Anthony Johnson weighed in at 197 lbs. Yup, twelve pounds overweight, while fighting up a weight class for the first time. That’s gotta be a new record. A dozen pounds over. Jeez, did he have a scale at his training camp?

Anthony Johnson used to fight at welterweight (170lb). He was a gigantic welterweight. Missed weight often, whenever the world’s most aggressive weight-cutting method failed. So Rumble moved up to middle weight (185lb) to avoid these weight-cutting issues. He has now missed weight thrice since 2006.  Thrice! The last two times he did not miss this badly, but it’s pretty obvious his natural weight is light heavy.  

Most fighters don’t have this problem. I don’t know exactly why, but the likely reason is they aren’t unprofessional clowns. But Belfort is a professional badass, so he took the fight as long as Johnson was below 205 today, which he just barely made. Dana is pissed and might cut Johnson even if he wins. Before the weight cut I had Belfort winning this matchup easily. The odds have widened a bit since the weigh in, but I think that is still the right bet. Vitor’s beaten guys bigger than Anthony Johnson; Randy Couture, for example.

Anthony Johnson is going to come into this fight heavy, but Vitor will likely rehydrate well himself and still has the sharper striking, though he is probably giving up a little bit in the strength department. It will be interesting to see how big Anthony Johnson comes into the cage. If previous cuts are any guide, he could come in pretty heavy, but I don’t know how much bigger he could possibly be after making 170 on October 1, 2011.