Anthony Johnson has been hinting about a return to the UFC for quite some time now. He has talked about getting back into the USADA pool and possibly cutting down to light heavyweight again.
Although there is no timeframe on when he will return to the Octagon, he will be getting a top-ranked opponent according to Dana White on his Reddit AMA.
Fan: Hey Dana, If Anthony “Rumble” Johnson finally comes back, which match up would you like for him to have first? personally, all the top 10 in LHW seem to be good match ups for him. Do you think he’d come back to a top 10 opponent, or a top 5? Him vs Santos would be crazy!
Dana White: I’d give him somebody in the top 10. Let’s see what the landscape looks like when he comes back.
Anthony Johnson has not fought since he lost to Daniel Cormier at UFC 210. It was his second time fighting for UFC gold and he fell short once again to Cormier.
In his career, career “Rumble” has notable wins over Ryan Bader, Alexander Gustafsson, Andrei Arlovski, Dan Hardy, and Antonio Rogerio Nogueira among others.
Although Rumble has fought the who’s who, he has yet to fight Jon Jones so perhaps he does go back down to light heavyweight and get that fight. Regardless, if Johnson returns it will be against a top-ranked foe.
