“I really don’t know what to say. I really started working on my kicks two months ago. I have the best trainers in the world. It just happened, I decided to throw it and it worked.”
– Anthony Johnson reacts to his devastating third round knockout of Kevin Burns with a head kick at The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) 8 Finale last night at The Pearl at the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas, Nevada. “Rumble” trains with Strikeforce Middleweight Champion and Sanshou practitioner Cung Le. He is typically known for his powerful punching power, but he switched things up last night to put Burns to sleep with a crushing kick. In doing so, Johnson put the final ribbon on a solid fight and scored revenge for the first encounter, which ended in controversy.
23 Comments »
damn that was a nice headkick..good thing he didn’t poke him back..
how can Jonshon be moved down and not be a televised main even?? we the fans want to see Johnson on Spike I cannot believe they will not televise his next fight.
I think he might have poked Burns in the eye with his toe…?? am I wrong lol
the first thing i thought of was when rashad evans knocked out sean salmon. it was an exact identical. awesome to watch, awesome for the me as a fan. who’s next for johnson?
Very impressive finish, and a great fight overall. I thought this one was a lot closer than the first fight; even in defeat I was impressed by Burns. I think Johnson is going to be tough to beat in the WW division. But he is fortunate that there aren’t many dominant BJJ fighters in at WW because that seems to be the weakest part of his game. I’d like to see him fight Marcus Davis next, or if the UFC really wants him to step up, Josh Koscheck.
what about Ben Saunders? Although I kinda wanna see Saunders fight Koscheck and f*ck him up. So maybe we can see my boy Rumble beat up Marcus Davis or Lytle.
Nice head kick, but what the hell is he doing messing around on the ground. (In my GSP voice) I’m not impressed by your preformance!
Wasn’t Johnson a juco All-American wrestler or something?
Yea he was. His striking is still all power. Not that much technique, No snap just all from the shoulder. But i really like the way he handled burns’ guard. Burns showed that he has a very slick active guard against Jucao and Anthony just shut him down. Welterweights better keep their chins down.
He’s definitely one to watch for in the future. He’s good standing and on the ground. A lot of interesting match-ups for him.
He was also a lot more humble in this post-fight interview compared to previous ones. I like that.
Anthony seems like a class act too. Hopefully we keep getting guys like him to balance out some of the classlessness of late.
His post-fight antics confirmed what i allready knew.
Regerdless, it was a pretty sweet KO.
What post fight antics? He seemed pretty humble. Up until the KO, it was a pretty close fight. I thought that they should have gotten fight of the night.
I think he’s talking about Rumble flopping around on the mat like a fish outta water buttt what’s the big deal there? The guy was excited about getting the KO finish.
I thought Burns was holding his own untill the kick! Which landed right on the Brachial Plexus! My personal favorite striking point!
this guy is gonna make some noise in the ww division. he a monster. he more he fights the more impressive he looks. he’s young and a real athlete. I hope he keeps winnin.
AJ is great, a man for the future! he just needs to work on his standup technique which he ofc is doing cause the power is there.. interesting to see who they will match him up with next
that fight was off the chain .would love to see him agaist swick. aj one day will be ww champ mark my words .no way gsp’s stand up is that good he would have to take him down and try and smash him
Lets start seeing him against some talent
I’m not fully buying into the hype yet. The fight was really close until the kick. I don’t think he would do well against top competition in the WW division. The guy has a big upside. For one he’s huge and he has big power and great wrestling. I thought his conditioning looked considerably better than it has looked in the past. But he was getting out struck by Kevin Burns until head kick. It was definatley close on the feet, but Burns was getting the better of the exchanges in the first round. Johnson’s GNP didn’t look that great either and submission defence is supposed to be his weakness. I really don’t see much refined skill in Rumble yet. No doubt the guy has loads of potential and he’s only 24, but I wouldn’t be calling him a future champ yet.
I agree with you 100%. The question becomes will his tremendous energy be enough to counter the refined stuff of those at the top of the food chain. Additionally, some food for thought, did his GNP look bad because he may have been winded??? I agree, I am holding back my judgement that he is in the elite. On another note – it was good to see him win with that type of effort all considered.
Feed him to Anderson Silva. Seriously who is left at 185 for Anderson to fight? If GSP wins against BJ he will fight Anderson. If not then who? Bisping?
Marquardt, Leites, Okami, Henderson, Maia, and Bisbing. There is a decent list of contenders.