John Walsh: From the Battlefield to the Cage

A lot of fighters do not enjoy being labeled a hero. They will be quick to point out that they are just grown-ups playing a kids game for an insane amount of money. The real heroes they say are policeman, fireman & the men & women of the US Armed Forces. A real hero is a man like John Walsh.

Walsh has his endured his share of trials and tribulations in and out of the cage. He began his mixed martial arts career in 2006 and won five of his first six bouts. Then after a five month long layoff he suffered his first TKO loss to Jesse Suarez in just 2:14. That loss was followed by three more setbacks, two of which were by KO/TKO and totaled 1:32 of action.

He started to doubt himself which just about every fighter would after suffering such devastating losses. Did he have a glass jaw or was he just not as good as he thought he was? While searching for answers he found out that when he suffered a blown ear drum in 2005 due to an IED. Somehow he injured it again and he was fighting for three years with a split in his ear canal and a perforated ear drum. He had the surgery to fix it up and is now prepared to fight again.

I was lucky enough to speak to Walsh this past week about his tours of duty in Iraq & Afghanistan, his MMA career past and present as well as what he sees for himself in the future. This story is the kind of story that needs to be told. It’s about a man who has sacrificed everything so that we can enjoy the lives we lead and the freedom to do so.

First I wanted to talk to him about his background both in MMA and the military.

“I was a wrestler growing up in NJ,” said Walsh. “I started Jiu-Jitsu, Vale Tudo, boxing and pretty much progressed from there. I enlisted in the Marines in 1999. I was a Marine Corps Martial Arts instructor my last two years. Before that I was a grunt reconnaissance infiltrate. We did the patrols, mounted patrols, raids. It’s war man, right in the middle of everything. All told I did nine tours of duty between Iraq & Afghanistan.”

Now that his ear is healed up, Walsh is looking forward to getting back in the cage and resuming his once promising career. He looks at this next fight as just one step up the ladder toward the top and judging by his tenacity and desire there doesn’t seem like there is a lot that can hold him back.

“I’m fighting on Saturday the 21st for The Battle of Rome,” offered Walsh. “It’s a small organization run by Bullet Events and they hold fights here in the state of Georgia. I have fought for them a few times and they have always taken care of me. I had two opponents; one fell out about a week and a half ago, then the other guy his manager just pulled him on Tuesday. Now I’m fighting a light heavyweight Aaron Johnson, I was supposed to fight a middleweight even though I plan on competing at 170. I have to take the fights when I can get them now.”

Walsh is certainly committed to regaining his form. He has enlisted some of the best fighters in the world to help him prepare for this fight. One of the men is a well known supporter of the US Armed Forces.

“I’m training in Atlanta at Warrior Legion which is run by Brian Stann. I train with him, Douglas Lima, Dhiego Lima, Clay Harvison, Rafael Assuncao; we have a really good group of guys. I’m not really worried about my opponent’s size. I don’t think his wrestling or his Jiu-Jitsu is better than mine and I certainly don’t think he can outwork me either.”

Now that he is committed to fighting MMA full time, Walsh has no distractions or military obligations for first time in his career. There have been times when he has had less than a week to train for a fight. Times when he had just got back from a deployment and jumped into a fight. Now there is nothing in his way and there are no excuses.

“You can expect to see a lot of intensity from me,” said an excited Walsh. “Expect to fights finished quickly and viciously. When I first started fighting I was really raw, I had ten amateur fights that lasted about one minute. It was me going out and beating a guy up. I look at like my back is against the wall and this guy wants to hurt me and I want to go and hurt him. I plan on doing this for a living and making a promising career for myself. I’m going to hold onto the feelings from losses I suffered and I’m going to earn the sh*t out of my win this Saturday night!”

Walsh would like to thank Ranger Up for sticking by him through his tough losses, Donovan Craig, the former editor of Fight Magazine, Lex McMahon his manager and most of all Brian Stann and George Lockhart for opening up their gym and their homes to him.