MMA Fighting - Anthony 'Rumble' Johnson Explains How He Ended Up Signing with Bellator MMA After Leaving the UFC

Episode Date: December 16, 2020

Anthony "Rumble" Johnson details his recent decision to leave the UFC and sign an exclusive deal with Bellator MMA. The former two-time UFC title contender also takes a look at the competition he'll face in Bellator as well as his plans to stay at light heavyweight rather than test the waters at heavyweight. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network. There have been a lot of big signings in mixed martial arts recently, but a few have been bigger than my next guest. He is a former UFC light heavyweight title contender two times over, and now he is part of the Bellator MMA team. Let's talk right now to Anthony Rumble Johnson. AJ, what's going on, buddy? How are you? What's going on, brother?

Appreciate you taking the time to try with me as always, man. let me open by saying congratulations on the new deal with Bellator. Thank you, man. It's been a while. It's been a while since we spoke. I know, I know. Obviously, excited to have you back in the fight game, man. Obviously, we've kind of been waiting for this moment to see you back.

So what kind of walk me through? Like, how did this all come about? How did you end up at Bellator? You know what, man? I just got so much going on right now, and my life is taking me in a different direction, you know. I've been out for a while anyway, and I was, you know, pretty much up with my contract. It was just best if I go another route right now, you know,

especially with the business that I got going on, you know. But whenever UFC and I went outweighed, it was never a drop of bad blood or negativity or any kind of dispute or, oh, we just going to cut you any, no, it was nothing like that, man, everything was all good, very mutual and respectful. And, you know, I have a ton of respect for the organizations, Dana, you know, even the fatigal for taking it as far as they have already, you know, or as they did. And, yeah, man, but now I'm on a new journey, so I'm excited to be, you know, doing what I do now and with who I'm with, you know, Bellasory.

Absolutely, absolutely. I'm sure you saw it with this past weekend, AJ, you know, Dana said nothing but great things about you. Obviously, you know, you know, I said you're a great guy, organization loves you, which again, you know, that's not always how, you know, things go when you split with an organization, but he said, you know, ultimately we'd have to ask you why, you know, you're with Bellator not the UFC. It wasn't a personal thing. It's that, was it just a contract issue? Like, I'm not, if you don't want to get too specific, that's okay.

But, like, can you kind of give me an idea, like, what was it ultimately that decided, hey, I wanted to leave the UFC and go to Bellator? There was how to, like I said, there was no dispute. Like, I'm just going a different route. You know, I have a different type of business. I'm into cannabis business and all that stuff and just trying to do multiple things, you know.

UFC is just, you know, they're a lot more strict than a lot of other promotions and that's just the name of the game with them. You know, that's business. You got to respect it. Either respected or kick rocks, you know what I'm saying? And I wasn't just trying to kick rocks. I definitely respect what they were doing, you know,

and their rules. Well, you know, they respect me enough to give me an opportunity to check out other options and see what's out there, you know, and see what can happen. You know, like I said, everything was very respectful and mutual and really cool. So, you know, the way it happened with me, man, it was, for me, it was like just super, super dope and respectful, man. I can't say any other word but that because that's honestly how I feel. You know what I mean? because I've seen guys, you know, that exit the UFC and they may say something.

They try and, you know, they may put out a tweet or a post on Instagram or something, and then they're saying the wrong thing and then biting them in the butt. And I'd rather keep my mouth closed and just keep this good energy while I have it and just let, you know, roll with the dice and see what happened.

These other guys are going out there talking like, yeah, I left and I did this and blah, blah, blah, and trying to sound tough, man. I'm cool. We ended on, I came in on good terms. We're ending on good terms. So I want to keep it that way. Absolutely. So you get out of the UFC and obviously you have a great manager, you know, Ali Abdel Aziz, you know, working for you behind the scenes. How quickly did the Belletort thing come together? Because obviously we were all kind of, you know, we knew you were coming back. You said you were going to be fighting again. We were looking forward to 2021. And then the Belliger deal got announced and we're all kind of like, whoa, that's, you know, it's awesome. You know, congratulations. But how quickly did this whole thing come together? Dude, I was already out of USC, like a month before this thing and came out. I just, you know, I don't talk. Dana didn't have a reason to talk.

Rupa didn't have a reason to talk. You know, everything was cool, mutual, you know. Yeah, I mean, hell, I don't know what you want to have. Well, obviously, you were happy with the timing and the deal with Bellator. I mean, obviously, great organization, great people behind the scenes. You know, again, it sounds like you didn't have to wait very long to find a new home. Well, you know, my manager, Ali, he's the best, man. So he's got a good relationship with everybody for the most part that I know of in the game.

