In the words of one Robbie Lawler, welterweights Anthony Johnson and Kevin Burns are penciled in to “run it back” after their fight at UFC Fight Night 14 ended in controversy earlier this year.
MMAmania.com can confirm that Johnson and Burns are set to rematch at The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) 8 Finale at The Pearl at the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas, Nevada, on December 13.
“Rumble” lost to Burns via third round technical knockout in their first encounter; however, video replays of the stoppage show that Johnson was felled by an unintentional eye poke and not an uppercut.
The referee in charge of the action, Steve Mazzagatti, unfortunately did not have the benefit of watching instant replay and called a halt to the 170-pound bout.
Johnson eventually had to undergo eye surgery to repair a damaged retina. He and his management, meanwhile, filed an appeal to have the technical knockout loss overturned and ruled a no contest.
The Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC), however, was unable to grant the request, indicating that the regulatory body did not have the legal authority to change the result.
It’s important to note that Johnson and Mazzagatti crossed paths at a smaller show several weeks after the match and Mazzagatti apologized for the bad call.
All things considered this is the best possible move by the promotion to erase any doubt and determine a clear cut winner.
TUF 8 Finale will also feature the finals of the lightweight and light heavyweight tournament-style format that is currently in progress on the mixed martial arts reality series. It will air live on Spike TV at 9 p.m. ET on fight night.
Stay tuned for more fight card updates.
46 Comments »
Their fight should of be called a ” No Contest “.. Burns.. needs to have that only open palm jab strike thing checked out. IMO.. he should not be allowed to fight. Cuz if he does.. look out.. for more eye pokes. He can’t help it.
Truth.
johnson is going to tear him up this time!
Damn right! About time!
I think Burns should be man enuogh to go appeal his win as well. If he was a man, he would do the right thing.
Agreed! I would do exactly that. I would appeal my win and have it changed!
As for the rematch, why bother? The fight wasnt even close. if Mazzaggatti wasnt a retard, we wouldnt even be bothered with this Phony match up. I like Rumble and I look forward to seeing him face other opponents, unfortunately we must waste our time on this rematch!
The big question is: Will Burns do it again? Or did he learn how to actually throw a palm strike?
Hey, it worked once. Maybe this time they can Dan Mirgliotta to ref so Pokey can just back up and kick a field goal on Johnson’s nuts for the win.
It’s really Burns that doesn’t deserve the rematch.. and I still think if he can’t throw a proper jab he shouldn’t be allowed to fight.
Shouldn’t be allowed to fight? Pretty harsh, he had a broken hand dude.
Sinster: the Athletic Commision can/should not let him fight.. if he can not throw a punch.. not an open palm strike.. a closed fisted punch.. He can’t. He said it himself in the post fight interview. IMo.. he should not be allowed to fight in MMA.. why? Cuz we will see another incident like this that put a loss in Anthony Johnsons record. What gets me..was he was convincingly winning that fight.. before the 3rd eye poke..put him out.. and into a surgeons table.. I really felt for the guy.. Burns.. He is a tough.. mofo.. but if you brake your hand 3 1/2 so times..and can’t close your fist in a fight. You can not fight in this pro mma game. This should be checked out by the the doctors before every fight… with every fighter.
ok I get what you’re saying. I wasn’t thinking about the AC or anything. Is it like, a permanent break in his hand, or temporary at that time?
yea.. he got warned so many times too.. it should’ve been: warning, warning, point, DQ. rumble is going to wreck this guy worse than speers next fight.
he didn’t have a broken hand during the fight. he said he throws an open hand punch because it had been broken so many times.
Sinister..James S.. said it right.
In burns’s own words.. something like this .. ” I have broken my hand..such in such times during the lasdt 14 months.. I CAN NOT.. throw a jab. ”
I’m pretty sure that came out his mouth.. the commision can not let him fight with that kind of condition.
True… and i dont see why they are letting him fight. if a fighter cannot throw a proper punch they should not let him fight.
yes he did say that to Joe Rogan right after the fight.. Burns poked AJ 7 times or somehting in their fight he did it and he saw it and did it again, again and again! that is not ok, the UFC should f’in give AJ a million for that.. Can’t wait to see him knock this guy out cold and stomp on his head
I wish they would’ve just overruled it and gave the win to Rumble. I was never really interested in this match up once, let alone twice.
johnson is a maniac. i’d like to see him keep moving up the ladder. put johnson against some big names so he can beat more guys up like he did “the farm boy”. put him up against the winner of alves vs sanches. he’s more talented than a lot of welterweights in the ufc.
