Anthony Johnson says one heavyweight fight could bring him back to the octagon

Anthony Johnson says one heavyweight fight could bring him back to the octagon

Following his UFC 210 title fight loss to Daniel Cormier this past Saturday in Buffalo, Anthony ‘Rumble’ Johnson shocked the mixed martial arts world by announcing his retirement from the sport (watch that here).

“Rumble” said the following in UFC 210 post-fight interview with commentator Joe Rogan.

“This is just something I have to do for me. I love you all. I said I love you!”

He continued:

“This uh… This was my last fight. I didn’t tell anybody. I didn’t even tell Dana White. My coaches knew, my family knew and my friends knew. I didn’t want any distractions. But I have to thank you all for being there for me,” Johnson said with tears in his eyes. “I gave my commitment to another job. Something that I have wanted to do for a while. It is not MMA related or anything like that. It is just time for me to move on to something else. I’m tired of getting punched by guys and rolling around on the ground with guys and stuff like that. Aint nothing fun about that yo. I enjoyed you Joe (Rogan). I enjoyed you UFC. I enjoyed you ZUFFA. Thank you. I will never forget you. And what better place to end my career than in Buffalo, New York.”

Johnson’s tearful retirement speech ruled out the possibility of the feared knockout artist ever throwing down with former division kingpin Jon “Bones” Jones… Or so we thought.

In a recent interview Anthony Johnson revealed that the one fight that could bring him back to the octagon would be the aforementioned scrap with Jon Jones (transcribed by MMAJunkie).

“I’m an alpha male, and he’s (Jon Jones) an alpha male. I wanted to see what I can do against him. I am pretty sure he wanted to see what he can do against me. Because you guys hyped it up so much that I was supposed to be the guy who beat him, and all this and that. You guys do your job very well, hyping things up, so props to you. But I feel I’m more – I don’t know if I want to say sad, disappointed, for the fans, because I know they really wanted to see it.”

Rumble continued:

“Day in and day out, people are always talking about Jon Jones and myself fighting each other, and it just never happened. Maybe if I decide to come back one day, we can fight at heavyweight or something.”

Do you think we will ever see a Jon Jones vs. Anthony Johnson fight come to fruition? Who do you think would win? Sound off PENN Nation!