Anthony Johnson

CTL-E-7132 · Person · other · contemporary

VERIFIED evidence grade — build store (JSON graph)

Combined Graph record U-08004 · provenance: build store (JSON graph), record CTL-E-7132.

Anthony Kewoa Johnson (March 6, 1984 – November 13, 2022) was an American mixed martial artist from Dublin, Georgia, whose one-punch power made “Rumble” the most feared knockout artist of his era. Fighting across four weight classes, Johnson twice challenged for the UFC light heavyweight championship, losing both times to Daniel Cormier by rear-naked choke — at UFC 187 in May 2015, after knocking Cormier down in the first round, and at UFC 210 in April 2017, after which he announced his retirement in the cage. He returned with Bellator in May 2021, knocking out Jose Augusto, but withdrew from a semifinal against champion Vadim Nemkov that September because of illness, and never fought again. Johnson died on November 13, 2022, aged 38, after what a Bellator spokesperson described as a yearlong illness; his manager, Ali Abdelaziz, had told ESPN weeks earlier that Johnson was “not doing well” and asked fans to pray for him. Yahoo Sports reported the cause of death as organ failure due to non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis, a rare immune-system disorder. He finished his career 23–6, with 17 knockouts.

The record

• Also known as: Rumble

Notes

Depiction flag: the cleared Commons photograph rests on the file's own description identifying its subject as the MMA fighter Anthony “Rumble” Johnson; every other Commons candidate under his name depicted namesakes in other sports. The asset's 2023-09-21 date is the file's Commons upload date, not a depiction date — Johnson died in November 2022 — and the asset is flagged for Photo Rights Log review on the Coachman/Redding/Qawi precedent. Curator's Judgment (DRAFT): Johnson's power was generational and his title luck was not; the illness that ended his comeback took him at 38, and the record closes with the sport still owing him a kinder final chapter. Photo: CLEARED with review flag — Anthony johnson MMA.jpg, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Sources

• Wikipedia, “Anthony Johnson (fighter)”; accessed 2026-11-04 (primary source · build store)
• Bleacher Report, “Former UFC, Bellator Fighter Anthony 'Rumble' Johnson Dies at Age 38” (November 13, 2022); accessed 2026-11-04 (build store)
• theScore, “MMA star Anthony 'Rumble' Johnson dies at 38” (November 2022); accessed 2026-11-04 (build store)

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Record CTL-E-7132 · Combined Graph record U-08004 · CultureTechLens Knowledge Graph · 3 sources.
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Researched and maintained by the CultureTechLens research program · CultureTechLens Combined Graph, Release 2026-11-04. Corrections are public: the corrections log.

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