Anthony Johnson Released from the UFC

Former Welterweight star Anthony Johnson has been released from the Ultimate Fighting Championship after failing to make weight for a third time in his UFC career and his recent loss at UFC 142: Aldo vs Mendes. Once seen as the most dangerous and most powerful fighter in the Welterweight division, Johnson chose to finally make the move up in weight to fight in the Middleweight division, and would debut in the weight class for the first time in a bout with former Light Heavyweight champion Vitor Belfort, but would suffer a Rnd1 Submission loss.

Before making the move up in weight, Johnson was always advised to do so because of his problems in making the 170lb limit as a Welterweight and the possible health risks he could be bringing upon his body in doing so. Being 6'2" and walking around 250lbs (give or take) when not preparing for a fight, Johnson would look at dropping around 80lbs attempting to make the 170lbs maximum in the weeks leading up to his bouts, and failing to do so twice while competing in the UFC weighing 7.5lbs and 6lbs overweight those two times. Coming off a two fight win streak with Unanimous Decision over former title challenger Dan Hardy simply outwrestling him, and a Rnd1 TKO over Charlie Brenneman, Johnson finally made the decision to move up to fight at Middleweight where he would be able to keep an extra 15lbs with the difference in the two weight classes. This move up in weight made Johnson more comfortable and in pictures leading up to his bout against Belfort proved so with even more size to show for it.

Leading up to the bout, Johnson was 30lbs above the weight class's maximum just two weeks away from the event. Coming in on the day of the official weigh-ins, Johnson and his team stated he was just a few pounds over the maximum cutoff, but that quickly changed. Beginning to feel ill as a result of cutting so much weight, Johnson consulted the official UFC doctor who issued that he take in fluids immediately. Coming into the official weigh-ins the day prior to the bout, Johnson officially weighed in at 197lbs, 11lbs over the maximum (that is 11lbs over the extra allowed pound for non-title bouts that makes the cutoff 186lbs), which is the most pverweight a fighter had ever been for a bout in the UFC. This marked the third time in Johnson's UFC career that he had missed weight, which violates the contracts signed for each bout with the stipulation that a fighter comes in on weight for a bout. This meant that Johnson would be penalized with a fine with 20% of his fight purse being forfeited to Belfort. As seen in UFC President's video blog, Belfort was informed of Johnson's failure to make weight, and was given the options of either abandon the bout, be allowed to come in overweight and still fight (which would forfeit receiving the 20% extra pay taken from Johnson fight purse), or make the cutoff as contractually obligated and still receive the extra 20% pay taken from Johnson's fight purse; Belfort accepted the bout still making weight as a show of professionalism. Added to the fine, Johnson had to weigh-in again the next day no more than 205lbs just hours before the event to be allowed to fight; Johnson weighed in at 204lbs. When the fight started, Johnson had a visible size and strength advantage, but Belfort being a veteran and fighting opponents who had these same advantages before was still no easy task. The bout went back-&-forth in the first round until Belfort got Johnson to the ground, taking his back quickly and landing multiple strikes before locking on the Rear Naked Choke to earn the Rnd1 Submission victory with eleven seconds left in the round. Following the bout, Dana White stated in an interview that Johnson would be released for missing weight for a third time, being overweight so much, and coming off a loss.