Ken Shamrock has inked former UFC and Bellator heavyweight competitor Lavar Johnson to his Valor Bare Knuckle Boxing promotion. The report comes from Micheal Fiedel of The Body Lock. The 42-year-old is expected to fight on this Saturday’s inaugural Valor event from New Town, North Dakota. Johnson was a UFC veteran from 2012 to 2013 […]
The report comes from Micheal Fiedel of The Body Lock. The 42-year-old is expected to fight on this Saturday’s inaugural Valor event from New Town, North Dakota. Johnson was a UFC veteran from 2012 to 2013 before signing with Bellator MMA. He fought for the Viacom-owned promotion until 2014 before being arrested in 2015 in California. Johnson was charged with corporal injury to a spouse/cohabitant, assault by means likely to produce great bodily injury, dissuading a witness from reporting a crime, and dissuade by force.
The Fresno Bee reports Johnson’s victim was his girlfriend at the time, who he had been with for seven years. The victim said Johnson grabbed her and threw her to the ground. He then lifted her up and hit her with two knees to the face. Johnson allegedly threw her to the ground again before throwing multiple punches to her head and face. In 2016, Johnson initially pled not guilty to the crime.
However, before the case went to trial, Johnson struck a plea deal in which he pled nolo contendere to his most serious charge, corporal injury. All other charges were dismissed. In nolo contendere, a defendant accepts conviction without actually admitting guilt. Johnson was sentenced to five years in prison but was credited 288 days of time already served.
What do you think about Valor signing Johnson to their bare-knuckle promotion?
Former UFC and Bellator Heavyweight contender Lavar Johnson is on his way to jail.
ABC 30 out of Fresno, California is reporting that a Fresno County judge sentenced Johnson to five years in prison following a domestic abuse incident involving his girlfriend of seven years.
Johnson, who stands 6’4” and weighs 260 pounds, admitted to the beating, which took place back on August 11th following a drunken altercation.
The former MMA star reportedly slammed his girlfriend’s head against a wall and the ground before allegedly striking her repeatedly witgh knees and punches.
“It does appear there were times when Mr. Johnson could have stopped this offense,” Judge Glenda Allen-Hill told the court this week. “That he could have not inflicted the amount of damage that he inflicted on his victim, but he did not.”
Former UFC and Bellator Heavyweight contender Lavar Johnson is on his way to jail.
ABC 30 out of Fresno, California is reporting that a Fresno County judge sentenced Johnson to five years in prison following a domestic abuse incident involving his girlfriend of seven years.
Johnson, who stands 6’4” and weighs 260 pounds, admitted to the beating, which took place back on August 11th following a drunken altercation.
The former MMA star reportedly slammed his girlfriend’s head against a wall and the ground before allegedly striking her repeatedly witgh knees and punches.
“It does appear there were times when Mr. Johnson could have stopped this offense,” Judge Glenda Allen-Hill told the court this week. “That he could have not inflicted the amount of damage that he inflicted on his victim, but he did not.”
Hard hitting heavyweight Lavar Johnson has fought for the best promotions in the modern era of mixed martial arts. ‘The Rock’ saw action in the early days of the WEC, also competing for Strikeforce, Bellator MMA and of course the UFC. The 38-year-old Fresno, California native had fallen on some hard times in his fighting
Hard hitting heavyweight Lavar Johnson has fought for the best promotions in the modern era of mixed martial arts. ‘The Rock’ saw action in the early days of the WEC, also competing for Strikeforce, Bellator MMA and of course the UFC. The 38-year-old Fresno, California native had fallen on some hard times in his fighting career, after being cut by the UFC for two straight losses, Johnson went 1-3 during his time in Bellator MMA. His MMA record now stands at 18-10.