He did what he does. He worked his magic. Got me with Bellator. We had other organizations looking at me and, you know, negotiating and stuff. And there was some good numbers. But, you know, you got to go with your gut. You know what I mean? Why not just stay home, man.

Bellator is a nice spot. I like Scott. Scott poker a lot, you know what I mean? So why not? I've watched him whenever, what is it? Strike force and all of that stuff, whenever he was running it in the Bay Area, or pro-elie, all of that stuff.

I don't know if he was running that, too, but you know what I mean? He just did some amazing things, man. He's very respectful, so why not fight for him, man? You know, his caliber. He treats his fighters great from what I've, hurt from multiple guys. So I look forward to having a relationship with them too.

Yeah. Yeah, everyone that knows Scott, every fighter that I've ever talked to that talks about Scott said he's a fighter's promoter, which I guess is a fighter is exactly what you want to have. Obviously, money has got to play a part. Of course, I'm sure you're getting a nice paycheck, but also you're going to get good competition here. I mean, they've got a deep light heavyweight division.

If you ever decide you want to, you know, go heavyweight. They got a great heavyweight division. Like, I imagine it kind of feels like a perfect package, right? Because Bellator does have a lot to offer. Oh, yeah, they're not some slouches. You know what I mean? With myself and your old Romero coming on board, the competition just got thicker, crazier.

We definitely, you know, would be adding a lot of craziness to the mix. So I look forward to it, man. But the Lator has some studs, man. Just because, you know, I beat Ryan Bader before, everybody thinks that he sucked. No, man, Ryan's tough. Super tough.

You know, you got my guy, Corey Anderson. He's doing this thing. I'm super happy for him, him and his family. Who else is? The champs, you know, I'm just getting back into this thing, so forgive me for not knowing his name, but I know his face when I see it. That's what matters.

You know, Y'El, you know, it's just a lot. I can't say everybody's game because I don't know too many fighters in Bella, so I just know who I know from the original guys. You know what I mean? But I look forward to competing against everybody in light, heavy weight. Yeah. Now, I know this from knowing you for so long, AJ, going back to, you know, when we talked back in the Welchaway craziness days,

you've never been a guy to handpick opponents or say, I want this guy, I want that guy. You fight who they put in front of you. And I don't want to make this like a big Bellator versus UFC thing. But when you look at the way the guys have been added to this division lately, I mean, you got yourself. Now you got Yuel Romero, who, of course, this Cory Anderson, and huge stuff.

Of course, you know, the champ, Vadim Nymkov, you got Ryan Bader, Phil Davis is out there, a guy obviously you're familiar with. Like, you're going into a stacked division. Like, again, like UFC, obviously is UFC, but Bellator has put together a pretty stacked light heavyweight division right now, right?

Yeah, it's back. Trust me, I don't see any sloppies in, especially in the top five. And I already claim myself being one of the top five, and I haven't fought in the thing yet. When you look at, because again, you obviously have been planning this comeback for a while now as we get ready to go into 2021, can you kind of give me an idea like the timeline? Like now that you've actually talked to Bellator, like do you have an idea?

I know you're grappling this weekend, which is awesome, actually grappling Ryan Bader, which should be fun. And I know that's going to be a lot of fun for submission underground. But like, do you have an idea? Have you had those talks yet about when you're looking to make your debut? Well, if it's up to me, I'll be fighting. April sometimes. April, okay. That's all I can tell you.

That's what I want to fight. I want to fight personally in April. I haven't been offered anything, you know, any opponents yet at all. So, but for me, I'm shooting for April. Yeah. Now again. Go ahead, go ahead. If, but, you know, if it happens in May, I guess I'll be fighting in May.

You know what I mean? but I don't want to fight before then. I want to make sure I get every better training in before I step foot in the case. I want to make sure I'm complete. Yeah. Now, I know you said this. Yeah, absolutely, absolutely. Now, again, I know from knowing you that you're not the guy to handpick opponents

or anything like that, but can I imagine you want to jump into deep end right away? And I'm not saying you're calling out the champ right now. Obviously, I think that would be a tremendous fight. but is that kind of the idea? Like, you don't want a warm-up fight. You want to jump right in the deep end. Oh, no. I mean, I'm not going to jump in there and just talk about I don't want a five-round fight.

