Anthony ‘Rumble’ Johnson Passes Away At 38
The MMA community lost a legend today. Two-time UFC title contender Anthony “Rumble” Johnson has passed away at 38 years old.
The cause of death has yet to be announced. It was known that Johnson was experiencing health issues as Johnson and his manager, Ali Abdelaziz, opened up about his health status in October of this year. However, they did not provide specific details of the situation.
Johnson had two stints in the UFC. The first came from 2007 to 2012 while the second came from 2014 to 2017. The highlight of his career came in that second stint as he went 6-2 with all six of his wins coming by knockout.
Johnson is one of the greatest knockout artists in UFC history. His explosive power resulted in him winning 11 fights by knockout. That puts him third all-time for the most knockouts in UFC history.
Johnson has one of the best highlight reels in UFC history. He has a historic 13-second knockout over former UFC champion Glover Teixeira and a first-round knockout over UFC legend Alexander Gustaffson. That is only scratching the surface of his legendary career.
Johnson earned two undisputed title fights in his career. Both came against Daniel Cormier with the first coming in 2015 and the second coming in 2017. Unfourtnetly, he lost both of those fights. Despite that, Johnson is widely considered one of the best fighters to never win UFC gold.
Johnson retired from MMA after his second loss to Cormier in 2017. However, he came out of retirement in 2021 and signed with Bellator. In his return, he won with a first-round knockout over Jose Augusto Azevedo. His aforementioned health concerns prevented him from competing in more fights under the Bellator banner.
Rumble will live on forever in the hearts of MMA fans and his name is cemented in UFC history books.
