Anthony Johnson Aiming for October Return

By Tom Ngo
(5thRound.com)
August 22nd, 2008

Up and coming UFC welterweight, Anthony Johnson, is currently on the lonely road to recovery since suffering from an accidental eye poke in his last bout. Johnson is regarded as one of the division’s most exciting young fighters and a controversial loss like that certainly hasn’t hurt his standing within the UFC.
Johnson was dominating the entire fight until his opponent, Kevin Burns, accidentally landed a thumb to Johnson’s eye in the 3rdRound. Johnson immediately fell to the canvas. On replay, the poke was clear and referee Steve Mazzagatti has received quite a bit of grief regarding the missed call, however Johnson was one of the few that didn’t blame Mazzagatti.

“Everybody was hating on Mazzagatti because of the call, but he was on the side I was blocking on, so he actually didn’t see the guy eye gouge me,” Johnson told MMAWeekly about the maligned referee. “All he saw was the uppercut … he called what he thought he saw and I respect him.”

Click here to read the rest of the article on 5thround.com