Tony Johnson Says Bellator Title Situation is Frustrating

Tony Johnson spoke with MMAjunkie about his fight with Raphael Butler at Bellator 148 and more. Check out the highlights:

On Vitaly Minakov not defending the heavyweight title for nearly two years: “It’s a little frustrating, but I can only control what I can control; and right now I have another fight. If I beat Butler it’s going to be hard for them to say no to a title shot. (Minakov) can’t hold it up for too much longer. They’ve got to do something. They have me, they have Rafael Butler, Bobby Lashley – we’re all in the hunt for the title and we just have to wait and see what happens.”

On changing his training camp up: “The issue was my cardio; I knew I couldn’t keep doing this. I look different, I feel different. I feel way better, I have way more energy and my cardio is just ridiculous right now. I feel like in the past I had trouble with my weight, but the past two years I’ve got my weight under control. Now for this fight I’ve treated my body tremendously and everyone is going to see a brand new me, a brand new Tony. I’m ready for all aspects of this fight. That’s one thing I can change, is my cardio. You need to change the things you can change in this sport, and my cardio is that. I needed to get better at that. The Volkov fight, if I had better cardio I would have been able to implement my will a lot more. I had to get my cardio better because I want more fights and I want the fans behind me. To do that I have to get knockouts, and to get the knockouts you have to have the cardio.”

On his fight with Butler: “I expect him to come out and be the best Rafael Butler there is because he’s hungry and wants the belt too. I’m excited about that and I’m excited to test myself against him. We’re two guys on a mission. He’s a great opponent, but I have more advantages and can control where the fight goes. I want to go in there to fight to win, not to lose. I don’t want to take the guy down and lay and pray. I’m not going to do that. I want to show everything. I believe in my conditioning and this is one of these fights where this is my homecoming. This is my year. Rafael Butler is in my way.”