The Longview, TX-based fighter has brought pain to his opponents several different ways in the past, with some leaving the fight sans teeth and one even leaving with a fractured orbital socket eye socket. Foster has even sent two of his opponent’s out on a stretcher, including Terrance Ferguson after their bout at the last IXFA event this past February in Houston.
“I couldn’t get him to stand with me,” Foster says about that fight. ” I was going to box a little more in this fight to showcase my standup but he wanted to wrestle more with me so when I finally got on top, I just used my ground and pound. I think I’ve got good power there so I think that what it boiled down to.”
A simple description of the fight but an accurate one in that the end did boil down to some violent ground and pound for a clean-cut KO on the ground – a rare and impressive occurrence at any event.
It’s almost ironic that despite his penchant for hurting opponents and ten years of experience as an amateur boxer toiling in the Golden Gloves circuit, Josh Foster actually fancies himself as more of a jiu-jitsu guy.
Training in MMA for over five years now, Josh considers his fighting-base to be time spent on the mats learning jiu-jitsu from JC Cox – his main instructor and a Texas affiliate of Jorge Gurgel and his JG MMA Academy. Picking up technique from Gurgel, Rich Franklin, along with others like Eddie Bravo and Mayhem Miller when he can, Foster has done his best to soak in as much knowledge in order to become the best MMA fighter he can be – and he’s done it all while taking the toughest fights he can find.
“I just like to fight, honestly. I want a challenge. I don’t want to just walk through a bunch of easy people. I think it’d be better to have some wins over good fighters instead of having more wins against a bunch of easy fighters.”
The proof of his take-on-all-comers attitude is evident on his professional fight record.
Continuing the trend of taking tough fights, Foster is now gearing up for another tough fight at IXFA this Saturday in Winnie, TX – when he takes on fellow knockout artist Edgar Verdin, a fighter he knows next to nothing about.
“There’s nothing to find out about him,” says Foster. “I heard he’s from the same school that Justin Ledet is out of so I think he’s going to end up being more of a striker. Based on the info I found out about him, he’s real lanky and he’s a counter-striker. He stands real flat-footed and looks like he waits for you to do stuff. I think he walks around at about 215 too so he’ll be in the same boat as me as far as the weight cut goes. That’s all I know about him. As far as the fight, I’d rather knock him out for sure because that’s what people want to see but I’ll probably wind up submitting him.”
Life Outside of Competition
When it comes to life outside the cage, Josh Foster seems as blue-collar as they come in taking care of his responsibilities and doing what he’s had to do to provide.
“Basically the people I train with is my family,” says Josh. “Both my mom and dad died when I was young. My dad died when I was three and my mom died when I was eighteen. I have a younger brother and sister that I more or less raised since my mom died while they were still in school.”
“Right after I graduated from high school I went to work as a plumber and wound up getting my plumbing license and putting my sister into college and stuff.”
Along the same lines, Josh also started a family when he was twenty and has since had four kids, who he helps support to the tune of about sixty working hours every week. In the midst of all that he tries to train 15-20 hours every week as well but in his own words, “sometimes it gets hard.”
When asked why he’s willing to go through all the extra rigors of sacrifice necessary in order to succeed as a fighter, Josh mentioned that he’s just passionate about the sport itself, pure and simple.
“I hate to say it but I just love violence, man. I don’t know how to describe it really but it’s just what I love to do. I love to train but once you learn so much, you want to take it to the next level and test it in competition. I grew up watching all the UFC fights and I was always like, “I want to do that!” over and over again to myself and now that’s what I’m doing. I’m trying to get there, at least.”
Acknowledgements
“I just want to thank all of the fans out there. Actually, I’d like to thank everybody individually but it’s kind of hard to do since I have such a wide fan-base, from Longview to everywhere in Texas I have friends. Actually, I’d like to get more well-known in Houston because it seems that the hometown boys get a lot more chances, more stuff going for them, and I just want the same chances so you guys pay attention.
Also, thanks to my coaches for sure. JC Cox, Jorge Gurgel. And all the local gyms we train with, especially my training buddies Jared Taylor and Josh Lee, who’ve both helped a lot with my striking.” – Josh Foster