Quoteworthy: John Howard Ain't Skurred Of Anthony Johnson

John Howard speaks to the Boston Herald On Anthony Johnson calling him a coward:

"I don’t appreciate him calling me a coward or anything like that," the Dorchester native said. "He has to understand that the decisions that are made for me are smart decisions. My job is to fight. I don’t make decisions about who to fight or when I’m going to fight, and I don’t pull out of fights ... Anthony Johnson has been in the UFC a little longer than me, and it’s not because I’m a coward (that the fight was nixed); it just wasn’t time."  "I want to fight him, and the first chance I get the OK to fight him, I will," Howard said. "And he’s going to eat his words, definitely. It’s personal. He’s going to regret ever questioning me."

 You may recall the Howard/Johnson fight possibly taking place at the TUF 9 finale.  However, the fight never came to fruition with no concrete reasoning as to why it didn't.  I guess Howard and his manager's apparently didn't think the timing was right to take on Anthony Johnson?  He has more MMA experience than Johnson, but is probably lower on the totem pole so to speak in the UFC.  I suppose his managers want to build him up a bit more before taking on someone like Johnson.  I don't see anything wrong with that.  In fact, more managers should take note and follow guidelines such as these.  As long as the fighter continues to win, his time will come in my opinion.  There's no sense in jumping the gun on a fighter's career with only one UFC fight.  Especially with the way things are now in that fighters really can't afford to lose in these days and times.  I look forward to seeing these two get it on in the future.  In the meantime, John Howard is rumored to be fighting Tamdan McCrory at UFC 101.