...OH, ONE MORE THING - PLEASE BOOKMARK US & VISIT DAILY!
By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
Anthony "Rumble" Johnson had a fairly successful run in the UFC as a welterweight, winning seven of ten fights in the weight class while there. However, he had issues with making weight throughout his run, and ultimately was released when he drastically missed weight for what was supposed to be a middleweight bout with Vitor Belfort.
After that release, he moved up in weight, first taking a 195 lb. catchweight fight in Titan Fighting Championships, then moving to light heavyweight. He's won four straight fights since his UFC release, and in his next fight, he'll move up once again.
According to a report from MMAJunkie.com, Johnson will move up to heavyweight at World Series of Fighting 2 on March 23, headlining the event against former UFC Heavyweight Champion Andrei Arlovski.
Both fighters competed on the first World Series of Fighting event, with Johnson knocking out D.J. Linderman, and Arlovski taking out Devin Cole. For Arlovski, the win moved him to 3-0-1 after a four-fight losing streak. He added a fourth win in five fights in December at an event in Russia.
World Series of Fighting 2 will air live on NBC Sports Network from the Revel Casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey, the first event in a new television deal for the WSOF on the network.
Penick's Analysis: This is actually a highly interesting fight. It's insane that Johnson was fighting as a welterweight for so long, because he looked perfectly suited to the light heavyweight division. He'll probably be walking around at 220 lbs. or so for this heavyweight fight, but he's got the striking skills to compete against Arlovski, who has some issues with his chin despite the turnaround of success in his last five fights. This is a really good fight for the WSOF as well, and with Marlon Moraes vs. Tyson Nam booked for the card, they've got two really interesting fights set for this televised event already.
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Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
STAFF COLUMNISTS: Shawn Ennis - Jason Amadi
Frank Hyden - Rich Hansen
Chris Park - Matt Pelkey
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