Anthony Johnson “Going To Wait Until October” To Fight Again
Anthony Johnson, who suffered a controversial eye poke TKO loss to Kevin Burns at UFC Fight Night 14 in July, will be cleared to fight in September after undergoing successful surgery to repair a detached retina suffered in the bout.
Johnson, however, will wait until October to return to the octagon to allow his eye further time to heal.
“I had laser surgery to reattach my retina and I got stitches in my eyeball right now. The laceration on my eye was from one end of my eye to the other,” Johnson told MMA Weekly. “I wasn’t really big on the whole appealing the fight anyway. Every single champion has a loss on his record. I’m trying to see myself as the bigger and better guy. If he’s the champion one day, I’ll accept an ‘L’. Everybody was hating on Mazzagatti because of the call, but he was on the side I was blocking on, so he actually didn’t see the guy eye gouge me. All he saw was the uppercut… he called what he thought he saw and I respect him. I was disappointed because I did lose like that… when it should have been a no contest or a DQ. He saw what he thought he saw, so I’m not hating on him about it.”
“The doctor said I can be cleared in September to fight,” Johnson continued. “But I don’t want to fight in September. I’m just going to wait until October and get my eye right.”
Tags: Anthony Johnson
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As much as i cant stand his prefight trash talk, he has been showing alot of class throught this whole ordeal. I’m sure he would have gotten at least a no contest on the appeal (he deserves that at a min, if not a win by DQ). Wonder if Kevin Burns will be back.
im so pissed about that last fight….i hope this kid comes back stronger then ever…he is a great athelete who has a huge future in this sport…cant wait to see him in action again
And not to mention he’s from denver too, 3OH!3
he was dominating this fight… right up until the eye poke. sucks.
i personally would have had someone appeal that fight for me, but my “hat” is off to this kid for not hating on steve and accepting the L even tho that L was completely BS
Has anybody heard of Tommy Spear lately?
Speer is supposedly going to fight in the WEC again before the end of 2008. Much respect to Johnson for being a classy guy and accepting the L even though it was obviously a BS call
Anthony Johnson is being big about this. I am so glad I did not bet on this fight. I would’ve been pissed about that BS call. I will always be a big fan of Anthony. He was my pick at UFN 13. Anthony Johnson(+215) $500 for $1075. Thanks Ant.
timcat,
I was wondering about Tommy my self. He was rumored to fight in the WEC 35 event.Not sure what happened, must be injured.
I was really impressed by Rumble in his 1st fight against Tommy. I am even more impressed now by this guy, who could easily **** and complain (and rightfully so IMO) but isnt. Instead he has been nothing but a class act, even after the fight when he would be the most emotional. He is a young guy so I do see big things for him in the future, and ill be rooting for him the whole way.
This guy could very well be my favorite fighter right now. He’s got some unbelievable stand up and amazing power. But above all, he could be the classiest guy in the UFC right now.
Stitches in the eyeball…….hmmm…that really f-ing sucks, is disgusting and I cannot wait for Johnson to come back and get on track.
biz, in no way is this guy more classy than gsp or lyoto machida. But yeah, he is a classy guy.
He got ****ed hard on the poke.
The Rob,
That is why I said “could be.” For him to not bash Mazzagatti (and even to defend him) for what I would say was the WORST call in at least the last year (on a potentially career-ending injury) is amazingly classy and certainly puts him right up with GSP and Machida. It would be interesting to see how either of the other two would react to the same situation. Sure hope we don’t have to find out though.
I probably didn’t need to say all that, but damn it, I love using parentheses.
Good for Johnson. I’m impressed with his attitude on this and I have gained mucho respect for him.
This guy is good for the sport and a good guy for all kids to look up to right now.
I just found a new fighter to root for … Avery’s a first class guy.
Whoops – I’ll be rooting for Anthony Johnson – not Avery.
Rumble definitely has some potential and is a skilled fighter. He obviously didn’t do enough video research going into the fight.
Watch “Three Stooges” to avoid the eye poke. Nyuk, nyuk, nyuk.