{"id":377294,"date":"2021-02-24T07:59:09","date_gmt":"2021-02-24T15:59:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/?p=377294"},"modified":"2021-02-24T07:59:09","modified_gmt":"2021-02-24T15:59:09","slug":"anthony-johnson-shuts-down-notion-that-bellator-is-inferior-to-ufc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/bellator\/anthony-johnson-shuts-down-notion-that-bellator-is-inferior-to-ufc\/","title":{"rendered":"Anthony Johnson shuts down notion that Bellator is inferior to UFC"},"content":{"rendered":"

Anthony Johnson has a message for anybody who believes Bellator is inferior to the Ultimate Fighting Championship.<\/p>\n

Johnson, who fought for the UFC from 2007 to 2017 and competed for the light heavyweight title two times in the stretch, migrated to Bellator to much fanfare earlier this year.<\/p>\n

He’s now set to partake in the promotion’s Light Heavyweight Grand Prix, which is jam-packed with elite talent, including his opening-round rival Yoel Romero<\/a>.<\/p>\n

As his Bellator debut draws closer, Johnson hopes to prove that Bellator is on par with the UFC in terms of world-class talent.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m just ready to go and fight,\u201d Johnson said on The Spaniard Show<\/em> with his former opponent Charlie Brenneman (via MMA Fighting<\/a>). \u201cI look forward to the competition that\u2019s out there. I think we can compete with the UFC with what we have. A lot of people think that just because the Bellator promotion isn\u2019t what the UFC promotion is that the fighters aren\u2019t the same calibre, and there\u2019s always levels to everything. Every business, every promotion. But Bellator is no joke.<\/p>\n

\u201cLook at my guy, my teammate\u00a0Michael Chandler\u00a0went over there and destroyed\u00a0Dan Hooker,” Johnson continued. “Smoked him. But I knew that was coming. I\u2019m like, y\u2019all don\u2019t realize how dangerous Michael Chandler is. And even though he came from a smaller promotion, he\u2019s still an elite fighter. He wasn\u2019t there being the champ and fighting the best of the best for no reason. He went to war with Eddie Alvarez\u00a0and to me, Eddie Alvarez is for sure the greatest fighter ever in my opinion because he\u2019s been to every organization and won the title. People don\u2019t give that man credit.<\/p>\n

\u201cI also see that fans are now starting to understand that you don\u2019t have to be just a UFC fighter to be successful and be able to feed your family and be something,” Johnson added. “So don\u2019t be afraid to go outside of the box if there\u2019s other things out there you want to be able to do in other promotions, go for it. Try it out. And I think Bellator for me was the right move.\u201d<\/p>\n