But it’s his troubles outside the arena of combat that have brought Johsnon’s name to the headlines once again. This time he’s been sentenced in a harrowing domestic violence case for which he was arrested last year. On August 25, 2015, Johnson was arrested in Fresno, California and charged with corporal injury on a spouse/cohabitant, assault by means likely to produce great bodily injury, dissuading a witness from reporting a crime and dissuading a witness by force. He had allegedly repeatedly punched, kneed and slammed his girlfriend on August 11, before fleeing the scene.
Johnson had initially plead not guilty to the charges, but then switched his stance when a full sentence of over 10 years was put on the table. He asked the judge for mercy in the case that was concluded yesterday by a Californian judge, but he was handed the full term of five years applicable to a guilty plea on these charges.
As per ABC30.com, statements from those present at Johnson’s hearing:
“I’m sorry,” he said. “I take full responsibility for my actions.”
His friend of 25 years asked the judge to hold Johnson accountable but offer him mercy.
“Lavar is not the guy that a lot of people perceive because of his fighting career,” his friend Gary Davie explained. “He just happened to be good at it, made some good money at it and pursued it. Or the guy that was labeled negatively because of this incident. Lavar is a man with serious flaws, incredible potential and self worth.”
It seems in the most recent fight featuring Lavar Johnson, there were no winners.
“I had the opportunity to invite Lavar to speak to a middle school in a farm labor community, and to see the impact that he had on young children and to listen to him share his story and be honest and encourage those kids to be honest with themselves and know that no matter what type of situation is you can fix it,” Johnson’s friend Carlton Jones testified. “That’s the type of person Lavar is.”
Before handing down his punishment, the judge reminded Johnson of his past history which includes violence and alcohol, and the current case that resulted in great bodily injury.
“It does appear there were times when Mr. Johnson could have stopped this offense,” Judge Glenda Allen-Hill told the court. “That he could have not inflicted the amount of damage that he inflicted on his victim, but he did not.”
Johnson had hoped to get a 3-year sentence but was instead sentenced to 5 years in prison.
His attorney said Friday was a long awaited, difficult day.
“He was very emotional,” attorney Gerald Schwab said. “He’s emotional about the whole situation. The people that came in to talk to him have known him and loved him like a brother.”
The first leg of tonight’s #FridayNightWars MMA double-header kicks off with the Bellator 123: Curran vs. Pitbull 2 main card, live from Uncasville, CT, at 8 p.m. ET on Spike. We’re saving up our liveblog energy for UFC Fight Night 50 later this evening, but follow us after the jump for quick results from the Bellator card, as well as GIFs of all relevant knockouts and submissions. As always, follow us on twitter at @cagepotatomma for live commentary and ball-busting.
The first leg of tonight’s #FridayNightWars MMA double-header kicks off with the Bellator 123: Curran vs. Pitbull 2 main card, live from Uncasville, CT, at 8 p.m. ET on Spike. We’re saving up our liveblog energy for UFC Fight Night 50 later this evening, but follow us after the jump for quick results from the Bellator card, as well as GIFs of all relevant knockouts and submissions. As always, follow us on twitter at @cagepotatomma for live commentary and ball-busting.
MAIN CARD (Spike TV, 8 p.m. ET)
Pat Curran vs. Patricio Freire
Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal vs. Dustin Jacoby
Cheick Kongo vs. Lavar Johnson
Bobby Lashley vs. Josh Burns
Tamdan McCrory vs. Brennan Ward
PRELIMINARY CARD (Spike.com, 6 p.m. ET)
Rico DiSciullo vs. Marvin Maldonado
Steve Garcia vs. Kin Moy
Josh Diekmann vs. Mike Wessel
Dan Cramer vs. Perry Filkins
Mark Griffin vs. Mike Mucitelli
Pete Rogers vs. Phillipe Martins
Brandon Fleming vs. Blair Tugman
Matt Bessette vs. Scott Cleve
On September 5th, Southeastern Connecticut is going to host way more top-notch MMA than it deserves, honestly. That’s the date of #FridayNightWars (hashtag patent-pending), the night when the UFC and Bellator put on simultaneous shows ten miles away from each other.
