Prior to his fight at UFC 191: Johnson vs. Dodson 2 , Anthony Johnson was textually assaulted by MMA media for alleged derogatory comments towards an unnamed woman who was in the same gym as he was. From what was previously reported, the woman was supposedly stretching near where Johnson was lifting weights. The fact they two were near each other was the catalyst for a tirade in which Johnson picked up her yoga mat (which the woman was using for her stretching) and discarding it across the gym. Needless to say, the altercation did no favors for “Rumble” and his public image.
Apparently, how the media reported the situation was libel to Anthony Johnson. He truly expresses such a view after winning his fight at UFC 191 in which he said to MMA media reporters in passing that a lot of them “write a lot of bulls**t.”
From the testimony of numerous MMA media personnel present at the premier event, Anthony Johnson was exiting the Octagon when he made retaliating statement to them. Both Brett Okamoto of ESPN and John Morgan of MMA Junkie confirm such with updates on their official Twitter accounts.
Anthony Johnson as he walks by press row: Hey media, report on that shit!
— Brett Okamoto (@bokamotoESPN) September 6, 2015
Rumble walking past press row: “Media, write a report on that sh*t. I know ya’ll got a lot of sh*t to say. Write about that sh*t.”
— John Morgan (@MMAjunkieJohn) September 6, 2015
Later on at the post-fight conference, Anthony Johnson was asked to detail further his comments made passing by the media row, as reported by Sherdog . Though he did not bring up the incident he had with the unnamed woman at the gym, it is apparent he was talking about it given the fact it is the only negative tidbit of news pertaining to him as of late.
“Like I said before, you guys are going to write whatever you want to write. A lot of you guys write a lot of bulls**t. But that’s what you have to do to get paid and I am fine with that. But if you’re gonna write something bad, also write something good.”
Let’s hope the situation Anthony Johnson is in gets resolved soon. As for “Rumble” requesting positive news about him being written, it should be known he gave a remarkable performance in winning his fight agaisnt Jimi Manuwa. It was also evident that Johnson has improved on his wrestling and ground game. Daniel Cormier (if he is still champion) may need to take that into account.
[Image via Anthony Johnson’s Official Facebook Page]
