Anthony Johnson posts, then deletes statement regarding NYSAC appeal

Just hours after his appeal to the New York State Athletic Commission (NYSAC) was made public, retired UFC light heavyweight Anthony Johnson posted a since-deleted Instagram statement saying that he did not wish to see Daniel Cormier stripped of the UFC light heavyweight title.

The now-deleted post stood at odds with the appeal filed this week by Johnson’s team, which requested that Cormier explain his controversial UFC 210 weigh-in actions to the NYSAC under oath, and if that testimony did not provide a satisfactory explanation, that Cormier be fined 20 percent of his UFC 210 fight purse and stripped of his UFC light heavyweight title for the bizarre proceedings in Buffalo.

Text of Johnson’s post can been read below.

First and foremost I never said I wanted D.C. stripped of the title. He beat me and that’s that…

2nd I said everything would be handled After the fight because I was focused on the Fight. Weigh ins was messed up and at the end of the day it was wrong. If I lose fans because I’m fighting for what’s right then so be it. If it happen to me, it can happen to anybody. The world made all of this noise about it and when an appeal is made the world will cry about the appeal.

That makes zero sense!

Weigh ins was messed up and the fight wasn’t because he beat me. I’m not complaining about the loss, I’m complaining about the weigh ins. D.C. shouldn’t be stripped at all but for sure answer to the weigh in situation.

If you hate me you hate that’s what you have to deal with. If you love me then I love you back…

Btw this definitely isn’t about money, that’s for damn sure. It’s the principal of the situation for you knuckleheads that have no brain.

Cormier weighed in at 206.2 pounds — or 1.2 pounds over the light heavyweight limit — in his first attempt at the official UFC 210 weigh-ins. Cormier then weighed in a second time, less than three minutes after his first attempt, and successfully hit the 205-pound limit for his championship rematch against Johnson while visibly touching the privacy towel with both hands.

Following the incident, NYSAC executive director Tony Giardina told on-site reporters that he did not see Cormier holding the towel. Cormier went on to defeat Johnson via second-round rear-naked choke at UFC 210, after which Johnson announced his unexpected retirement from MMA.