Anthony Johnson: Sometimes, you'd rather sit on your butt and watch TV than train

Anthony Johnson doesn’t make much of UFC light heavyweight champ Jon Jones’ proclamation of training year-round instead of fight-by-fight.

The way the No. 1 contender sees it, Jones is just giving lip service to the notion that he’s a changed man.

“People say that all the time,” Johnson (19-4 MMA, 10-4 UFC), who fights Jones (21-1 MMA, 15-1 UFC) in May at UFC 187, told MMAjunkie. “I said it. Hell, I don’t do it, but it’s just what we say.”

Jones said he would put his nose to the grindstone at the famed Jackson-Winkeljohn’s MMA in Albuquerque, N.M., after notching his eighth title defense at UFC 182 over Daniel Cormier.

The comments came before it was announced the champ had tested positive for cocaine, went to rehab for one day, and then issued a public mea culpa. Now, Jones is scheduled for his ninth attempted title defense on May 23 at Las Vegas’ MGM Grand Garden Arena. The event’s main card airs live on pay-per-view after prelims on FOX Sports 1 and UFC Fight Pass.

At a news conference in Los Angeles this past Friday in support of the UFC’s spring event schedule, Jones talked about staying strong and drawing strength from his team. While his words might have been different, his tone was similar to Johnson’s when he spoke of his road to redemption.

After he was forced out of the UFC for thrice missing weight, Johnson went back to the small-show circuit as a light heavyweight. When he returned to the UFC two years later and beat top contender Phil Davis – and then Antonio Rogerio Nogueira – he did a virtual PR tour as he touted his new outlook on his career.

There’s no doubt Johnson has made some key changes and focused his efforts, which obviously have paid off. But he also admits he’s human.

“Sometimes, you just don’t want to go to training for a week,” he said. “You would just rather sit on your ass and watch TV, go somewhere else instead of train. It happens.”

So when he hears Jones’ promises, he’s a little skeptical.

“I think the mindset is do it, and the intentions are of doing it, but it just doesn’t work out that way,” he said.

It’s impossible to know whether Johnson will stay on track in advance of the biggest fight of his career. Only those closest to him will know whether he gave his all every day in the gym.

It wasn’t until long after Jones fought the toughest fight of his career, a UFC 165 headliner against Alexander Gustafsson, that his lackluster training camp became a part of his story leading into subsequent fights.

But that’s just reality, according to Johnson. Sometimes it’s just hard to show up.

“I don’t think you want to think about training every single day and getting punched in the mouth and kicked around and wrestling and jiu-jitsu,” Johnson said. “When we want a break, we’re definitely going to get that break.”

For more on UFC 187, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.