Former UFC fighter, BKFC champion Johnny Bedford announces retirement from combat sports

Johnny Bedford is done fighting.

A former UFC fighter and BKFC bantamweight champion, Bedford officially announced his retirement from combat sports Wednesday. Bedford finishes with a pro MMA record of 23-14-1 and a bareknuckle boxing record of 6-1.

“I ultimately had to make that hard-ass decision that I know that I can’t be ready to fight at the highest level,” Bedford said during the BKFC Holiday Giveaway podcast. “I’m not waking up at 6 a.m. to go running and it’s 30 degrees and I’m miserable. When I was 30, that excited me. It doesn’t excite me anymore. I don’t want to blabber forever, but I’ve justified it to myself and the people closest to me.”

Bedford, 39, started fighting in 2006. For much of his career, the motive was rent money, admitted Bedford. Fighting was a way to make ends meet. Though his body and mind are weathered from a grueling combat sports career, Bedford indicated the biggest determinant in his retirement decision was the fact that he’s financially comfortable.

“I don’t have to fight just buy diapers and pay rent and do whatever it took,” Bedford said. “I used to fight, sh*t, twice a month just to pay bills. Because of bareknuckle and because of smart decisions I’ve made with my money from bareknuckle, I’m finally in a position where, wow. I don’t have to do this anymore. It was probably the hardest decision I’ve made.”

From 2011 to 2014, Bedford competed six times in the UFC. He entered the promotion as a quarterfinalist on Season 14 of “The Ultimate Fighter.” After back-to-back knockout wins over Louis Gaudinot and Marcos Vinicius, Bedford finished his UFC career with three losses and a no contest in his final four fights in the promotion.

Following his UFC release, Bedford went 3-2 before he pivoted to bareknuckle fighting. The switch of combat sports Bedford wholly attributes as his entry into financial security. He won his first five BKFC fights, including the promotion’s bantamweight title. Though he lost the title to Dat Nguyen in 2021, Bedford won the belt back in the same year after it was vacated.

Bedford was booked to fight Jarod Grant in March 2022, but withdrew from the bout. A rematch vs. Nguyen was in the works for January, but ultimately Bedford discovered he was no longer able to give a full camp.

“I take my hat off for you, especially for everything you’ve done,” BKFC president David Feldman told Bedford. “But really for recognizing you weren’t going to be able to give us, yourself, or the fans 100 percent. That’s something that a lot of fighters can’t do. A lot of fighters need to be saved from themself. You didn’t have to be. I thank you for that. I thank you for not short-changing yourself, BKFC, or the fans.”