Josh Black: A Survivor’s Tale
Joe Myers Nov 29, 2010
Mixed martial artists usually refer to their fights as easy,
especially if they have endured a difficult training camp leading
up to their bout. For welterweight Josh Black,
none of the hardships associated with MMA stack up to what he has
experienced through his job as a police officer in Little Rock,
Ark.
“I was shot in the right forearm, right armpit and there’s still one bullet in my chest,” the 31-year-old says, recalling a 2002 incident. “It took me a year to get back to where I was functional. Since then, I had two incidents where people were shooting at me and someone tried to run me over.”
Out of the line of fire now, Black now works for the Little Rock
Police Department in a teaching capacity. He admits the move has
allowed his MMA career to blossom.
“Being in a role where I’m teaching and training people has given me more freedom,” says Black, who sports a 4-0 mark as a professional. “I feel like, with my experiences and talent set, there’s nobody that I can’t beat. I’ve got good wrestling, Brazilian jiu-jitsu and boxing, and my experiences have made me mentally tough.”
“After [attending UFC 4], I started buying videos and learned from that,” says Black, who trains out of Westside MMA in Little Rock. “I went to some local gyms and wrestled against a bunch of bodybuilders. I needed to have perfect technique because they were so much bigger than me. I had my first amateur MMA fight in 1998 when I was 17.”
Black -- a brown belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu under Matt Hamilton and “The Ultimate Fighter” Season 8 alum Roli Delgado -- continued his amateur MMA career until he joined the Little Rock police force in 2001; the demands of a new job forced him to move away from the sport. About a year after he started working for the police department, Black was on patrol one night when his life changed forever.
“I was out on patrol, and I responded to a call,” says Black. “I got into a foot chase with a guy, and he started shooting. He shot me three times, shot up a house and committed suicide. It’s a tough thing to process when you make a guy die.”
After the shooting, Black started practicing Brazilian jiu-jitsu again to help rehabilitate his right arm and hand, which had suffered nerve damage.
“When he got shot, he called me about training jiu-jitsu to help his arm heal up,” says Hamilton. “He did that for a while, and we started talking about doing MMA again.”
The decision to return to MMA was not a hard one for Black to make.
“I think it’s my competitive nature,” he says. “I felt like I did a good job as an amateur before, and with my natural talent, I didn’t want to get older and wonder, ‘What if?’”
Black, who made his professional MMA debut with a first-round North-South choke submission of Roy Spoon in July 2009, has tried out for “The Ultimate Fighter” three times at three different weight classes. In his first attempt, at his natural weight class of 170 pounds, he made it to the interview part of the process but did not have enough professional fights to qualify. He tried out again at 185 pounds, only to be immediately cut when UFC President Dana White saw Black had stiches from a cut he suffered during a training accident. Black’s latest bid came at 155 pounds, where he made it to the final cut but was not chosen for the show.
“Trying to get to 155 was a nightmare from a diet standpoint,” says Black. “My best weight class is 170, without question.”
All four of Black’s wins have resulted in first-round submissions. He notched his latest victory via rear-naked choke against Jason Fisher at an Arkansas Xtreme Challenge event in August. Black’s opponents have lasted a combined 6:19 against him.
“Josh’s boxing and jiu-jitsu are really strong,” says Hamilton. “He hasn’t had much of a chance to show off his boxing yet, because his boxing footwork has been setting up takedowns and he’s been able to finish guys off once he gets them on the ground.”
Black categorizes himself as a grappler with pop in his fists.
“I think I’m a jiu-jitsu guy who can box,” he says. “I know I have heavy hands. I believe I have the power to get anybody out of there. I haven’t showcased it so far, but I think I’ll get that chance soon.”
Black was scheduled to fight last month, but a stress fracture in his right arm -- an injury unrelated to the shooting -- sent him to the sidelines temporarily. However, he has already returned to training and working towards his ultimate goal of fighting in the UFC.
