Dear Rumble,
It has taken me a couple of days to bring myself to write this. It has taken a while to calm myself enough to look at the facts objectively rather than in the heat of the moment. Forget that my UFC 187 betting accumulator was on track to net me enough dollar to make Draft Kings proud. Well, maybe not that much. That was until 2 minutes and 39 seconds of the third round when you tapped to Daniel Cormier’s rear naked choke. With it went my dreams of pulling up to the Hydro Arena at UFC Glasgow in a Limousine, and the stark realization that my wife would be making me sleep in the car….again.
Hey, I’ve gotten over it Anthony, its fine, no big deal. The dust has settled and now all that’s left are a few little questions, and one big one – Anthony Johnson WTF?
There was a reason I had edged you over Cormier. Much to the dismay of many colleagues, and subsequent ‘I told you so’s’ I had faith in you. I honestly believed the change in personnel from Jon Jones to Daniel Cormier would have been to your benefit. Being a wrestler yourself, and holding what I perceived to be a giant striking advantage, I thought you would be able to see off DC inside of 2 rounds. I think the Johnson I was expecting to show up would have been able to do so. It just seems that Anthony Johnson was left in Florida.
Where was the fighter that I saw dismantle Andre Arlovski’s jaw when fighting at heavy weight in World Series of Fighting? The Johnson whose gas tank seemed able to go for hundreds of miles when you put on a pugilistic master class in your UFC homecoming against Phil Davis? Where was the Anthony Johnson that retired Little Nog inside of one minute? You seemed like more than a threat to the champion after destroying Alexander Gustafsson in his back yard. I honestly thought we had found a new king pin. I had you giving Jones more than a run for his money. You were a cert in my book, and anyone who doubted you was a fool.
That was until Saturday night. During the opening volley I thought you had knocked Cormier through the floor. How he took that right hand only his head can tell me, but he did, and after that it was the Cormier show. Anthony Johnson was merely guest starring.
What happened Anthony? I can only imagine the pressure of the event got to you. That the adrenaline you must have felt after flooring Cormier in the first minute emptied your gas tank, because in all honesty to the casual fan, you looked like you didn’t belong in there with Cormier. Knowing you were facing an Olympic wrestler with a heavy top game, your defensive guard was virtually non-existent and it seemed the big right hand was your only go to move, even off your back. It didn’t look good moving into the third round, and when your own corner were telling you not to give up I knew it was all over. In two rounds you went from the most dangerous man in the division to a tired one dimensional shadow of your former self.
Look, Anthony, I’m sorry I’m being so hard on you. It is easy for me to comment while sitting at home eating bacon and shouting at the TV. In all honesty I was waiting for you to hit the microphone post fight and tell me you broke your hand, or had a bout of flu leading up to the fight. What you actually did made me write this letter to you.
Having metaphorically thrown in the towel during the biggest fight of your life, with your team visibly shocked at your performance, you went on to tell the world that they should never give up no matter what happens. Well Anthony, in the same way it’s very hard to accept a preacher dripping in gold and wearing snakeskin shoes telling us how the whole bible thing works, you’ll have to forgive Reebok if they don’t put your ‘never give up’ slogan on your next Rumble t-shirt.
Yours faithfully,
Jon Shipman
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