Rumble's road: Anthony Johnson's 5 greatest performances
The UFC keeps lining them up, and Anthony "Rumble" Johnson keeps knocking them down.
One of the world's most feared fighters at 205 pounds, Johnson challenges Daniel Cormier for the light heavyweight title at UFC 210 on April 8 in Buffalo - their first meeting since Cormier submitted Johnson to win the vacant belt last May, Johnson's lone setback since making his UFC return.
Ahead of their rematch, here's a look back at five impressive performances that have kept Rumble firmly entrenched at the top of the rankings.
Phil Davis at UFC 172
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Plenty of intrigue swirled around Johnson when his UFC return - to join the light heavyweight division at 205 pounds - was announced. In his first stint with the promotion, Johnson had tried (and often failed) to cut an ungodly amount of weight in order to compete at 170 and 185. To start his second run, Johnson was matched up with Phil Davis - a top-5 ranked fighter who'd recently outpointed former world champion Lyoto Machida.
Johnson had difficulty fighting grapplers in the smaller divisions, so there was reason to believe Davis would have an easy time grounding him. Instead, Johnson showed that his in-cage skills had matured considerably.
For three rounds, Johnson stuffed Davis' takedown attempts and peppered him with hard strikes. The unanimous decision win surprised many and made Johnson an instant contender.
Antonio Rogerio Nogueira at UFC on FOX 12
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If there were any questions remaining about Johnson's legitimacy at 205 pounds, they were all but erased with a 44-second destruction of veteran Antonio Rogerio Nogueira.
Johnson stalked Nogueira like a fearsome tiger before trapping him against the cage and blasting him with uppercut after uppercut. It was a chilling finish that put the whole light heavyweight division on notice.
Alexander Gustafsson at UFC on FOX 14
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Johnson had nothing to lose and everything to gain in his matchup with Alexander Gustafsson - to earn the title of No. 1 contender - and made the most of the opportunity.
No one was sleeping on Rumble this time, but he still managed to shock everyone by needing just over two minutes to put Gustafsson down by TKO. The sturdy Swede had never been finished by strikes before Johnson punched him out.
Ryan Bader at UFC on FOX 18
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Following his title-fight loss to Cormier, there were questions as to how Johnson would recover from that letdown. Oddsmakers still pegged him as a significant favorite going into his fight with Ryan Bader, and Johnson rewarded their faith with yet another terrifying knockout.
Leading up to the bout, Bader posited that his smothering wrestling would break Johnson once the fight started going downhill for him. In reality, the only thing that broke were several sections of Bader's head, as he managed just one takedown attempt before being pummeled into oblivion.
Glover Teixeira at UFC 202
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When Johnson made his UFC debut nine years ago, it was on less than a week's notice in a welterweight bout against Chad Reiner. It took him just 13 seconds to shut Reiner down, the fastest knockout of Johnson's career until he matched that feat against Glover Teixeira this past August.
Both fighters came out swinging, but it was Johnson who landed an earth-shaking uppercut that sent Teixeira's tooth skyward.
Teixeira hadn't been knocked out since making his professional debut in 2002, a stretch of 26 consecutive fights. One punch from Rumble was all it took to ruin that streak.