Johnny Bedford was born on January 6,1983 and is an American retired mixed martial artist and bare-knuckle boxer.
35 Facts About Johnny Bedford
1.
2.
Johnny Bedford fought for the Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship, where he was a former BKFC Bantamweight Champion.
3.
At the age of five, Bedford began wrestling year round.
4.
Johnny Bedford went on to wrestle for Woodmore High School, where his father was the head wrestling coach.
5.
At Cleveland State, Johnny Bedford was on the wrestling team for a year and a half before he was removed from the school before later making the transition to a career in mixed martial arts.
6.
Johnny Bedford began fighting in 2003 because he was a self-proclaimed "tough guy" that just wanted to prove how tough he was.
7.
Johnny Bedford proclaims his first six amateur fights took place in a barn where the promoter just asked the audience who wanted to fight and then would match them up by who was closest to one another's weight.
8.
At King of Kombat 9: Resurrection, Johnny Bedford fought future UFC fighter, Edwin Figueroa.
9.
Johnny Bedford lost the fight via TKO in the opening of the second round, handing Johnny Bedford his only knockout loss in his career.
10.
In 2011, Johnny Bedford had signed with the UFC to compete on The Ultimate Fighter: Team Bisping vs Team Miller in Las Vegas.
11.
Johnny Bedford defeated Beebe in the first round via submission.
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Johnny Bedford then fought Josh Ferguson in the third episode and won by unanimous decision after using his superior size to take down and control Ferguson.
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Johnny Bedford officially made his UFC debut on December 3,2011, at The Ultimate Fighter 14 Finale against Ultimate Fighter castmate Louis Gaudinot.
14.
Johnny Bedford dominated the entirety of the fight and won in the third round via TKO after hitting several knees to Gaudinot's body.
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Johnny Bedford was expected to face Eddie Wineland on January 28,2012, at UFC on Fox 2, replacing Demetrious Johnson who had been pulled from the bout to be a participant in the UFC's inaugural Flyweight tournament.
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Johnny Bedford was expected to face Nick Denis at UFC on Fox 3 on May 5,2012.
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However, Johnny Bedford was forced out of the bout with an injury and replaced by Roland Delorme.
18.
Johnny Bedford won the fight via KO in the second round.
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Johnny Bedford was expected to face Erik Perez on April 27,2013, at UFC 159.
20.
Johnny Bedford lost the back-and-forth fight via submission in the third round.
21.
Johnny Bedford was expected to face Hugo Viana on September 4,2013, at UFC Fight Night 28.
22.
However, Johnny Bedford pulled out of the bout citing an injury and was replaced by Wilson Reis.
23.
Johnny Bedford faced Rani Yahya on April 11,2014, at UFC Fight Night 39.
24.
Johnny Bedford argued vociferously that the accidental clash of heads should have been ruled a TKO victory in his favor.
25.
Yahya won via submission in the second round, and Johnny Bedford was released from the promotion shortly after.
26.
On September 30,2012, Johnny Bedford competed in a no gi super fight against Jimmy Flick at the American Grappling Federation's Dallas Fall Classic.
27.
Johnny Bedford faced Nick Mamalis at the inaugural Bare Knuckle FC event held on June 2,2018.
28.
Johnny Bedford won the fight via TKO in the second round.
29.
Johnny Bedford made his sophomore appearance in the sport against Matt Murphy at BKFC 3 on October 20,2018.
30.
Johnny Bedford entered the BKFC Lightweight tournament and faced Abdiel Velazquez at BKFC 5 on April 6,2019.
31.
Johnny Bedford won the fight via fourth-round knockout, advancing to the tournament finals.
32.
Johnny Bedford next faced Charles Bennett at BKFC 9 on November 16,2019, in a non-title bout.
33.
Johnny Bedford was expected to make his first title defense against Dat Nguyen at BKFC 14 on November 14,2020.
34.
Johnny Bedford eventually lost his title belt to undefeated Dat Nguyen on February 5,2021, in Lakeland, Florida.
35.
Johnny Bedford had been previously booked to fight Jarod Grant in March 2022 but withdrew from the fight.