Trust me, brother. I ain't going to have a lot of him that guy. You know what I mean? The first fight in back talking about giving the champ. No, I just be barking for no reason then. Nah, man, you know, honestly, I'm going to just let it play out how I was going to play out. You know, I'm going to let Scott do his thing, and my manager, Ali, do his thing, and we're going to put it together.

So whoever they line up in front of me, that's what it is. It just has to make sense. You know what I mean? So, yeah, we'll see. There's nobody specifically. You know, me, I don't need to call out anybody. I just look forward to fighting whoever's in front of me. Yeah.

When you retired, and we talked a couple of times after you retired, you know, doing the BKFC thing and doing some other things with your businesses and things like that, You sounded good. You didn't sound like you were like, man, I miss it, or God, I really want to come back. You sounded good in retirement. You didn't sound like, you know, a guy who was like, man, I just can't wait to come back. But now that you are back and you're, you know, sitting here months away from debut, you got your new bell at all these kind of things, and you see the buzz.

I know you've seen it or heard it or social media, whatever it is. People are, you know, kind of freaking out excited that you're coming back. Are you starting to get that kind of feeling in your gut again, that kind of like anticipation, that excitement, knowing that, you know, everything is real, the contract's done. Now it's just a matter of time before you get back in there and do your thing. No, it's not real yet. It'll be real whenever I actually signed a fight and started my camp.

Then that's when it'll be real for me. Till then, I'm just chilling, relaxing, you know, riding away. I'm not putting pressure on myself with thinking too much about it until I need to think about it. Yeah, but you've seen that buzz, right? You have seen the excitement. People are excited that you're coming back. Yeah, the hike is real. Yeah, the hype is dope, man, you know.

Fans are hitting me up left and right. Families hit me up left and right. My hometown is, like, you know, going crazy. They're talking and contacted me. Man, I mean, it's a beautiful thing to be appreciated for what you work hard for. That's for sure. But I try not to let the hype get to me, you know. I just believe in myself and I know what I can do it.

And I've proven what I can do. You know what I mean? So for me, I think my excitement comes whenever I'm actually, you know, really about to what somebody asks. I think that's when I'm excited. Yeah, yeah. And at the same time, I'm excited. And then at the same time when the rep says, let's go and, you know, you walk out there and tag gloves, you know what I mean? Dude, the old time I'm walking out of there to touch gloves, I'm like, yo, AJ, you're out of your mind.

and I'm going to fight some money. But I'm ready. Yeah, absolutely, absolutely. And to that point, you know, the cool thing about Bellator, I know you are coming back at Light Heavyweight, you're focused on Light Heavyweight, but Bellator, one of the cool things I love about Bellatory is you do get those options. You know, maybe you fight Japan one day, obviously, once the whole pandemic madness is over, you know, go fight Japan.

Maybe, you know, they did a Heavyweight Grand Prix, you know, I mean, again, I'm not saying you're doing that, but, you know, like that you have options in Belletor, right? Like, you can go a lot of different directions in this organization. Yeah, you know what, man, everybody keeps talking about heavyweight because I brought it up. But everybody also has to realize I was fat whenever I was talking about fighting heavy weight. I was fat, you know, so I didn't have no dreams they ever weighing 2.30 and less again. And, you know, but you got monsters at heavyweight, dude. So, you know, you got my guy Lenton Vassel who is just, he's my training partner, dude.

and I don't want to fight this guy. I hate far in him. You know what I mean? He's the ball of muscle and he's tall and lanky and just he's tough, man. You know, I don't want to have to deal with that. I already got to deal with it with the smaller guys who I want to deal with somebody that's bigger than me.

You know what I mean? Like, Linton walks around the gym with his shirt off and on his fat day he looks better than 99% of the rest of the world. You know, so I'm like, dude, I don't want to deal with those type of problems because when he grabs you, you're not getting away. So I just don't want to touch me. Yeah. And Linton obviously coming off a big win in his own right, obviously.

So, uh... Yeah. Poor and good. Man, he's dangerous. It's dangerous and dope. Absolutely. Well, AJ, I mean this when I say. The sport is a better place when you're in it.

I'm excited you're coming back. I'm excited you're with Bellator. I cannot wait to see him make your debut. I always appreciate taking the time for me. Congratulations again. And thank you so much for doing this today, man. I really appreciate this. Thank you, brother.

So good. Talk for you, man. help to you. Absolutely, bro. We'll talk soon, okay? All right, dude. Stay here, man. All right. Bye-bye. You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network.