Johnny Bedford is 28 now, and he’s still getting into the ring.

After a standout three-year prep wrestling career, the 2001 Woodmore High School graduate went to Cleveland State to wrestle. That only lasted a year and a half, however, and he moved on.

In 2003, Bedford got involved in mixed martial arts and started fighting as an amateur. He won all six of his bouts and got discovered by a promoter, who offered him $200 to fight professionally in 2005. It wasn’t much money at the time, but the fight changed Bedford’s life.

"Brutal" Johnny Bedford with his son Jayden. (Press photo by John Pollock/www.pollock.smugmug.com)

He is now known as “Brutal” Johnny Bedford and he fights as a professional MMA fighter. Bedford, who lives with his wife and son in Colleyville, Tex., and trains in nearby Fort Worth, owns a 26-9-1 record as a 135-pound professional. He even has his own website (www.BrutalJohnnyBedford.com).

After his first pro fight, Bedford decided he was going to try to make a living competing in MMA. He moved to Texas to train and was soon competing all over the Midwest, sometimes two to three times a month.

“I was having success, winning fights and making money,” said Bedford, a three-time state wrestling tournament qualifier at Woodmore. “It’s a lot better than getting a real job, a 9-to-5 job. And, you can compete. I compete for a living now. I enjoy competition, and to be able to make a living at something you love to do, to come in and compete, I’m really blessed to have that.”

Last February, Bedford flew to Las Vegas to try out for the season 14 of “The Ultimate Fighter,” a Spike TV reality show that airs on Wednesday nights. Bedford, like the rest of the contestants, had to fight his way onto the show. He won his fight, and suddenly he was on reality TV.

“Thirty-two guys went to Las Vegas and the first episode showed 16 fights,” Bedford said. “The 16 losers went home and the 16 winners got to move into a house in Vegas. The show was taped beginning June 15 and I got back to Texas on July 15. I do a viewing party at different sports bars in Fort Worth every Wednesday, when ‘The Ultimate Fighter’ comes on.”

Bedford, who has been married to his wife, Melody, for five years, is grateful that she supports his lifestyle. Melody, a 2002 Woodmore graduate, and Bedford have a son, Jayden, and another child due in April.

“Melody is super supportive,” Bedford said. “She’s been nothing but great. I mean, we moved across the country so I could train in Texas.”

Bedford said being on “The Ultimate Fighter” proved to be more than he expected. On the show, two MMA coaches pick their eight-man teams and Bedford was chosen by Jason “Mayhem” Miller, the host of MTV’s “Bully Beatdown.” The other coach is Michael Bisbin.

Bedford said living in the house in Vegas for more than a month “was terrible.”

“They want drama, obviously,” he said. “You’re in a house with 16 guys and they’re your competition. The coaches picked teams – there are four guys in my weight class on my team and four guys on the other team. Team Bisbin took the first overall pick, and that gave Team Miller the chance to pick the first fight. I went second overall.

“I fought with a broken (right) hand in the fight that got me into the house. I fought the entire (‘Ultimate Fighter’) season with a broken hand. In Vegas, they locked you up in this house for six weeks and there’s no communication with the outside world. There’s no Internet, no cell phones, no TV. You don’t even listen to music, not even in the van to go train. They literally cut you off from the outside world. I didn’t talk to my wife for six weeks.”

Bedford recently flew back home to Woodville and made an appearance at Buffalo Wild Wings in Perrysburg when “The Ultimate Fighter” was airing.

“I had to come back anyway,” Bedford said, adding that he would be attending a wedding in Oregon.

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