Anthony Johnson Calls Out Ryan Bader, Alexander Gustafsson, & Alistair Overeem In Order

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Anthony Johnson has been told that he doesn’t really call people out or promote his fights enough to warrant fan interest.

All that has changed.

With Jon Jones locked in for a January title defense against Daniel Cormier in January, Johnson talked to UFC.com and said that he has a hitlist that consists of three names before receiving a title shot.

“Hopefully I’ll be able to fight in late October or something like that if there are any fights open,” Johnson told UFC.com.”I was hoping I could fight Ryan Bader in late October and fight [Gustafsson] on the Jon Jones card. That’s my idea. People finally want me to start calling people out, you know what I mean? I never did that before. But I’ve always wanted to fight Ryan Bader because I’ve always thought he was a tough fighter.”

While Gustafsson has said that he will not take any fights so as to not jeopardize a rematch with Jones, it’s clear that a fight with Johnson is inevitable. The Swede started training again this week after undergoing knee surgery on August 5. According to ‘Rumble,’ if Gustafsson said he would be ready to fight Jones in January, he should have no problems fighting him on the same card.

“It will be a good fight. Gus is taller than me, but I think we have the same amount of length of reach. So it’ll be interesting,” Johnson said. “Gus likes to move a lot and I like to stalk people and see what they have to offer. It will be a hell of fight. I definitely want to give the fans what they want to see.”

Johnson didn’t stop there. He said that he was also contemplating moving back to heavyweight to challenge Alistair Overeem, who he called a “bully.”

“If Joe Silva called me up and offered me that fight, yeah, I’d take that and knock his head off,” Johnson recently told Fighter’s Only Magazine. “I would take that fight immediately, without hesitation. And that’s not because I see my long term future at heavyweight either. Not really. But before I retire – which I don’t plan on doing any time soon either – I do plan on fighting at heavyweight a couple of times. And, well, right now, Alistair Overeem is the right guy (laughs). I’d love to knock him out. And I’d do it with a big smile on my face too.”