Could the feud between Chad “Ochocinco” Johnson and James Harrison be about to come to a head in a UFC-style fight? Maybe. Their beef began long ago as AFC North rivals in the late-2000s, but back in October of 2024 is when Ochocinco tweeted out that he wanted to actually fight Harrison in a three-round bout prior to Super Bowl 59. Of course, that never materialized.
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After slinging tweets at each other, Harrison came on Shannon Sharpe and Johnson’s show, Nightcap, with Harrison’s old Steelers teammate, Joey Porter, during their time in New Orleans for Super Bowl 59. They didn’t fight then, but they threw a lot more jabs at each other. The pair started jawing at each other during what seemed a light-hearted interview at first, but clearly got more heated—especially from Johnson’s side—as things went on.
: Chad Johnson and James Harrison almost threw hands live on air at the Super Bowl.
— Dov Kleiman (@NFL_DovKleiman) February 5, 2025
More recently, Johnson asked UFC president Dana White to sanction a UFC fight between him and Harrison, but the promoter seemed to laugh it off. Later, boxer Terence Crawford came on Nightcap and started poking fun at Johnson for believing he could take on the hulking Harrison in a UFC-style MMA fight. Johnson did not take kindly to that.
“I got this. Just make sure you’re there when I whoop him. When I whoop him, just make sure you’re there.”
Johnson believes he can recreate the story of David and Goliath, though White pointed out that it was a myth, not a true story. Harrison is one of the scariest human beings to ever step onto the NFL gridiron (just ask Mohamed Massaquoi and Colt McCoy), and eight years after his retirement, he doesn’t look any less terrifying.
What Ochocinco was thinking in challenging him and poking this sleeping giant is beyond us. He may get a nice payday, but is it worth getting in a cage with a bear?
Harrison is a guy who can bench press 500 pounds, push 1,800 pounds on a sled, and squat over 500 pounds. White was right when he told Johnson that his chosen opponent was “a monster”. Johnson says he’s still at a healthy 205 pounds, but Harrison could very well be closer to 250. That’s a massive advantage in the UFC cage.
On Thursday, during an episode of his podcast with Joe Haden, Harrison responded to Ochocinco’s calling him out for a five-round, five-minute-per-round fight in a UFC cage.
“My momma was like, ‘Don’t hurt that boy, don’t do nothin’ to that boy. You see how small he is.’ But listen, Chad, you’re asking for this a*s-whooping, man. You better hope Dana don’t do that. Because if he do that, you ain’t givin’ me no choice, man. I’m tryna tell you. My name ain’t Goliath, it’s Deebo.”
It seems both men want to have this fight for real, so it’s up to both sides to come together with someone like Dana White to make it happen. We can only hope, for Chad Johnson’s sake, that it never actually materializes.
When both were in their primes, this is how Harrison treated Ochocinco. If he can manhandle Ochocinco when he was in his athletic prime in his mid-20s, he’ll have no problem with the 47-year-old version of the former Bengals great.
