Rumble Johnson: I Had to Make Phil Davis Respect Me

Quote :

If Anthony Johnson felt any butterflies in his Octagon return, he certainly did not let on.

Johnson consistently beat Phil Davis to the punch in the co-main event of UFC 172, taking a clear-cut unanimous decision from “Mr. Wonderful” at Baltimore Arena live on pay-per-view.

“I had nothing but respect for him, but I also knew I had to take my respect,” Johnson said at the post-fight press conference. “I had to make him respect me. That’s why I was swinging for the fences and trying to hurt him. I wasn’t trying to play patty-cake or have him [lie] on top of me all sweaty.”

Johnson’s takedown defense was superb, as he shucked off the former NCAA Division I champion in each of his attempts to take the fight to the floor.

“I’ve always believed in my wrestling,” said Johnson. “You’ve just never gotten to see it because I was knocking people out. I knew my wrestling was pretty good. Everybody just underestimated it.”

Johnson initially competed for the UFC from 2007 to 2012 as a welterweight, but he had repeated troubles making the 170-pound limit. After receiving his release from the promotion, Johnson reinvented himself at 205 pounds, posting six straight victories and even notching a heavyweight win over former UFC champion Andrei Arlovski.

However, Johnson said he has no plans to move up again, considering the formidable size and depth of the UFC’s current heavyweight roster.

“[Compared to] guys like Cain Velasquez, Fabricio Werdum, Travis Browne and Junior dos Santos, I’m a little guy,” said Johnson. “I’m going to stay with the medium-sized guys at 205 [pounds]. Those heavyweights are just too big for me.”
Continued: http://www.sherdog.com/news/news/Anthony-Rumble-Johnson-I-Had-to-Make-Phil-Davis-Respect-Me-at-UFC-172-67191

I thought Rumble looked awesome at LHW. This should be his home. When I say awesome I dont necessarily mean skill-wise I just mean body size wise.

He looked effing strong! I think some of it was his wrestling, but a lot of it was his strength. I was shocked at how much stronger than Davis he seemed. A lot of the takedowns he stuffed were not on technique, but just on brute force.

yeah rumble might right on his to a title shot if he can get another impressive win like he did with davis.

Yeah i was impressed. Davis looked like a WW compared to him and Davis is a big guy. A lot of his takedown stuff were not even sprawl there were more just shruggin Phil off like "get the fuck off me" lol

Yeah I think that fight was won and lost in the first couple of minutes. Once it became apparent that Davis wasn't going to be able to take him down, it was all over with. You could see Davis go through the progression of "OK, fine. I'll just have to win this fight on the feet. I can do it!" then fast forward five minutes to "Aww goddamnit.......". lol