Anthony Johnson vs. John Howard in Negotiations For TUF 9 Finale
Anthony Johnson
The finale for “The Ultimate Fighter 9: US vs. UK” is starting to take shape. Though agreements are in the process of being finalized, MMA Junkie is reporting that Anthony Johnson will be taking on fellow welterweight John Howard at the event.
Johnson is coming off of back to back victories over Kevin Burns and Luigi Fioravanti, via third round knockout, and first round TKO, respectively. Howard picked up a split decision victory over Chris Wilson in his last fight, which earned both men “Fight of the Night” honors, and is on a four fight win streak.
This fight is expected to be televised, along with the fights to determine this season’s lLightweight and welterweight winners. You can follow the card for the “The Ultimate Fighter 9: US vs. UK Finale” as it develops on the rumors page for the event.
Tags: Anthony Johnson, John Howard
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dang man im really excited for this fight.. i dont really know much about Howard but i mean if he’s good enough to beat chris wilson obviously he’s legit. Good to see that Johnson is eagar to advance in the welterweight devision.
wanted to see him fight swick but whatever, this should be good though.
the ufc needs to start building up another challenger for GSP or Alves cause who the hell is the winner of that fight defending their title against. Hughes, Serra, snore. Kos nope Fitch probably not. Swick maybe. The welterweight title will likely be defended again in oct or nov. So they gotta build up rumble or swick in that time.
there is plenty people to be contenders…theres- dan hardy, marcus davis, mike swick, ben saunders, dustin hazlett, rumble and thats just a few that are getting close to title contention!
It will be nice to see rumble against a guy who he won’t have such a strength advantage over. I could be mistaken but hasn’t howard fought at 185 before?
“Rumble” K.O. 1st rd
Would obviously like to see him fight Swick instead.
I like how Rumble has become the king of TUF finale’s. But I think due to his age they aren’t gonna push Rumble to quick. I could see him being a future champ as long as he keeps becoming more diverse.
this is a good oppotunity for rumble, I personally like the guy, he is raw but he has so much talent. His striking is awesome as well as his defense. He hasn’t really been pushed in a fight so we really dont know how good he is. With a win he will be ready to start fighting higher-caliber guys, i.e. kos, fitch, swick, hardy. a dan hardy fight would probably end in a great ko for either guy. Rumble isn’t ready for gsp or the pitbull, but with a year or more training and better opponents he will be. future champ?… could be only if gsp moves on to destroy the spider after he beats the pitbull. then gsp can dominate 185 and leave 170 open for rumble.
AJ is quite the talent most definately, future champ? That is a very good possibility. I do agree that AJ isn’t ready for Alves nor The Greatness as of yet, the kid is young and given some more fights he will be up there in the WW title pic…
Yet, GSP putting a beating on Anderson Silva is unlikely imo, can The Greatness win um ya, I think that it would be a war and the winner, winning most likely by decision or a submission. I would go ahead and pick The Spider to win that bout (as of now) but I just don’t see them “locking horns” anytime soon, well maybe in December but that is quite the guess.. Lets see if The Greatness can surpass Alves and if The Spider beats Leites then we can start foaming at the mouth for The Greatness v The Spider ala Diego Sanchez prefight against Stevenson
*reference* I have refered to GSP as The Greatness in an attempt to constantly eat crow from UFC 94, kinda lost a bet, even tho I’am a GSP (The Greatness) fan I lost a side bet to someone who reads the FrenZy yet is too much of Puss y to post (he is an odd fellow), sooo that explains that I guess, cheers
Yeah, I got so caught up on the Hardy being a step up from Rumble (which I don’t think he is) that I neglected the comments about GSP destroying the spider, which I disagree with even more. I think that Silva would KO GSP and probably early too, that is, *if* Alves doesn’t do that first.
*reference* I wondered about that, but I thought that was just you being querky, like calling Ken Shamrock “Shammy Shamm”. Do you have to do that on going, or does the penalty for losing the bet have an expiration date?
