It only took 13 seconds to know that Anthony Johnson was going to be a special fighter in the UFC. That was 35 pounds and nearly a decade ago, as the Georgia native dispatched Chad Reiner in a welterweight bout in Hollywood, Florida on June 12, 2007.
But his family knew a bit sooner.
“I used to beat up my cousin’s teddy bear all the time,” Johnson laughed during a 2012 interview. “And teddy bears don’t punch back, but I was throwing that thing all around the house and doing some WWE-type stuff. I was body slamming it, jumping on top of it, punching it.