Anthony “Rumble” Johnson is taking on Daniel Cormier this Saturday at UFC 210. Cormier beat him in their previous match-up back in 2015, but instead of stressing over the rematch, Johnson says he’s quiet relaxed. The 33-year-old fighter says that he is in a great mental space, and he feels confident that if he executes his game plan, and cleans up the minor mistakes from his previous performance, he will be the winner this time around.
Just make sure you don’t overlook him because he doesn’t bark and boast as most UFC fighters do. Johnson has stayed quiet for the most part leading up to the fight, occasionally responding to some of the verbal jabs that Cormier has been throwing at him over the past few months. But Johnson is more than ready, and leaves the talking to his opponent and the media. For him, it’s all about the Octagon.
We caught up with the No. 1 light heavyweight fighter before his fight to discuss how he bounced back from his loss to Cormier, and his preparation and mindset for the upcoming fight.
(This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.)
I’d appreciate if you could tell me get your mindset leading into this fight. Has the way you prepare for fights changed throughout your career?
I’m not sure I’ve really thought about it. As I get older, and know the game more, my attitude, my mentality changes, preparation definitely changes, so I’m definitely not the same guy that I was when I first started at 24, you know and I’m 33 now, so my mindset is a lot different.
Yeah, so tell me, what’s it like preparing for a rematch?
Well that depends on if you win or you lose, you know if you win, you have to push yourself hard, a little bit harder, because some people think that, “Oh I won the first time, I’ll win the second time,” and some people think that, “Oh, just the fact that I won the first time and we’re having a rematch, I need to train just a little bit harder because I still believe that the guy can’t beat me,” and if you lost, you want to train as hard as you can and make sure you cover all your bases, and nothing can stop you from getting that win and that rematch, so I mean it’s a little bit of give and take.
What goes into your game plan? Often times you’ve come across this label as a first round fighter. Do you approach the first round with a special mentality, or is your aggressiveness simply part of your overall game plan?
I just go out there and do whatever that needs to be done to win the fight, and if I have to get a knockout in the first round, then that’s what happens, and if I don’t, I don’t. I just go with the flow, and whatever happens, happens. I don’t go out there and expect it, with any expectations at all, I just go out there and I fight.
I’m really interested in the mentality of a fighter, so after you lost that fight to Cormier the first time, I heard that it took you a very long time to actually re-watch the fight. Can you just describe that experience a little bit, and maybe how you go through that kind of process?
Yeah, I was just very disappointed in my performance, and any time you lose, you hate losing if you’re a true athlete, and I’m used to winning, and I lost, I lost to a guy who was better than me that night. I look forward to the rematch, but yeah, it took me a while to watch it, because I knew I made some small mistakes, but those mistakes led to big results, so I was just disappointed in myself, and I didn’t want to look at my mistakes. I manned up, and owned up to my mistakes and watched the tape. I was disappointed in what I saw, but also saw things that weren’t hard to correct, so I guess maybe that’s why I’m just so relaxed right now because I know I corrected my mistakes and I’m just ready to go out there and do it.
So if you execute your game, you’ll come out on top.
Oh yeah, I know I will.
So itseems like Cormier has been very vocal leading up to UFC 210. Do you pay attention to that kind of stuff or do you focus on the fight?
I do a little bit of both, I hear him talkin’, which is fine with me, that’s what he does, but you know, I’m the type—I don’t do all that talkin’, I go out there and I fight, that’s what I do and that’s who I am, I’m not a talker like that, talkin’ doesn’t do anything for me, you know I let who ever it is talk, and do whatever they need to do to make themselves feel better, or build up their confidence, or get the fans into it. The fans love me because I go out there and do my thing, and I still show respect before and after, so I think that’s why the fans like me, you know, but other than that, it is what it is, I’m just not a talker like that.
Well, in fact, your opponent said recently, “I’m actually going to beat him much worse than I did last time.” What’s your reaction to that statement?
Good luck.
Good luck, plain and simple?
Good luck, yep. Keep my mouth closed, as I said, no point in talk, we goin’ see what happens April 8th.
