Anthony ‘Rumble’ Johnson was defeated by Josh Koscheck via a rear naked choke submission in the second round. Johnson was annoyed with Koscheck because he faked a knee strike to the head when in reality he was hit in the arm. The referee had stopped the fight momentarily, thinking that the knee could have actually hit Koscheck in the head while he was still on the ground. ‘Rumble’ believes that Koscheck forced the fight to stop on purpose because he was most likely gassing out. The fact that Koscheck was able to regain composure after the short stoppage played a major role in the fight. Johnson also mentioned during the post-fight press conference that he was eye poked twice which hurt his vision throughout the bout.
From Anthony Johnson:
“I didn’t hit him in the head, I hit him in the arm. I don’t know why he would act like [that], I guess he was gassing. That’s the only thing I can think of, [him] trying to find some kind of excuse to complain. I know I didn’t hit him in the head. I thought I timed it perfect but I didn’t and that’s my fault. After him poking me in the eye it made a big difference. Then he did it twice and got both eyes the second time because when he swings, he jabs with his open hand and the right didn’t even hit me, it was just the open palm strike and my eyes, my eyes are burning like hell right now. After I hurt him, he needed that, he needed some kind of excuse to recover, but it’s all good.”
