From UFC Connected, Jonathan Pearce currently climbs the UFC featherweight rankings, after overcoming a vicious gym attack in …
in 2014 an altercation with a bully at his Tennessee gym LED featherweight Jonathan Pierce to his biggest fight yet one for his life Pierce was beaten unconscious then woke up in the hospital with a concussion a broken jaw and a body that was starting to shut down determined to defy the odds pierced through his all into recovering even returning to MMA competition just 6 months later Shining Light on his darkest moments JSP reveals more of his inspiring story in this Edition of fighter Focus well several years ago Jonathan Pierce nearly had his MMA career taken away from him he was the victim of a nasty assault when he was younger he’s got a plate in his face multiple screws and look at him now setback isn’t always a setback it actually makes you feel something and I needed to feel that to know what feeling something was and now I’m going to go get it super exciting on the feet we’ll throw all kinds of kicks great combinations just Relentless offensively Bel to Bel no one’s going to hold me down if you want to see what I got in me I’m going to show you what I got wow JSP long way to come but he picks up a great win Baby W I’m from Johnson City Tennessee I got in wrestling Ling at 12 years old I proceeded until I got into college I got second in the state in wrestling my senior year I was like one of the prospects on the team I stopped wrestling in college dropped out pursued fighting a year later and up being the Tennessee state champ oh and that’s a good double leg from Jonathan [Music] pierce it was a normal day I went into practice there wasn’t that many people there this guy was a bully at the gym we’ had problems with me in the past but we thought we had sorted him out this guy was like 56 230 lb he came in that day and they would rip our bags and we didn’t have like a big facility we didn’t have extra gloves and stuff like that so they’d be wearing our gloves and there’ be blood on it and we’d be like hey you know we don’t know if these guys are tested we have a problem with all this one of the guys was trying to tell me like hey he’s broke three Jaws like I wouldn’t confront him he’s kind of a Loose Cannon and I was like ah no I’m a professional fighter I know I can handle my own so like right at the end of practice I addressed them you feel it you feel it go down your spine like oh this is not right something’s not right like I need to run but it didn’t run I just turned around I thought like what is it going to do Hit Me When I’m Not [Music] Looking they hit me from behind Cold clocked me I fell down and then and somebody pulls them off of me whoever’s holding them he says let me kick them let me kick them and that guy lets him go and he runs and goes and kicks me kind of like when you’re putting a football the first thing I remember is waking up I know what happened but I didn’t know how severe and I’m just like feeling all this gory mess in my mouth and then they get the ambulance there and they’re trying to question me but I didn’t know if it was Monday through Friday or what year it was I broke 19 of my teeth broke my jaw in two places bit my tongue in half broke my neck I never been hurt like this before so I realized like okay this is going to be a whole process when I got out of the hospital they gave me a pair of wire cutters and they said if you got to throw up here’s you some wire cutters cuz you’ll literally drowned I ate through a wire for 3 weeks straight I just start crying because like I wanted solid food I lost 40 lbs in like 20 days and all I could do was ride I couldn’t even speak the doctors told me that I couldn’t fight again in that moment I had a choice to make if I can do this I’m going to go all the way I was going down this path all by myself it was up to me to pull myself out of all that after that attack I had to climb back I got back to getting in the gym so let’s just inure right yep in yep that’s it when I met Jonathan he was he’s tough Jonathan has always been tough that’s a guy who when we first met him did not win his fights on skill he want on just pure toughness and perseverance and I believe he fought something like 6 or n months after that attack big hype around this fou these two were supposed to fight back in January but JSP was jumped and beat up and wasn’t able to fight the anti Morgan fight was a crazy fight it was back and forth beautiful fly knee I was telling myself no one else has been through this no one else has fought death good luck I’m going to give you my all JSP just going for broke here [Music] Jonathan two months later I fight Chris right and then I finish him in the first round w there is J has W round one over Chris W the ball starting to roll I’d worked hard enough to get to a certain point but I needed to work harder to keep winning I needed to make that transition with a slow jog to the Octagon eager for this opportunity is Jonathan Pierce originally from Tennessee now fighting out of the Phoenix Arizona area I was 8 and3 uh gotten on the Ender series I was like wao this is really happening now I need to execute I knew this guy was supposed to beat me they had him pick the win you know he was the guy and I was just some little East Tennessee boy brought in to fought him and I was like all right well he ain’t never fought a country boy like me ready let’s do it when he first came out he was hitting real hard real flashy But as time went on he wasn’t as crisp and he was kind of like chasing and trying to follow my lead oh nice open there I was dictating the pace once I realized that I just started turning it up on him look at this I knocked the guy out oh there it is I just went out there and killed it big right hand and that’s going to do it Jonathan JSP Pierce in that moment after the fight I was very happy to be able to be like the guy who attacked me I wonder what he’s doing right now I bet he ain’t on ESPN I bet he ain’t getting the four fight deal with the UFC I I like this kid standup I like his ground he’s got that killer instinct and that’s what I’m looking for and that’s what I love so welcome to the UFC johnan Pierce congratulations Jonathan [Applause] Pierce Jonathan Pierce repping Johnson City Tennessee he has a lot to prove tonight to himself and to a lot of other people if anybody knows how to get through adversity and still perform when things are not going completely well for him it’s Jonathan Pierce Pierce back on top kamaka cannot just keep taking these shots that’s it wow Jonathan pierce with a finish in round two Jonathan JSP I’m coming out here to tell the world what my name is JSP Baby Woo I believe that attack put me on a accelerated path these last 6 years have been up and down like I went from not knowing if I was going to be able to be in the UFC to I fought seven times on ESP P it was just a crazy journey and um to come back from all that kind of unreal look at Pierce chase him down he has got some heart wow now it’s time to stand out from everyone else Pierce has definite Championship aspiration coming a UFC champion would mean that all this is worth it oh that’s getting so tight that is it Jonathan JSP here go