Bellator President Scott Coker wasn’t nearly as disappointed with Anthony Johnson’s debut as Johnson was immediately after Bellator 258.
A visibly emotional Johnson called his showing “a piss-poor performance” despite a second-round knockout of Jose Augusto on the main card of Friday’s event at Mohegan Sun Arena. Johnson was upset that Augusto dropped him in the first round before his concussive rally.
Coker attributed Johnson’s rocky start to a four-year layoff and a new opponent after Yoel Romero was forced out of the event.
“This guy has been out for four years, and I was just telling somebody else, I held another tournament back in 2011, and there was a kid named Daniel Cormier that was an alternate that came out of nowhere and started beating everybody up,” Coker told MMA Fighting.