Johnson is good but don’t take too much away from that destruction of that TUF scrub.
If you put him in against either Alves or Sanchez he will “drown in deep waters”.
He should earn his way up the ladder, maybe he should “feast” on more TUF alum.
yeah he showed tommy speer what its really like to be the ufc. tommy wont be back for a while is my guess! he’s not even that good in my opinion. i see what you mean by drowning in the deep waters. i still think he’s close to their level just based on johnsons physical abilities. he does need to toughin up mentally before he fights top notch ww’s. i’d still like to see him fight some big names though.
BTW-
I wasn’t trying to take a cheap shot at Speer. I used to wrestle so I respect the hard work he put in the gym.
I also box so I knew he was not fit for MMA when I saw the way he was holding his hands up.
I would like to see Johnson vs. Matt Brown/Luigi/ or even Karo.
Rumble is by no means ready or DESERVING to fight the winner of Alves/Sanchez. That is actually laughable. I loss, controversal, to some scrub that can’t even punch and he is derserving to fight against the top contender of the WW division? Fitch and Kos each had thier chance at GSP, therefor the winner of this fight will probably get next crack, and it just may be against BJ Penn.
Laughable is right! and I am a big fan of rumble but he needs to crawl before he can walk!
I think a more appropriate match up for rumble after the burns fight would be Mike Swick!
Or they could always do: Stun Gun vs. Rumble!
Even Swick is too advanced for Rumble at this point, and I too am a fan of his. He’s still very young and relatively inexperienced. He has all the tools and an exciting style. Don’t get him killed early in his career.
Guida/Diaz slated for the main event.
Really? Ugh. That is not a main event.
But you were OK with Diaz/Neer???
Diaz/Guida is three times the fight that Diaz/Neer is marketing wise
Diaz-Neer. Meh.
Do you think Diaz/Guida is a good match-up?
I don’t, marketing be damned…
Kimbo was great marketing, too.
Here is the bottom line question - “Will you watch the TUF 8 finale?”
My guess would be yes, that is, if you are a fan.
Diaz/Guida is for sure a step up from Neer.
Honestly, w/o being pretentious, I would say it would be 50/50 because I am very confident that Diaz will take care of business.
I really don’t think this is going to happen. Call me crazy.
hope u r right mania!
For Guida to accept this fight it would mean that he is accepting the “gatekeeper roll” of that division, and Guida has fought to many tough guys and fought them hard to be laying down and surrendering to the gatekeeper role.
Not that I dont think this match up would be good, but Guida needs to be careful that he isnt being casted into role of being a stepping stone for young fighters that the UFC hopes to promote in the future. I feel that he is to scrappy of a fighter to concede to that role
The reality of Guida is that he is 4-3 in the UFC and is another dry humping wrestler. He just humps at a faster pace than most of the other dry humpers, like a high school kid who hasn’t learned good humping technique yet.
diaz would tool on guida. then choke the life out of him.
Agreed. I think Guida is the best example of making the most out of one’s talent but Diaz’ height, reach and jits will be too much.
Johnson better wear some goggles or he may lose by another “unintentional” blinding. If Burns does one poke in the eye the fight should be called cause it’s obvious that he isn’t fit for fighting. Any fighter that can’t help committing illegal strikes should not be allowed to fight. Especially something as dangerous as eye pokes that lead to surgery.
I said that this fight was happening like three weeks ago.
Can I have your autograph?
No… your not worthy
want a cookie?
You got one?
After watching the first outing with Anthony and Kevin some times, if the groin kicks and eye-pokings wasn’t there it was a hell of a brawl.
Though to me Kevin Burns did better (not much though!).
Kevin is going to win this fight, I love the style of Anthony Johnson though I think Kevin is going to get the W.
It’s too bad that you can win with illegal strikes. It seems like if you’re losing a fight, the best tactic is to sneak in a hard eye poke and you’re set. I hope the UFC has a plan to counter act this in the future. I’d hate to see more bouts end this way, it’s ridiculous. It should have been a no contest, end of story. If the ref initially missed it, then fix the call later. If it happens again in the rematch, Johnson should get the win.
Its not like he was trying to poke Johnson in the eye. If someone walks into the ring with that intention I’m pretty sure there going to get knocked out after the first attempt. Johnson was going to lose the fight anyways. Maybe he shouldn’t let someone punch him in the face so many times and risk the chance?
Johnson was winded in R 3 and was NOT winning the fight. All Johnson was able to do was take Burns down to catch a breath cause Burns was wearing him out. Burns took Johnson’s knock out blow and kept on going. Burns wins this time out, with or without a jab.