As we previously reported, UFC Fight Night 50 in Ledyard will feature a suspiciously-stacked lineup featuring Ronaldo Souza vs. Gegard Mousasi, Alistair Overeem vs. Ben Rothwell, Matt Mitrione vs. Derrick Lewis, and Joe Lauzon vs. Michael Chiesa. But Bellator isn’t going down quietly. The promotion has announced three more bouts for its Bellator 123: Curran vs. Pitbull 2 card in Uncasville, and they all feature guys you’ve heard of…
Cheick Kongo vs. Lavar Johnson: Kongo bounced back to the win column with a second-round TKO of Eric Smith at Bellator 120 in May, and has put together a 3-1 record under the Bellator banner. He’ll face fellow UFC veteran Lavar “Big” Johnson, who has struggled to find his footing in Bellator, dropping to 1-2 in the promotion after his April submission loss against Blagoy Ivanov. Johnson has lost four of his last five fights overall.
(Disclaimer: Black guys not drawn to scale.)
On September 5th, Southeastern Connecticut is going to host way more top-notch MMA than it deserves, honestly. That’s the date of #FridayNightWars (hashtag patent-pending), the night when the UFC and Bellator put on simultaneous shows ten miles away from each other.
As we previously reported, UFC Fight Night 50 in Ledyard will feature a suspiciously-stacked lineup featuring Ronaldo Souza vs. Gegard Mousasi, Alistair Overeem vs. Ben Rothwell, Matt Mitrione vs. Derrick Lewis, and Joe Lauzon vs. Michael Chiesa. But Bellator isn’t going down quietly. The promotion has announced three more bouts for its Bellator 123: Curran vs. Pitbull 2 card in Uncasville, and they all feature guys you’ve heard of…
Cheick Kongo vs. Lavar Johnson: Kongo bounced back to the win column with a second-round TKO of Eric Smith at Bellator 120 in May, and has put together a 3-1 record under the Bellator banner. He’ll face fellow UFC veteran Lavar “Big” Johnson, who has struggled to find his footing in Bellator, dropping to 1-2 in the promotion after his April submission loss against Blagoy Ivanov. Johnson has lost four of his last five fights overall.
Bobby Lashley vs. Josh Burns: The former WWE star quietly built up a three-fight win streak last year, and has been keeping busy in the wrestling world this year as the TNA World Heavyweight Champion. Now, he’ll look to reintroduce himself to MMA fans on a larger stage. Lashley will compete at Bellator 123 again Josh Burns, whose 8-7 record includes an 0-4 tally in Bellator (all losses by stoppage). Seems like Bellator is taking no chances here.
I think it was midway through the second round of Paulo Thiago‘s bout with Gasan Umalatov on the TUF Brazil 3 Finale undercard that I began to feel a heavy, sinking feeling in my stomach. I thought it was just fight fatigue at first, my body’s way of telling me to step away from the television and do something, anything to negate the effects caused by a (by that point) six hour binge of manure ads, Linkin Park-dubbed promos, and the occasional MMA fight.
It wasn’t until the Thiago-Umalatov decision was handed down, however, that I was able to identify the cause of my discomfort. Paulo Thiago, real-life superhero and a fighter I have unapologetically rooted for since watching him knock out Josh Koscheck in his promotional debut at UFC 95, is likely on his way out of the UFC.Old Dad best summed up my feelings about Thiago, tweeting after the decision “Is it time for me to admit that Paulo Thiago is probably never going to be as awesome as I want him to be? Maybe, yeah.”
