Davis (left) will welcome Johnson (right) back to the UFC. Photo: MMA Press Montage/UFC Disclosure/WSOF
Two years after being fired from the UFC, Anthony Johnson is back. This Tuesday (4), the organization's president, Dana White, confirmed via Twitter the North American's return to the event, which will be on April 26, against Phil Davis.
Johnson's last fight in the UFC was during the organization's second visit to Rio de Janeiro, in January 2012. At that time, he would make his debut in the middleweight category (up to 84 kg) against Vitor belfort. However, Johnson was unable to make the division's weight, and, with the defeat to the Brazilian, he was sent away. That, in fact, wasn't the first time that Johnson failed at the weigh-in, as he previously played at welterweight (up to 77 kg).
However, after his dismissal, Johnson started a streak of six consecutive victories, whether among light heavyweights (up to 93 kg) or heavyweights (up to 120 kg). In the last two, he went through Andrei Arlovski, former UFC heavyweight champion, and Mike Kyle, another MMA veteran.
Davis, in turn, currently occupies fourth place in the UFC light heavyweight rankings. He comes from a sequence of three consecutive victories against Brazilians, beating Wagner Caldeirão, Vinny Magalhães and Lyoto Machida. His only loss as a professional was to Rashad evans, in January of 2012.
Event will also have Luke Rockhold x Tim Boetsch
Another fight that was added to the UFC 172 card is between middleweight Luke Rockhold and Tim Boetsch. This is the second time that the UFC has tried to schedule this fight, as the two were scheduled to face each other in October last year, until Rockhold was injured.
The former Strikeforce champion will try to continue his good form in the UFC. After being impressively knocked out by Vitor belfort in his debut with the organization in May 2013, he quickly knocked out Costas Philippou in January.
Boetsch, in turn, is coming off a controversial victory in the judges' decision against CB Dollaway. Before that, he had lost to Mark Muñoz and Philippou himself.
The main fight of UFC 172 will be between Jon Jones e Glover Teixeira, which will be worth the organization's light heavyweight title.
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