Anthony Johnson, who is known for his brutal knockout power, sent shock waves around the world after he announced his retirement from MMA following his loss to Daniel Cormier at UFC 210 last month. The UFC heavyweight said he did not tell anyone including UFC President Dana White about his plan to retire and only his coaches and family knew about it.
"I gave my commitment to another job, something that I've been wanting to do for a while; it's not MMA-related or anything like that. It's just time for me to move on to something else. I'm tired of getting punched and rolling around on the ground with guys and stuff like that. Ain't nothing fun about that," Johnson said.
Also read: Former UFC champ Matt Hughes never wanted to retire, says he would love to make a comeback
It's been more than a month since Johnson announced his retirement and a lot of UFC fans were eager to find out his future plans. During a recent interview with former WWE star Booker T on his "Heated Conversation" show, Johnson said he would be getting into the medical marijuana business.
"My friend Paul, he's in cannabis. We're opening up a facility, if you know what I mean. It's for medical uses. ... We got some good things going on. It's already big. We're just waiting for that law to pass and whenever it passes, we're golden. We're playing our cards right, we're playing by the book, so that way there's no issue," Johnson Said.
He elaborated on the reason he called time on his career.
"My health, man. You hear about CTE (chronic traumatic encephalopathy) and all this other stuff. Head injuries. You're harming your body playing football and stuff like that, but this stuff can happen just as fast in mixed martial arts as any other sport, because we're constantly beating on each other. I love myself, you know what I'm saying? A lot of guys don't think about that," Johnson said.
Despite Johnson being regarded as one of the best MMA fighters to ever grace the octagon, he felt he was never a fighter. He said he was just a great athlete who took to MMA naturally and felt he was meant to do something greater with his life.
Johnson said he could return to the octagon for a heavyweight bout against Jon Jones but that looks highly unlikely now as he is headed to join the likes of Nick and Nate Diaz in the cannabis industry.
Relive some of Anthony Johnson's best knockouts throughout his MMA career.
