Anthony ‘Rumble’ Johnson Returns to Octagon, Meets Phil Davis at UFC 172

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Anthony Johnson will return to the Ultimate Fighting Championship as a light heavyweight on April 26, when “Rumble” will square off with Phil Davis at UFC 172 in Baltimore.

UFC President Dana White announced the news Tuesday morning via Twitter. UFC 172 takes place at Baltimore Arena and is headlined by a light heavyweight title match pitting reigning champion Jon Jones against surging challenger Glover Teixeira.

Johnson fought for the UFC from 2007 to 2012, during which time he competed mostly as a welterweight. “Rumble” was released by the promotion after missing weight for a planned 185-pound meeting with Vitor Belfort, who submitted Johnson with a rear-naked choke at UFC 142.

Since that defeat, Johnson has gone 6-0, joining the World Series of Fighting’s light heavyweight division and posting three straight victories for the Las Vegas-based organization. After knocking out Bellator veteran D.J. Linderman, Johnson moved up to heavyweight to outpoint Andrei Arlovski last year at WSOF 2. Most recently, Johnson stopped former Strikeforce talent Mike Kyle, knocking out “Mak” in the first round of their WSOF 8 showdown last month.

Davis rides a three-fight winning streak into his meeting with Johnson. “Mr. Wonderful” competed twice last year, earning a clear-cut decision victory over Vinny Magalhaes before taking a contentious verdict from Lyoto Machida this past August at UFC 163.