“[The stress fracture] was just a bump in the road,” says Black. “Other than the shooting, I’ve been healthy. I’m back in sparring and waiting on a fight. The UFC is the premier show, and that’s where I’ve set my sights, but it’s one thing to be there and another to be there and be successful.”
“I was shot in the right forearm, right armpit and there’s still one bullet in my chest,” the 31-year-old says, recalling a 2002 incident. “It took me a year to get back to where I was functional. Since then, I had two incidents where people were shooting at me and someone tried to run me over.”
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“Being in a role where I’m teaching and training people has given me more freedom,” says Black, who sports a 4-0 mark as a professional. “I feel like, with my experiences and talent set, there’s nobody that I can’t beat. I’ve got good wrestling, Brazilian jiu-jitsu and boxing, and my experiences have made me mentally tough.”
The road to MMA started in a boxing ring for Black. He took up the
Sweet Science at the age of 12 and later attended UFC 4 in December
1994 in Tulsa, Okla. Black fell in love with the sport.
“After [attending UFC 4], I started buying videos and learned from that,” says Black, who trains out of Westside MMA in Little Rock. “I went to some local gyms and wrestled against a bunch of bodybuilders. I needed to have perfect technique because they were so much bigger than me. I had my first amateur MMA fight in 1998 when I was 17.”
Black -- a brown belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu under Matt Hamilton and “The Ultimate Fighter” Season 8 alum Roli Delgado -- continued his amateur MMA career until he joined the Little Rock police force in 2001; the demands of a new job forced him to move away from the sport. About a year after he started working for the police department, Black was on patrol one night when his life changed forever.
“I was out on patrol, and I responded to a call,” says Black. “I got into a foot chase with a guy, and he started shooting. He shot me three times, shot up a house and committed suicide. It’s a tough thing to process when you make a guy die.”
After the shooting, Black started practicing Brazilian jiu-jitsu again to help rehabilitate his right arm and hand, which had suffered nerve damage.
“When he got shot, he called me about training jiu-jitsu to help his arm heal up,” says Hamilton. “He did that for a while, and we started talking about doing MMA again.”
The decision to return to MMA was not a hard one for Black to make.
“I think it’s my competitive nature,” he says. “I felt like I did a good job as an amateur before, and with my natural talent, I didn’t want to get older and wonder, ‘What if?’”
Black, who made his professional MMA debut with a first-round North-South choke submission of Roy Spoon in July 2009, has tried out for “The Ultimate Fighter” three times at three different weight classes. In his first attempt, at his natural weight class of 170 pounds, he made it to the interview part of the process but did not have enough professional fights to qualify. He tried out again at 185 pounds, only to be immediately cut when UFC President Dana White saw Black had stiches from a cut he suffered during a training accident. Black’s latest bid came at 155 pounds, where he made it to the final cut but was not chosen for the show.
“Trying to get to 155 was a nightmare from a diet standpoint,” says Black. “My best weight class is 170, without question.”
All four of Black’s wins have resulted in first-round submissions. He notched his latest victory via rear-naked choke against Jason Fisher at an Arkansas Xtreme Challenge event in August. Black’s opponents have lasted a combined 6:19 against him.
“Josh’s boxing and jiu-jitsu are really strong,” says Hamilton. “He hasn’t had much of a chance to show off his boxing yet, because his boxing footwork has been setting up takedowns and he’s been able to finish guys off once he gets them on the ground.”
Black categorizes himself as a grappler with pop in his fists.
“I think I’m a jiu-jitsu guy who can box,” he says. “I know I have heavy hands. I believe I have the power to get anybody out of there. I haven’t showcased it so far, but I think I’ll get that chance soon.”
Black was scheduled to fight last month, but a stress fracture in his right arm -- an injury unrelated to the shooting -- sent him to the sidelines temporarily. However, he has already returned to training and working towards his ultimate goal of fighting in the UFC.
“[The stress fracture] was just a bump in the road,” says Black. “Other than the shooting, I’ve been healthy. I’m back in sparring and waiting on a fight. The UFC is the premier show, and that’s where I’ve set my sights, but it’s one thing to be there and another to be there and be successful.”
