Ryan Bader’s coach calls out Anthony Johnson for being mentally weak

Ahead of Ryan Bader’s high-stakes UFC on FOX 18 scrap Saturday night against Anthony ‘Rumble’ Johnson, his coach believes he has found a major hole in Anthony Johnson’s game.

With the winner of this Saturday’s scrap likely getting a title shot at the winner of Jones vs. Cormier II, Bader’s coach Aaron Simpson spoke to Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour about the high-stakes fight, and the holes in Johnson’s game.

“It’s just evident in his career, it’s evident in his college career. I go back and his college coaches told me that when we were looking to recruit him. Once that’s in you, once you’ve quit and you’ve done it, it’s in you. It’s hard to get past that. It’s hard to be someone who when the going gets tough or you’re on your back or you’re on your knees and you’re starting to get tired you can come back from that.”

“I love Anthony Johnson. I do. I think he’s a good guy and a great athlete and was a stud junior college wrestler, but that’s about it. When it gets into the fight game and we take him to deep waters, we’ll see how he responds and maybe he’ll be something different, but he hasn’t shown that in the past.”