Jon Jones: ‘Thank god’ Anthony Johnson retired

This Saturday night at UFC 235, UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones makes a relatively quick return as he looks to successfully defend his title for the first time since reclaiming it at UFC 232.

Over the years as a champion, Jones has beaten literally everyone that has been put in his way. However, he has had two instances where he never ended up getting to face opponents that he was supposed to.

On the first occasion, he and Dan Henderson were set to square off at UFC 151 until an injury forced Henderson from the bout thus leading to UFC 151’s cancellation after Jones declined to take on short notice replacement, Chael Sonnen. The two would later meet at UFC 159 following Jones’ victory over Vitor Belfort at UFC 152.

The second occasion would be for UFC 187 where Jones was to defend his title against the menacing striker, Anthony ‘Rumble’ Johnson. Unfortunately, the bout would end up being scrapped and Jones would be stripped of his title after his hit-and-run incident that left a pregnant woman with a broken arm.

Like Henderson, Johnson would never get his chance to face Jones before he retired as he did so in April 2017 after suffering his second career title loss to Daniel Cormier.

As Jones prepares for Anthony ‘Lionheart’ Smith this weekend, he briefly reflected on Rumble’s time in his division.

“Thank god that boy retired, I don’t know what got into him…” Jones said on Anatomy of a Fighter. “That weed must have been good! That made no sense, he was right there as the scariest dude around. He ain’t never getting down to light heavyweight again, thank god.”

Jones mentioning weed is in reference to Johnson getting into the marijuana business post-fighting.

Johnson has also dabbled into the world of bodybuilding where he has since gained an incredible amount of mass onto his already large frame.

The man known as Rumble has said on multiple occasions that he would like to comeback to MMA, but only for that fight he never got with Jones but he wants it to be at heavyweight. And of course, for the right price.

This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 2/28/2019