The fact is, Thiago has consistently underwhelmed since scoring violent finishes over Koscheck and Mike Swick early in his UFC career, dropping six of his past eight fights and only scoring decision wins over IDon’t and GiveaFuck. While I won’t go as far as to call his upset wins “flukes,” it’s safe to say that Thiago has unfortunately fallen into the category of UFC fighters who were never able to exceed the hype generated by their UFC debuts. Fighters like…
MMA fans knew knew less than nothing about Houston Alexander before he was matched up with Keith Jardine at UFC 71. Sure, he looked like something out of a Scared Straight program, but at just 7-1 as a pro, he seemed well out of his league against “The Dean of Mean.” Even Jardine, fresh off the biggest win of his career over Forrest Griffin, was baffled by the matchmaking, all but dismissing Alexander in some uncharacteristic pre-fight trash-talk.
But as Raymond Atkins once wrote, “Hubris is when God screws you over for being a smartass.” And screw over Jardine he did. In less than a minute’s time, the TUF alum found himself lying face down on the canvas thanks to a barrage of uppercuts so vicious that even his mouthguard was forced to flee for its life.
I think it was midway through the second round of Paulo Thiago‘s bout with Gasan Umalatov on the TUF Brazil 3 Finale undercard that I began to feel a heavy, sinking feeling in my stomach. I thought it was just fight fatigue at first, my body’s way of telling me to step away from the television and do something, anything to negate the effects caused by a (by that point) six hour binge of manure ads, Linkin Park-dubbed promos, and the occasional MMA fight.
It wasn’t until the Thiago-Umalatov decision was handed down, however, that I was able to identify the cause of my discomfort. Paulo Thiago, real-life superhero and a fighter I have unapologetically rooted for since watching him knock out Josh Koscheck in his promotional debut at UFC 95, is likely on his way out of the UFC.Old Dad best summed up my feelings about Thiago, tweeting after the decision “Is it time for me to admit that Paulo Thiago is probably never going to be as awesome as I want him to be? Maybe, yeah.”
The fact is, Thiago has consistently underwhelmed since scoring violent finishes over Koscheck and Mike Swick early in his UFC career, dropping six of his past eight fights and only scoring decision wins over IDon’t and GiveaFuck. While I won’t go as far as to call his upset wins “flukes,” it’s safe to say that Thiago has unfortunately fallen into the category of UFC fighters who were never able to exceed the hype generated by their UFC debuts. Fighters like…
MMA fans knew knew less than nothing about Houston Alexander before he was matched up with Keith Jardine at UFC 71. Sure, he looked like something out of a Scared Straight program, but at just 7-1 as a pro, he seemed well out of his league against “The Dean of Mean.” Even Jardine, fresh off the biggest win of his career over Forrest Griffin, was baffled by the matchmaking, all but dismissing Alexander in some uncharacteristic pre-fight trash-talk.
But as Raymond Atkins once wrote, “Hubris is when God screws you over for being a smartass.” And screw over Jardine he did. In less than a minute’s time, the TUF alum found himself lying face down on the canvas thanks to a barrage of uppercuts so vicious that even his mouthguard was forced to flee for its life.
The huge upset promptly earned Alexander a front row seat on Joe Rogan’s dick (or maybe it’s the other way around, ask King Mo), as did his subsequent destruction of Alessio Sakara at UFC 75. Unfortunately for Houston, there’s this thing in MMA called a “ground game” that he never bothered to learn while flipping truck tires up hills, and his lack of grappling know-how was soundly exposed in his quick TKO loss to all around good guy Thiago Silva at UFC 78.
Losses to James Irvin, Eric Schafer, and Kimbo Slice would follow before Alexander was let go for good from the UFC in 2010. The mythos surrounding him debunked, Alexander has gone 7-5 1 NC since, picking up wins over Thierry Sokoudjou and his dirty-talking son (unsanctioned) while eating tough KO losses to Steve Bosse and Gilbert Yvel. After signing with Bellator last year, Alexander was immediately bested by Vladimir Matyushenko in a snoozer before picking up a doctor stoppage TKO over some guy named Matt Uhde. Yay for happy endings!
On the next page, a high-flying WEC vet and an all but forgotten Croatian…