Justin calling the Shamrock’s “Shammy Shamm”s are just me being weird, so ya on that point.. To answer your other question calling GSP “The Greatness” I believe ends (on my part) March 31st.. Actually I don’t mind it too much personally, if Penn had won, my friend (who doesn’t post here cuz he is a Puss) had to buy a BJ Penn t~shirt, soo I guess my loss isn’t that big of a deal… He highly dislikes Penn..
I’m not sure that Rumble fighting Hardy necessarily means he’s fighting a “higher-caliber” guy. Yeah, Hardy beat Gono, and yeah Hardy KOed Markham, but he’s also got six losses. I would put Hardy and Rumble on the same level, they are both rising stars with high potential, if Hardy ends up picking up the win over Davis, that puts him above Rumble in the rankings, but I still think Rumble is well capable of beating Hardy.
Here is a quick glance at something
Dan Hardy 21~6~0 (1nc)
Notable wins~ Markham,Gono
Notable losses~ Pat Healy, David Baron (2x), Yoshiyuki Yoshida
(NC)~ Diego Gonzalez
A.J. 7~2~0
Notable wins~ Tommy Speer,Kevin Burns, Luigi Fioravanti
Notable losses~ Kevin Burns, Rich Clementi
*note*
Hardy has a lot wins over guys that are just simply unheard of (atleast to me) mostly european gents so imo it is hard to gauge where he exactly is in the division tho he has a hell of a ko over a tough guy and a decision victory over Gono, hell perhaps I will do some indepth reaserch on him.. I wouldn’t mind seeing these two fight tho.. I would give the edge to AJ at the moment but that is just my opionion
To clear things up, I didnt mean to say that hardy is a step up from rumble. if anything rumble is a higher caliber talent then rumble. I started thinking about a match between hardy and rumble and got ahead of myself.
As far as the GSP destroying the spider comment, I stand by it. Yes GSP has to get by Alves, and I believe he will because he is more well rounded than Alves in all the categories except striking and ko power. If GSP does and the spider gets by Leites then hopefully this superfight will happen by december. I dont see it happening for a few reasons.
1.) Maia should get a title shot at 185, he seems like the dominant contender in that division. yes I realize he hasnt defeated the guys who have had title shots recently, however Maia’s bjj is sick and the best in that division, possibly the world. 2.) Silva’s handlers are afraid to put him up against a tough opponent and rush will be the toughest opponent for the spider and vice versa. 3.) what will dana white do if GSP were to win? would he force GSP to fight at 185 and 170? give up the 170 title and stay at 185, give up the 185 title and stay at 170 thus creating a tournament for either title.
GSP has all the tools to beat the spider, the only disadvantage for him is the reach and height advantage. I think if GSP were to think him down he could GnP him and deliver those insane knees to the spider’s body. I am sure I will cause a heated argument for this but I stand by my points for GSP beating the spider.
I love Demian, he is sick and jumped up as one of my favorite fighters watch. but he needs to face Nate and prove that he can handle a striker, plus Nate has made a solid case maybe he should be in that mix. As for Silva Vs. GSP its not even in question that the Spider would own GSP. GSP is a huge welterweight but Anderson is a Huge Middle wight, GSP will give up 4 inches in height, giving up a huge reach advantage, and come fight time will be 30lbs lighter. Anderson is possible the greatest striker ever in MMA and I still question GSP chin (which is why I think Alves is a huge threat and all the GSP fans are looking way past him) Plus GSP likes to be a bully, use his size to hold people down and push people around. He will not impose his will against a man that is bigger (which is another reason i like Thiago cause he will be the bigger man in that fight), its hard to GnP someone with the length Anderson has and the BJJ skills to back it up. So the Spider via KO in the 1st.
