Having made significant changes to his preparation outside of the cage, maybe his performance on Saturday night against Brenneman can generate new topics of discussion when it comes to the monstrous welterweight.
Johnson now trains out of Imperial Athletics in Boca Raton, Florida. He’s part of the rapidly growing team known as “The Blackzilians,” a group that includes fellow UFC on Versus 6 competitor Michael Johnson, as well as Rashad Evans, Jorge Santiago, and The Villefort Brothers, Danillo and Yuri.
Gone are the days of ballooning to well over 200 pounds between fights, a casual approach to training, and an over-reliance on his size, strength, and natural talents to carry him in a fight. Johnson has found a home and a family in Florida, and with that has come commitment and dedication, even when it comes to learning jiu-jitsu.
“At one point, I can’t lie, I couldn’t stand jiu-jitsu. I did it, but if you don’t have a passion for something, you’re not going to be good at it. Now my passion for jiu-jitsu is picking up, so now my jiu-jitsu game is improving a lot. It’s all about if you want to be good or if you don’t. If you want to be an average fighter or an average person in life, that’s what you’re going to be. I don’t want to be labeled as a one-dimensional fighter.
“It’s just an overall thing,” continued Johnson, further explaining his new-found interest in jiu-jitsu. “But when you’re in the gym, and you’ve got four or five different jiu-jitsu black belts in the gym that come from different gyms, you kind of have no choice but to say, `Okay, I think I’m going to start getting the hang of this jiu-jitsu stuff.’
Johnson laughs again, and it’s clear in both his answers and his demeanor that he’s comfortable — with his team, his training, and his development as a fighter heading into Saturday night’s meeting with Brenneman.
“Babu’s jiu-jitsu style for MMA is amazing. I have Babu as my instructor, but then I have Jorge Santiago who is amazing in jiu-jitsu. He’s giving me pointers, and then I have Danillo Villefort; he’s helping me out. Then I have JZ helping me out in jiu-jitsu; all these guys help us out, and everybody has different pointers and moves. You can never learn too much when it comes to jiu-jitsu or anything in life.
“This was the best decision I’ve ever made,” continued Johnson, who thanks his agent, Glenn Robinson of Authentic Sports Management for helping him transition to his new surroundings in Florida. “Being here training with these guys is fun; everybody’s cool and laid back, nobody has a big head, and we train really hard. This is the best team I’ve ever been on.”
Working with a collection of talented fighters and quality coaches has helped Johnson become more well-rounded, sharpened the tools he’s had tucked away, much like his wrestling heading into the Hardy fight.
“I think I’m improving every day, and I feel like I’ve got a lot of tricks up my sleeve that people haven’t seen yet. I want people to have in their mind that I’m not just a striker. I want them to know that I can wrestle too. I want them to know that I can submit you too if I really, really tried. I just want to let people know that I am a guy who is well-rounded and is improving.”
While Johnson has engaged in some pre-fight verbal sparring with his opponents in the past, there has been nothing of the sort this time around with Brenneman. The Atlanta, Georgia native has a lot of admiration for his opponent and the people he trains with, but that doesn’t mean he’s not going to try to knock his head off once the cage door closes.
“Charlie Brenneman, overall, he’s a good athlete; I respect him, I respect his camp. His coaches are amazing. I’ve sat back, and I’ve talked to his coaches and stuff like that, and those guys are so cool. His camp, his team is one of the teams that I really like; just a bunch of great guys who are cool, they like to fight, they like to train, and they just go out there and get it.
“Charlie has a good chin, a good style of fighting. I actually really like his style; he has a nice little swagger when it comes down to fighting, and he puts it together really well. I don’t have any doubts in Charlie at all. I think he can do anything he wants to do, but when he’s fighting somebody like me, it’s going to be a lot tougher.
“End of the day, it’s business. If I like you or not, we’re in this job together, and I know that if you get a chance, you’re going to try to knock my teeth out, so guess what? I’m going to try to knock your’s out first, just to set the tone; let you know that I’m here.
“I plan on knocking Charlie out. That’s honestly my thing right now is to knock him out, but we’ll see. We’ll see October 1st.”
Anthony Johnson faces Charlie Brenneman Saturday at UFC on Versus 6 from the Verizon Center in Washington, D.C.