Anthony Johnson produced a stunning victory over his foe Ryan Bader in the 1st round at the Prudential Center, in NJ on Saturday night.
“They brainwashed him to make him think I was actually mentally weak,” Johnson said. “That’s fine with me. I won. To me, who’s the weak one?”
Talking about the tactic he said. “”There were two ways this was gonna play out, either he was gonna play it smart and hoping he was gonna catch me out of position or he was gonna bum rush and try to take me down. He tried to bum rush me and it just didn’t work out. So I was expecting one of two things. I liked his game plan.”
He further added that he was called mentally weak by him before the fight, now that he has won, means “mentally weak people win, confident people lose”.
Johnson has suffered 5 losses and 21 wins in his UFC professional career, now aims to have another shot at Cormier, current UFC Light Heavyweight Champion, who defeated him by third-round rear-naked choke submission. In that fight “Rumble” almost finished him off in the 1st round with a single punch.
In the light heavyweight division, which is a more natural weight class for Johnson, remains the only loss since moving from the welterweight class. Now it seems he will get another opportunity to beat the Champion.
Bader (20-5), on the other hand, will look to revive his career after this defeat.