What do you think of these comments from Anthony Johnson?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Anthony Johnson has a message for anybody who believes Bellator is inferior to the Ultimate Fighting Championship. Johnson, who fought for the UFC from 2007 to 2017 and competed for the light heavyweight title two times in the stretch, migrated to Bellator to much fanfare earlier this year. He’s now set to partake in the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":54430,"featured_media":349753,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false},"categories":[10108,44],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nAnthony Johnson shuts down notion that Bellator is inferior to UFC | BJPenn.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Light heavyweight star Anthony Johnson has a message for anybody who believes Bellator is inferior to the Ultimate Fighting Championship.\u00a0\" \/>\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\/bellator\/anthony-johnson-shuts-down-notion-that-bellator-is-inferior-to-ufc\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Anthony Johnson shuts down notion that Bellator is inferior to UFC | BJPenn.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Light heavyweight star Anthony Johnson has a message for anybody who believes Bellator is inferior to the Ultimate Fighting Championship.\u00a0\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/bellator\/anthony-johnson-shuts-down-notion-that-bellator-is-inferior-to-ufc\/\" \/>\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=\"2021-02-24T15:59:09+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-content\/uploads\/Anthony-Johnson-3.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=\"Tom Taylor\" \/>\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=\"Tom Taylor\" \/>\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\/bellator\/anthony-johnson-shuts-down-notion-that-bellator-is-inferior-to-ufc\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/bellator\/anthony-johnson-shuts-down-notion-that-bellator-is-inferior-to-ufc\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Tom Taylor\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#\/schema\/person\/e1a3f1e5a045aeaf5b59aa1549a06a87\"},\"headline\":\"Anthony Johnson shuts down notion that Bellator is inferior to UFC\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-02-24T15:59:09+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-02-24T15:59:09+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/bellator\/anthony-johnson-shuts-down-notion-that-bellator-is-inferior-to-ufc\/\"},\"wordCount\":391,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Anthony Johnson\",\"Bellator\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/bellator\/anthony-johnson-shuts-down-notion-that-bellator-is-inferior-to-ufc\/#respond\"]}],\"copyrightYear\":\"2021\",\"copyrightHolder\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization\"}},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/bellator\/anthony-johnson-shuts-down-notion-that-bellator-is-inferior-to-ufc\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/bellator\/anthony-johnson-shuts-down-notion-that-bellator-is-inferior-to-ufc\/\",\"name\":\"Anthony Johnson shuts down notion that Bellator is inferior to UFC | BJPenn.com\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2021-02-24T15:59:09+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-02-24T15:59:09+00:00\",\"description\":\"Light heavyweight star Anthony Johnson has a message for anybody who believes Bellator is inferior to the Ultimate Fighting Championship.\u00a0\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/bellator\/anthony-johnson-shuts-down-notion-that-bellator-is-inferior-to-ufc\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/bellator\/anthony-johnson-shuts-down-notion-that-bellator-is-inferior-to-ufc\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/bellator\/anthony-johnson-shuts-down-notion-that-bellator-is-inferior-to-ufc\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"MMA News\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Bellator\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/bellator\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":4,\"name\":\"Anthony Johnson shuts down notion that Bellator is inferior to UFC\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/\",\"name\":\"| BJPenn.com\",\"description\":\"MMA & UFC News, Results & Fight Videos\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization\",\"name\":\"| BJPenn.com\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/bj_penn_logo_amp.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/bj_penn_logo_amp.png\",\"width\":600,\"height\":148,\"caption\":\"| BJPenn.com\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/instagram.com\/bjpenn\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/bjpenn\",\"https:\/\/www.pinterest.com\/bjpenndotcom\/\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/0fficialbjpenn\",\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/bjpenn\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/bjpenndotcom\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#\/schema\/person\/e1a3f1e5a045aeaf5b59aa1549a06a87\",\"name\":\"Tom Taylor\",\"description\":\"Tom Taylor is a globetrotting writer currently based in Ottawa, Canada. He is a staff writer for BJPenn.com, and also covers mixed martial arts for Fightland and Vice Sports. Follow him on Twitter @TomTayMMA.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/author\/tom-taylor\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Anthony Johnson shuts down notion that Bellator is inferior to UFC | BJPenn.com","description":"Light heavyweight star Anthony Johnson has a message for anybody who believes Bellator is inferior to the Ultimate Fighting Championship.\u00a0","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/bellator\/anthony-johnson-shuts-down-notion-that-bellator-is-inferior-to-ufc\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Anthony Johnson shuts down notion that Bellator is inferior to UFC | BJPenn.com","og_description":"Light heavyweight star Anthony Johnson has a message for anybody who believes Bellator is inferior to the Ultimate Fighting Championship.\u00a0","og_url":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/bellator\/anthony-johnson-shuts-down-notion-that-bellator-is-inferior-to-ufc\/","og_site_name":"| BJPenn.com","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/bjpenn","article_published_time":"2021-02-24T15:59:09+00:00","og_image":[{"width":696,"height":399,"url":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-content\/uploads\/Anthony-Johnson-3.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Tom Taylor","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@bjpenndotcom","twitter_site":"@bjpenndotcom","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Tom Taylor","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/bellator\/anthony-johnson-shuts-down-notion-that-bellator-is-inferior-to-ufc\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/bellator\/anthony-johnson-shuts-down-notion-that-bellator-is-inferior-to-ufc\/"},"author":{"name":"Tom Taylor","@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#\/schema\/person\/e1a3f1e5a045aeaf5b59aa1549a06a87"},"headline":"Anthony Johnson shuts down notion that Bellator is inferior to UFC","datePublished":"2021-02-24T15:59:09+00:00","dateModified":"2021-02-24T15:59:09+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/bellator\/anthony-johnson-shuts-down-notion-that-bellator-is-inferior-to-ufc\/"},"wordCount":391,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization"},"articleSection":["Anthony Johnson","Bellator"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/bellator\/anthony-johnson-shuts-down-notion-that-bellator-is-inferior-to-ufc\/#respond"]}],"copyrightYear":"2021","copyrightHolder":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization"}},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/bellator\/anthony-johnson-shuts-down-notion-that-bellator-is-inferior-to-ufc\/","url":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/bellator\/anthony-johnson-shuts-down-notion-that-bellator-is-inferior-to-ufc\/","name":"Anthony Johnson shuts down notion that Bellator is inferior to UFC | BJPenn.com","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#website"},"datePublished":"2021-02-24T15:59:09+00:00","dateModified":"2021-02-24T15:59:09+00:00","description":"Light heavyweight star Anthony Johnson has a message for anybody who believes Bellator is inferior to the Ultimate Fighting Championship.\u00a0","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/bellator\/anthony-johnson-shuts-down-notion-that-bellator-is-inferior-to-ufc\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/bellator\/anthony-johnson-shuts-down-notion-that-bellator-is-inferior-to-ufc\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/bellator\/anthony-johnson-shuts-down-notion-that-bellator-is-inferior-to-ufc\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"MMA News","item":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Bellator","item":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/bellator\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":4,"name":"Anthony Johnson shuts down notion that Bellator is inferior to UFC"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#website","url":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/","name":"| BJPenn.com","description":"MMA & UFC News, Results & Fight Videos","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization","name":"| BJPenn.com","url":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/bj_penn_logo_amp.png","contentUrl":"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/bj_penn_logo_amp.png","width":600,"height":148,"caption":"| BJPenn.com"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/instagram.com\/bjpenn","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/bjpenn","https:\/\/www.pinterest.com\/bjpenndotcom\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/0fficialbjpenn","https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/bjpenn","https:\/\/twitter.com\/bjpenndotcom"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#\/schema\/person\/e1a3f1e5a045aeaf5b59aa1549a06a87","name":"Tom Taylor","description":"Tom Taylor is a globetrotting writer currently based in Ottawa, Canada. He is a staff writer for BJPenn.com, and also covers mixed martial arts for Fightland and Vice Sports. Follow him on Twitter @TomTayMMA.","url":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/author\/tom-taylor\/"}]}},"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/377294"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/54430"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=377294"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/377294\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/349753"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=377294"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=377294"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=377294"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}