FORT WORTH, TX, April 23, 2013 – It seemed like not so long ago when the stories one would hear concerning “ Brutal” Johnny Bedford involved him traveling around the Midwest, taking fights for a few hundred dollars wherever he could and fighting in nondescript venues like a small town barn.
Luckily or him, or rather as a testament to his hard work, times have changed and Johnny is no longer grinding it out to making a career living on the fringes of MMA after seven years in the sport. Quite the opposite, he’ll be taking on late replacement Bryan Caraway this coming Saturday on the FX undercard of UFC 159, scheduled for Newark, NJ. If he wins, it will be his third UFC win in a row.
Originally growing up in Woodville, Ohio, Bedford’s journey actually began much further back than the seven years he’s had in MMA. He started wrestling at five years old and continued in the sport al throughout his scholastic years. It wasn’t until his collegiate career at Cleveland State University ended that he got the urge to compete in MMA.
He went 6-0 as an amateur and turned pro in September 2006 – losing his first fight by submission. In fact, he would go 2-4-1 in his first 7 fights but he persevered. It wasn’t until Johnny moved to Texas in March of 2007 that he was finally able to hit his stride after making the commitment to train full-time. Since them he’s won two different titles and took his record to 17-9-1 before getting his big break to appear in season 14 of The Ultimate Fighter. He’d make it to the semi-finals of that season – beating highly touted Carson Beebe and Josh Ferguson along the way before succumbing to John Dodson in the semi-finals. He would then bounce back with a convincing win over fellow cast mate Louis Gaudinot in the TUF 14 Finale.
After beating Brazilian Marcos Vinicius in his last bout Johnny will low look to make it a hat trick against Caraway this Saturday after his original opponent and fellow Texan Erik Perez was hospitalized with a staph infection. A win here and a little more consistency could lead him to title contention sooner rather than later.
“(They’re) completely different fighters but I’m confident it will be the same outcome,” he says about the change in opponent. “Time to become 3-0 in the UFC and keep climbing that ladder!”
Check out this UFFL video on “A Day in the Life of Johnny Bedford”
