Anthony Johnson makes short work of Ryan Bader, gets first-round TKO
Ryan Bader knew that his best chance to defeat Anthony "Rumble" Johnson in their light heavyweight bout on Saturday at the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J., was to get the heavy-handed Johnson off of his feet.
Bader did that almost instantly.
And yet, Johnson still finished him less than 90 seconds into the fight. Bader shot early on Johnson, who sprawled and got Bader's back. Bader tried for a Kimura, but when he held onto it too long, he was exposed against the cage.
That's a bad place to be with a powerful fighter like Johnson. He threw several hammerfists that connected cleanly, knocking the one-time All-American wrestler at Arizona State out cold, forcing referee Keith Peterson to stop it. The official time was 1:26.
Johnson is now expected to fight the winner of the title fight between champion Daniel Cormier and ex-champion Jon Jones. They are expected to fight in April in Anaheim, Calif.
"I'll be waiting for whoever has that belt," said Johnson, who was submitted in the third round by Cormier at UFC 187 in Las Vegas in a bout for the vacant title that had been stripped from Jones.
He'll be a threat to win because of his incredible punching power. Johnson is now 12-5 in the UFC and 21-5 overall. He's also won 11 of his past 12 bouts, with the loss to Cormier his only blemish.
He's scored eight first-round knockouts in the UFC, including four in less than a minute and five in under a minute-and-a-half.
Cormier was able to survive an early onslaught and wore Johnson down with his grappling. Bader tried it with the shot, and seemed as if he wanted to grind on Johnson and make him work. But it didn't come close to working.
"How do you like my jiu-jitsu now?" he said.
There wasn't much to see, because Johnson made such short work of Bader. Bader said he was going to try to box, but Johnson foiled that approach.
"It wasn’t the strategy to shoot on him right away," Bader said. "I was originally going to try to stick and move. I tried to fake a shot and come up with a left hook and he ended up taking me down. I figured I had a Kimura on there looking to sweep him and stand back up. I got to a point where I was just trying to get to my knees and before I knew it, it was over. It felt like I didn’t get to show what I could do out there."
Heavyweight Ben Rothwell made a statement, submitting former champion Josh Barnett at 3:48 of the second with a 10-finger guillotine. Rothwell is one of the hottest heavyweights in the sport, and in his last three fights, has scored finishes of Alistair Overeem with strikes and then Matt Mitrione and Barnett with chokes.
The division is in a flux because of the recent postponement due to injury of both champion Fabricio Werdum and No. 1 contender Cain Velasquez. Rothwell has to be in the running now for a title shot.
"That’s a warning sign to Stipe [Miocic] and Overeem," Rothwell said. "I’m the No. 1 contender, soon to be champion in the UFC. Josh Barnett just made me a better fighter than I could ever be. This is a message to the entire heavyweight division. Not only will I win the belt, but I will defend it."
In the opener of the main card, highly touted "Super" Sage Northcutt opened strong in his fight with Bryan Barbarena, winning the first round on all three judges' cards. But he seemed to panic grappling with Barbarena, who submitted him with an arm triangle from side control.
