Johnny Eblen: My Mom Would Have Wanted Me to Be a Doctor or Lawyer

Johnny Eblen's mom would have picked another career for him, but she’s pretty proud of her son’s accomplishments nonetheless.

Current Bellator MMA 185-pound kingpin Eblen (12-0, 8-0 Bellator) shocked the world when he dominated veteran divisional titleholder Gegard Mousasi at Bellator 282 in June. That night, “Diamond Hands” was simply too much for Mousasi, who lost the 185-pound title as his opponent picked up a unanimous decision victory. Now Eblen is called to attempt his first title defense as he faces Anatoly Tokov in the #Bellator290 co-headliner on Feb. 4. Ahead of his upcoming assignment, Eblen spoke with Sherdog about the importance of winning the championship in front of his mother and family, who were sitting cageside during his bout with Mousasi. The American Top Team representative stated that his mother is very worried for her son during his fights, but at the same time, she’s confident in his mastery of combat sports.

“The last thing she wants me to do is get in fist fights with people. I think she likes the fact that I really enjoy it and I'm good at it. If I sucked at it, she probably would hate going to my fights. She doesn't like going to my fights, but the fact that she gets to watch me pummel another person and winning, it’s probably a lot easier for her. She's getting more and more comfortable with it but, at the fight, she's basically just praying the whole time. I mean, she's pretty proud of me. She'd rather me be a doctor or lawyer but she understands mastery in a specific occupation and she notices I'm very good at what I do and she gives me some respect for it. Even though she doesn't love it, she gives me respect for it.”

(00:00) Intro
(00:14) Winning the Bellator title
(01:18) Defeating Mousasi
(02:25) Whether he expects to face Mousasi again
(02:50) Preparing for Tokov
(03:41) What kind of fight he expects at Bellator 290
(04:33) Aiming to finish his opponent
(05:09) Accepting the fight on somewhat short notice
(06:16) Taking a little break after his last fight
(07:08) Confessing his mom would have wanted him to be a doctor
(08:43) Picking Ryan Bader vs. Fedor Emelianenko
(09:58) Outro