Rumble Johnson open to UFC return, so long as they pay him to be fat and happy

The combat sports world was abuzz over the weekend when news broke that former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) light heavyweight title contender, Anthony Johnson, had signed with Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship (BKFC).

Then it was revealed that “Rumble” (22-6) wouldn’t be fighting, but rather serving in some sort of ambassador-type role (boo that man).

Not surprisingly, mixed martial arts (MMA) fans were disappointed, as Johnson is one of the most devastating strikers in all of cage fighting, regardless of weight class. Fortunately, it doesn’t appear his retirement is permanent.

Assuming Dana White and Co. are willing to show him the money.

“If the price is right, anything can happen,” Johnson told Luke Thomas. “Dana’s a business man. He knows that when the time is right, we’ll talk about it. But right now, the time just isn’t right. There’s no point. If I’m gonna do it, I wanna do it at heavyweight. Everybody can eat, be fat, and happy and go out there and slug it out and see what happens. If they wanted me to go to 205, I would, if the price was right.”

He might want to read this first.

Johnson, 34, shocked the fighting community when he retired from competition following his submission loss to Daniel Cormier at UFC 210 in early 2017, the second time he tapped to “DC” after returning to the Octagon roughly five years back.

Based on his big balls current physique, it’s hard to imagine Johnson as a welterweight, a place he frequently competed earlier in his career. A hasty move up to middleweight yielded little fruit, so the former World Series of Fighting (WSOF) slugger kept heading north.

Next stop: 265 pounds?