Anthony Johnson is widely regarded as one of the best fighters to have never won a UFC title, but he had his chances throughout his career.
Although notorious heavy-hitter Anthony Johnson never won a UFC title during his tenure with the promotion, he will still go down as one of the best 205lb fighters during his era.
Throughout his career, ‘Rumble’ had somewhat of a rivalry with fellow UFC legend Daniel Cormier, who he first met in the Octagon in 2015 at UFC 187 for the vacant light heavyweight title.
After putting together an impressive three fight win streak following his first loss to ‘DC’, Johnson was afforded a rematch against the then-undisputed champion at UFC 210 in 2017.
Johnson’s coaching team stormed out of arena during his retirement speech
With the two having already met inside the cage, both fighters knew the advantages they possessed over each other, with ‘Rumble’ being considered the more dangerous striker and Cormier being the stronger wrestler.
Despite that, early on in the fight, Johnson engaged in the wrestling with the champion, which wasn’t part of his game plan heading into it.
And his head coach Henri Hooft attempted to get him back on track during the interval between rounds one and two, saying: “This is stupid.”
However, again in round two, Johnson engaged in the wrestling with Cormier and was eventually submitted with a rear-naked choke.
“Why isn’t he listening? I don’t know why he’s doing that. Why, why the f— does this happen every f—— time, man?” Hooft said immediately after the submission.
And after expressing anger towards his fighter for not following the game plan, Hooft left the arena soon after the fight ended.
The result wasn’t the only shock of the night, though, as Johnson went on to announce his retirement from the sport, and realized he had been somewhat abandoned by his coaching team.
“I don’t have any excuses, I lost again to the better man, props to DC,” Johnson said in his Octagon interview.
“Where are my coaches? Where’s Henri?” Johnson asked as he realized his coaches had left him.
“I need my coaches to come in here real quick, where’s Henri? I don’t know where Henri is, but this is something I have to do for me, I love you all, this was my last fight, I didn’t even tell Dana White, I didn’t tell anybody, my coaches knew,” Johnson said as he broke down in tears.
Johnson eventually reunited with his coaching staff years later
The situation was extremely bizarre and not long after, Hooft claimed that he left the arena because he needed to change his t-shirt.
Despite Johnson’s retirement, he eventually returned to the sport of MMA when he fought in Bellator four years later against Jose Augusto.
Hooft was part of ‘Rumble’s’ corner team as he scored a first round knockout, in what was the final fight of his incredible career.