The Former Light-Heavyweight Knockout Artist is Suddenly Enormous After Entering the World of Powerlifting…
Hardcore MMA fans will remember Anthony ‘Rumble’ Johnson as one of the scariest power punchers in MMA. Like seriously: before Francis Ngannou came along and stole his crown (although he’s lost that fear factor now), Rumble was the most terrifying knockout artist in the game.
He came up short twice against Daniel Cormier in separate title fights, but that shouldn’t be held against him. ‘Rumble’ smashed the likes of Alexander Gustafsson, Glover Teixeira, and Ryan Bader to become the No. 1 contender. Johnson also set the record of most sub-minute KO victories, with 5. Truly terrifying.
Although he has left the world of MMA behind him, Johnson is still a freakish athlete. The former footballer has entered the world of powerlifting and he’s suddenly terrifyingly massive. Check out the video below to see him working all that huge muscle.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BlfgrwJgBAD/?utm_source=ig_embed
Insane
Possibly the most bizarre thing about this video is what it doesn’t show. Johnson’s early career was fought at welterweight. Look at that absolute giant in that video and try to imagine him cutting down to 170. I just can’t figure out how he did it. Eventually, that became too tough for him, and after missing weight once, he moved up to middleweight and then light-heavyweight which became his home.
As you can see in the footage above, he is doing lat pulldowns. What it doesn’t show is the massive boulder on the other end of the cable. Even his muscles have muscles. It’s wonderful what being away from the world of USADA does. He can bulk up however he wants.
To be fair, the ideal body type for an MMA fighter isn’t this swollen anyway. If he were to come into a super-heavyweight fight (because he couldn’t fight at anything less) he’d probably gas out in about 15 seconds.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BlJQ2FBBhVL/?taken-by=anthony_rumble
Missed Out
Johnson was unsurprisingly not the most technical of fighters. He lost twice to Daniel Cormier after the champion was able to survive the first rounds and then grind out victories. His second fight was the most frustrating because he tried to wrestle DC – an Olympic standard wrestler. Dumb move.
Unfortunately, we never got to see him fight Jon Jones. Many people think that ‘Rumble’s’ physicality might have been Jones’s kryptonite. The pair were booked to fight at UFC 187, but alas, Jones got suspended after a hit-and-run incident with a pregnant woman, and it never happened.
Coming Back?
Joe Rogan has said in recent podcasts that he spoke to Anthony Johnson and that the former fighter has an interest in coming back to MMA. If he did he’d have to purge himself of all those supplements he’s definitely taking and totally change his training regime.
It would be fascinating to see whether or not he stuck to light-heavyweight as well. If he came back then suddenly that division would be a whole lot more interesting. After Anthony Smith destroyed ‘Shogun’ Rua it’s suddenly got a lot more exciting already. Come on Rumble. We miss you.