But as for the “ifs” 1st “if” GSP wants the fight, he stated he would want 6 months to prep for it (thats a long time to have 2 belts on hold.) 2nd “if” GSP wins he would have to defend both (thats what was to happen had BJ won that fight) or he would vacate one if he felt he didnt want to defend both.
on a side note i love the GSP fans talking about this fight happening, yet when BJ/GSP was being discussed everyone was freaking out about how BJ didnt deserve a title shot and this n that. Well GSP would fight in a weight hes never fought in and all of a sudden he leap frogs everyone in that division, wheres the outrage now? Atleast BJ fought and was the Champ at Welterweight and loss a close SD to GSP, to set up to the fight. (BigChris this statement isnt aimed at you just a thought as we discuss the possible fight)
anzstar,
*sidenote*~~~~ I completely agree with you, hell a guy that has never fought at 185 (UFC) is going to get a title shot my goodness, damn double standards…. I’m a fan of both The Greatness and BJ Penn I just hate the double standards that specific fans have, its quite juvinielle imo
I agree about the double standard, and GSP not being able to handle Silva, I actually have high expectations for Alves against him. I could be way off target, but Alves has a really good chance at a KO victory, IMO.
I understand the double standard you mentioned aznstar, and to answer that: a lot of people do not like bj because of his attitude and work ethic. I also agree with the fact that alves will be the bigger fighter come ufc 100 with gsp however gsp is more well rounded. as far as my superfight I know it is a long shot for gsp to beat silva however I would love for it to happen. gsp going up to 185 will be the same as bj’s move and people will dog him if and when the fight happens.
there really isnt anyone left for gsp at 170 assuming he gets by alves. he has beaten everyone in that division as far as the big names. I would like to see gsp and rumble only a couple of years from now. same thing for silva outside of maia, there is no legit contender at 185. silva has beat them all. silva defintely wont face the top 5 at 205. its too dangerous for him and his “legacy” i.e. rashad, machida, rampage, forrest, jardine, shogun. silva would lose at least half of those six.
I really mentioned the gsp vs. spider match for the reason of solving the mythical pound for pound title. say gsp and spider fight and spider wins, the only other guy left on that p4p title would be fedor… would fedor and spider fight??? that would be bad-ass. or say gsp beats spider, gsp wont fight a guy that is 60-80 pounds heavier than him in fedor. so then who would be p4p champ??? according to multiple magazines, the top 3 in p4p are spider, gsp, and fedor.
another interesting thought. so far the co main event for ufc 100 is rashad vs. rampage or machida. what if jardine ko’s rampage? jardine wont be considered for a title shot? jardine is a very underrated fighter. im sure some are laughing that I even said he might ko rampage… think about this… jardine ko’d forrest and forrest beat rampage. rampage lost to shogun and forrest beat shogun. connect the dots guys!!! jp I hope rampage loses to jardine so machida could get his shot at evans, and beat evans. I do not like “sugar” I think he is too cocky and arrogant and I despise that in peeps. yes evans has backed up his arrogance but I doubt he will against machida.
imagine alves beating gsp, and machida beating evans. that would mean that brazilans would own 3 of the 5 belts in the ufc. establishing bjj as the dominant fighting background. food for thought.
Jardine could beat Rampage, sure, but no he doesn’t get a title shot, he’s not consistent enough. I also heavily doubt he will KO Rampage. I think Silva could do quite well against some of the top 205ers, most of them like to stand and trade, where 185 is a division with a lot of good ground fighters (Maia, Leites, Marquardt, Hendo, Okami) which is the weakest of Silva’s skills, but I wouldn’t call it a weakness.
As far as their not being anyone left at 170 for GSP, if he gets past Alves, Fitch will be better, Swick and Saunders are coming up, Rumble is growing by leaps and bounds, Hardy/Davis are both quality fighters. Conditt and Kampann are both decent fighters as well, plus Kos will get back on track, and eventually Diego will come back up. There’s plenty of people getting in line for a chance at that belt.