Anthony Johnson shuts down talk of NFL career

Last night, in the main event of UFC 210, brick-fisted light heavyweight star Anthony Johnson came up short for a second time to reigning light heavyweight champ Daniel Cormier, succumbing to a second-round rear-naked choke. Shortly after this disappointing loss, the two-time light heavyweight title challenger known as “Rumble” surprised by announcing that he would be retiring from the sport of mixed martial arts.

In his post-fight interview with colour commentator Joe Rogan, Rumble explained his decision to retire, suggesting that he’d found another job, not related to MMA. Shortly thereafter, MMA’s discerning fans noticed that Rumble’s Twitter bio included the hashtags #Rams and #LARams, which led to immediate speculation that he might be making a jump to the NFL.

During his UFC 210 post-fight press conference, however, Rumble quickly shut these rumors down.

“No, I am not about to play football for the Rams,” Rumble said (viaMMAFighting.com). “Because everybody’s hitting me up and saying some crazy stuff about [howI’m about to play for the Rams. Why would I go into another sport that’s the same thing as this, and you take all this impact and stuff? That’s absolutely insane.”

Rumble then divulged a bit more information – but not enough to deduce what exactly he’ll be doing to pay the bills from here on out.

“It’s just business,” he said. “I want to do something besides going to the gym everyday punching and kicking and rolling around with another dude. That sh*t gets old. I’ve been doing this for so long, I’ve been in sports since I was 8, it’s just time to move on to something different. I won’t say better, but just different.”

Were you surprised when Anthony Johnson retired after his UFC 210 loss? What do you think his new job is? Sound off, PENN Nation!

This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 4/9/2017.