{"id":323653,"date":"2019-08-27T16:07:21","date_gmt":"2019-08-27T23:07:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/?p=323653"},"modified":"2019-08-27T16:07:21","modified_gmt":"2019-08-27T23:07:21","slug":"anthony-johnson-planning-ufc-return-in-2020","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/anthony-johnson-planning-ufc-return-in-2020\/","title":{"rendered":"Anthony Johnson planning UFC return in 2020"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Anthony Johnson retired from the UFC following a second loss to Daniel Cormier in April of 2017. Yet, the man they call &#8220;Rumble&#8221; is eyeing a comeback, according to his manager Ali Abdelaziz.<\/p>\n<p>Abdelaziz spoke to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/mma\/story\/_\/id\/27478864\/retired-ufc-veteran-johnson-plans-20-return\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">ESPN<\/a>, and divulged that his client will return in 2020. They are currently filing the necessary paperwork to rejoin the UFC. One of the steps he must complete is to re-enter the USADA testing pool and be in it for six months before he can fight again.<\/p>\n<p>When Anthony Johnson <a href=\"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/jon-jones\/anthony-johnson-will-only-come-out-of-retirement-for-a-heavyweight-fight-with-jon-jones\/\">does return, it will also be at heavyweight<\/a> according to Abdelaziz. The hope is he can return against a ranked opponent like Junior dos Santos or Alistair Overeem, Abdelaziz revealed.<\/p>\n<p>It is somewhat surprising to see Rumble want to return as this is a major departure <a href=\"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/anthony-johnson\/anthony-johnson-gives-statement-end-rumble\/\">from what he said when he retired<\/a>. He revealed he had no itch to return and stepped away due to health concerns.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy health, man,\u201d Johnson said on Booker T&#8217;s Heated Conversations podcast (h\/t <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailystar.co.uk\/sport\/ufc\/anthony-johnson-retirement-health-concerns-17025184\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Daily Star<\/a>). \u201cYou hear about CTE and all this other stuff. Head injuries. You\u2019re harming your body playing football and stuff like that, but this stuff can happen just as fast in mixed martial arts as any other sport because we\u2019re constantly beating on each other. I love myself, you know what I&#8217;m saying? A lot of guys don&#8217;t think about that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Johnson is currently 35 years old old and will be 36 next March. He retired with a record of 22-6 and never captured a UFC belt. He had fought for the title two times and <a href=\"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/videos\/video-ufc-210-daniel-cormier-vs-anthony-johnson-highlights\/\">lost both times to Cormier<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>When he returns there will be a bevy of interesting fights for him, potentially even <a href=\"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/jon-jones\/anthony-johnson-explains-why-heavyweight-showdown-with-jon-jones-needs-to-happen\/\">a long-awaited scrap with Jon Jones<\/a> \u2014 if Jones decides to move to heavyweight.<\/p>\n<p>Who do you think Anthony Johnson should fight in his return to the Octagon?<\/p>\n<p><i>This article first appeared on\u00a0<\/i><a href=\"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/\"><span class=\"s1\"><i>BJPENN.COM<\/i><\/span><\/a><i>\u00a0on 8\/27\/2019.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Anthony Johnson retired from the UFC following a second loss to Daniel Cormier in April of 2017. Yet, the man they call &#8220;Rumble&#8221; is eyeing a comeback, according to his manager Ali Abdelaziz. Abdelaziz spoke to ESPN, and divulged that his client will return in 2020. They are currently filing the necessary paperwork to rejoin [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":54463,"featured_media":285628,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false},"categories":[10108,39610],"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 planning UFC return in 2020 | BJPenn.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Anthony Johnson retired from the UFC following his loss to Daniel Cormier in April of 2017. Yet, he is walking back on that and is planning a return in 2020\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/anthony-johnson-planning-ufc-return-in-2020\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Anthony Johnson planning UFC return in 2020 | BJPenn.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Anthony Johnson retired from the UFC following his loss to Daniel Cormier in April of 2017. Yet, he is walking back on that and is planning a return in 2020\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/anthony-johnson-planning-ufc-return-in-2020\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"| BJPenn.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/bjpenn\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-08-27T23:07:21+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-content\/uploads\/Anthony-Johnson.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"696\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"399\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Cole Shelton\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@bjpenndotcom\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@bjpenndotcom\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Cole Shelton\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/anthony-johnson-planning-ufc-return-in-2020\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/anthony-johnson-planning-ufc-return-in-2020\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Cole Shelton\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#\/schema\/person\/700e11a4d77666aed250058808e16134\"},\"headline\":\"Anthony Johnson planning UFC return in 2020\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-08-27T23:07:21+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-08-27T23:07:21+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/anthony-johnson-planning-ufc-return-in-2020\/\"},\"wordCount\":323,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Anthony Johnson\",\"UFC\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/anthony-johnson-planning-ufc-return-in-2020\/#respond\"]}],\"copyrightYear\":\"2019\",\"copyrightHolder\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization\"}},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/anthony-johnson-planning-ufc-return-in-2020\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/anthony-johnson-planning-ufc-return-in-2020\/\",\"name\":\"Anthony Johnson planning UFC return in 2020 | BJPenn.com\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2019-08-27T23:07:21+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-08-27T23:07:21+00:00\",\"description\":\"Anthony Johnson retired from the UFC following his loss to Daniel Cormier in April of 2017. 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