“I don’t appreciate him calling me a coward or anything like that. 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. And he’s going to eat his words, definitely. It’s personal. He’s going to regret ever questioning me.”

The Boston Herald recently caught up with UFC welterweight John Howard to get his thoughts on why a  proposed bout with Anthony Johnson at TUF 9 finale in June never happened. Howard also comments on Johnson calling him a "Coward" for pulling out of their fight. Both Johnson and Howard now have opponents as Anthony Johnson will fight Matt Brown at the TUF 9 finale and John Howard is fighting Tamdan McCrory at UFC 101. Howard is coming off a successful UFC debut as he defeated Chris Wilson at January's UFC 94; the Wilson/Howard bout earned "Fight Of The Night" honors.