SHARE
Manuwa, UFC London
Jimi Manuwa at UFC Poland. Photo Jorden Curran.

It’s been revealed that British power puncher Jimi ‘The Poster Boy’ Manuwa (15-1) will have the opportunity to catapult himself atop the light-heavyweight rankings when he meets no.1 ranked contender Anthony ‘Rumble’ Johnson (19-5) at UFC 191 in Las Vegas on September 5.

First reported by ESPN, the match came as a surprise with Poland’s Jan Blachowicz (18-4) originally expected to face ‘Rumble’, however it’s now believed that Blachowicz suffered an injury.

Despite him being the replacement opponent, handing the opportunity to Manuwa, 35, certainly makes better sense with the Londoner having recently defeated Blachowicz himself via a unanimous decision at UFC Fight Night in Krakow, Poland on April 11.

It’s pleasing to see that Manuwa, the no.7 ranked contender, is cleared to fight in just over a month’s time after previously revealing a knee injury that he carried into his last bout in Krakow. After grinding through three rounds to achieve the ‘W’, Manuwa revealed at the post-fight press conference that he required surgery but was determined to complete the fight beforehand.

Based out of Florida’s Blackzilian camp, 31-year-old Anthony Johnson had a destructive nine-fight win streak halted by current UFC light-heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier, who secured a third round rear-naked-choke submission to claim the vacant title at UFC 187 on May 23.

Taking place at the MGM Grand Garden Arena, the UFC 191 main event will see flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson face John Dodson once again in what’s expected to be an extremely fast paced rematch of their 2013 encounter where Johnson took a unanimous decision to retain the title.

Photo by Jorden Curran