UFC 142's Anthony Johnson done for now with welterweight division

to fight in the welterweight division, Anthony Johnson likes the idea of fighting at middleweight.

So much so, in fact, that he's "so far" done with his former weight class.

"This is easy," he said. "This is going to be a lot of fun for me."

Johnson (10-3 MMA, 7-3 UFC) is now 215 pounds in advance of his debut at middleweight, which comes Jan. 14 at UFC 142 against former champ Vitor Belfort (20-9 MMA, 9-4 UFC). Johnson vs. Belfort is part of the main card of the pay-per-view event. Preliminary-card bouts air live on FX.

"Everything has come to where it needs to be right now," Johnson said. "I'm peaking at the right time."

Previously, Johnson struggled just to make weight in the 170-pound divisions. On two occasions the 27-year-old failed to get down to 171 pounds, which is the minimum weight required for non-title welterweight bouts. At UFC 104, he was so weak he was carried to and from the weigh-ins, and he was fined 20 percent of his purse for the miss.

Still, Johnson repeatedly brushed off questions about moving up in weight to 185 pounds.

But fewer than two weeks out from the Jan. 14 fight, he's of a different mind.  

"Right now, middleweight is where I am, and that's all I'm thinking about," he said. "I really don't mind fighting (at) middleweight because I get to eat more now. So I feel a thousand times better than when I fought at 170. That's why I'm so happy and want to fight really bad."

Johnson stands to leapfrog others at middleweight with a win over Belfort, who this past February was knocked out by reigning champ Anderson Silva.

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