{"id":174730,"date":"2015-11-06T07:00:51","date_gmt":"2015-11-06T15:00:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/?p=174730"},"modified":"2022-02-04T17:33:54","modified_gmt":"2022-02-05T01:33:54","slug":"anthony-johnson-jon-was-always-the-champ","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/ufcnews\/anthony-johnson-jon-was-always-the-champ\/","title":{"rendered":"Anthony Johnson: \u2018Jon was always the champ\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Top UFC light heavyweight Anthony Johnson has been reignited now that his division has a r<a href=\"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mmanews\/breaking-jon-jones-formally-reinstated-by-the-ufc\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">eturning top talent in Jon Jones<\/a>, who is bound to shake the division.<\/p>\n<p>Johnson who <a href=\"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mmanews\/highlights-daniel-cormier-vs-anthony-johnson\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">lost a title fight<\/a> with UFC light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier spoke with <a href=\"http:\/\/mmajunkie.com\/2015\/11\/anthony-johnson-daniel-cormier-hasnt-earned-time-off-before-jon-jones-rematch-1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">MMA Junkie<\/a> on how the former champion, Jon Jones is bringing something fresh to the table.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt lights a fire under my ass, and I think lights a fire under everyone because (the division) got serious again,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cTo me, Jon was always the champ because it was never taken away from him. It was his actions outside of fighting, but that\u2019s a whole other story. To me, Jon was still the champ regardless.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>With Jones and Cormier likely being the <a href=\"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mmanews\/daniel-cormier-has-high-praise-for-jon-jones-and-wants-to-be-his-welcome-back-fight\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">next title fight<\/a>, Johnson sees \u201cBones\u201d taking it in a convincing fashion.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cJon didn\u2019t make (the first fight) look easy, but he didn\u2019t make it look that hard either,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cI think Jon is definitely going to do his thing. I think Jon is definitely going to try to put him away. I think the first fight Jon was playing around with him a little bit to see what he had to offer. But I think this time Jon is definitely going to try to end it just to put a stamp on everything.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Johnson\u2019s next <a href=\"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mmanews\/johnson-vs-bader-along-with-4-other-bouts-set-for-ufc-on-fox-18\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">opponent is Ryan Bader<\/a>, a top contender who is also looking to get a title shot. However, Johnson has plans of his own to get another shot at winning the UFC title, in a match that never came to maturity with <a href=\"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mmanews\/suspended-and-stripped-from-his-title-ufcs-official-statement-on-jon-jones\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Jon Jones<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWith Jon coming back and when we do fight for a title, I always feel like I have the upper hand every fight, but Jon is tricky,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cHe\u2019s long, he\u2019s athletic, and he catches you with weird kicks and weird elbows at different angles. You just have to be ready for Jon Jones. That\u2019s the guy you can never really plan for. You just have to go in there and fight his ass.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Who takes the W in a Johnson versus Jones fight? Lay out your predictions in the comment section below!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Top UFC light heavyweight Anthony Johnson has been reignited now that his division has a returning top talent in Jon Jones, who is bound to shake the division. Johnson who lost a title fight with UFC light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier spoke with MMA Junkie on how the former champion, Jon Jones is bringing something [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":54422,"featured_media":131619,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false},"categories":[2681],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v19.7 (Yoast SEO v19.14) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Anthony Johnson: \u2018Jon was always the champ\u2019 | BJPenn.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Top UFC light heavyweight Anthony Johnson has been reignited with the return of Jon Jones to the UFC. 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