Despite White's comments, Anthony Johnson never considered Jon Jones matchup realistic

Anthony Johnson was as puzzled as anyone when UFC President Dana White said that instead of giving “Rumble” a title shot against light-heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier in his next fight, he wanted to book him against interim titleholder Jon Jones.

White’s comments were confusing not only because Johnson (22-5 MMA, 13-5 UFC) had seemingly locked up his chance to rematch Cormier (18-1 MMA, 7-1 UFC) following a thunderous 13-second knockout of Glover Teixeira at UFC 202 in August, but also because Jones’ (22-1 MMA, 16-1 UFC) status is uncertain following a U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) potential doping violation prior to UFC 200 in July.

There was a brief window in the fallout of the failed drug test when both White and Jones seemed optimistic about his future. Currently, Jones is set for an arbitration hearing on Oct. 31, but it’s not something Johnson was willing to wait around for.

From Johnson’s perspective, even with Jones as the interim champ, he’s the rightful No. 1 contender in the 205-pound division. Additionally, despite White’s comments, he never viewed a potential Jones matchup as realistic – at least not for his next fight.

“It just came kind of out of the blue, and I said Dana’s crazy,” Johnson told MMAjunkie. “I worked my ass off to get this title shot/ I’m not about to let him or anybody else get in my way to get it. I wasn’t going to fight unless it was for the title, period. Because I deserved it.”

Johnson, No. 3 in the USA TODAY Sports/MMAjunkie MMA light-heavyweight rankings, has put together a resume worthy of a title shot since his last title shot. He first faced No. 2-ranked Cormier for the then-vacant belt at UFC 187 in May 2015 and suffered a third-round submission loss after nearly stopping “DC” with strikes on more than one occasion.

Originally Johnson, 32, was supposed to fight No. 1-ranked Jones at UFC 187, but the bout fell apart when Jones was involved in a hit-and-run incident that led to a suspension and the stripping of his title.

Since dropping that fight to Cormier, Johnson has had a streak of destruction. He’s picked up consecutive knockout wins over Teixeira, Ryan Bader and Jimi Manuwa to set up his rematch with Cormier and a shot at redemption at UFC 206.

UFC 206 takes place Dec. 10 at Air Canada Centre in Toronto. Johnson vs. Cormier headlines the pay-per-view main card following prelims on FS1 and UFC Fight Pass, though the bout order hasn’t been finalized.

Johnson isn’t dismissing a fight with Jones forever. The matchup could easily come together if Johnson wins at UFC 206 and Jones is cleared to return to the octagon in 2017. For now, though, Johnson’s is avoiding all of Jones’ taunts and remaining focused on Cormier since he doesn’t intend to make the same mistake twice and fall short of UFC gold again.

“I’m hungry,” Johnson said. “I wasn’t as hungry the first time because the opponent got changed up at the last minute, so it kind of threw me for a loop. This time I just plan on going out there and fighting. Why worry about who it is? Why worry about the crowd? Why worry about all the hype? I just want to fight.”

For more on UFC 206, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.