A million — and one — reasons for Jordan Johnson’s move to PFL
Editor’s note: This story was initially published in June, ahead of Jordan Johnson’s first PFL fight. It has been updated to reflect his spot in the 2019 PFL light heavyweight finals.
There’s more to Jordan “Big Swingin'” Johnson’s decision to move to the Professional Fighters League than the appeal of the $1 million prize. Sure, the money that Johnson states he’ll make “responsible adult decisions” with is nice, but there’s something else on his mind.
The UFC veteran and previously undefeated light heavyweight prospect signed with the PFL this season with hopes of proving he’s not a failure after falling short of his expectations in his collegiate wrestling career.
It’s a surprising motivation for a fighter who won his first 10 fights as a mixed martial artist, including four in the UFC. But 25-11, not 12-1, is the tally that still haunts him. That was his record at Iowa, the prestigious wrestling powerhouse.
“When I talk about my wrestling career, I didn’t do what I wanted to do,” Johnson told ESPN. “I could’ve been better. That’s what drove me to fight.”
Johnson dropped his first PFL fight to Maxim Grishin in June, but with a pair of wins and a majority draw in his return fight with Grishin, Johnson secured his spot in the PFL light heavyweight finals against Emiliano Sordi.
How he got to this point feels like a familiar story.
Johnson was a decorated high school wrestler who moved to Iowa as a senior and placed third in the state tournament. He grappled with elite athletes in Pat Miletich‘s gym, where MMA stars like Matt Hughes, Jens Pulver and Tim Sylvia trained.
Robbie Lawler, the former UFC welterweight champion, was his high school wrestling coach. After developing an interest in the sport, Johnson figured he’d go from wrestling to MMA one day, too.
Most of the current UFC champions have extensive wrestling/grappling backgrounds, but Johnson said he didn’t invest in wrestling the way he should have. He’d often get nervous right before a match — not because he feared a loss, but because he knew he was unprepared.
His collegiate wrestling career ended without an abundance of accolades.
“I was down,” Johnson said. “It was a big thing for me. I knew I didn’t give it my all. You ask yourself those questions. I was a loser, and I was the reason why.”
But those shortcomings fueled Johnson once he entered the world of MMA. He said he had to get “real” with himself about the things he didn’t do in wrestling when he had the chance to, and he refused to make the same mistakes in MMA.
“I gave it my everything,” he said. “What’s there to be ashamed of if you give something your all? There is no shame in that.”
The people in his corner helped him reach his potential. He trains with Ryan Bader, the two-division Bellator champion, while John Crouch, his jiu-jitsu coach at The Lab in Phoenix, Arizona, taught him to focus and eliminate the tension he’d felt in previous competitions. Benson Henderson, the MMA vet, told him to do the work and trust the work he’d done entering every fight.
He embraced the advice he received and put it to good use.
Just two years into his MMA career, he won the Resurrection Fighting Alliance light heavyweight title in 2016. Two years after that, he’d amassed a 4-0 record in the UFC as a middleweight. He had options after that run, but he settled on the PFL, where he has the chance to cash in after opening the season as one of the league’s most promising prospects.
“The PFL is the only organization that showed me a contract [potentially] worth a million dollars,” he said.
Johnson said MMA helped him develop the relentless work ethic he lacked in college. Following his submission victory over Adam Yandiev at a UFC Fight Night in Russia last year, he went to the gym just hours after he’d landed.
The athlete who missed the mark years ago said he believes his run in the PFL will help him put that disappointing chapter behind him. He didn’t meet the goals he’d established at Iowa, but his remarkable start in MMA has proven that his best days might be ahead of him.
“[The PFL] is an opportunity to show everyone how hard I’ve worked. I’m excited.”