Welsh MMA Icon Brett Johns Hangs Up His Gloves

This weekend saw two promotion champion, Brett Johns hang up his gloves after an exceptional career. The Welshman has competed across the sports biggest promotions and won championship belts in two separate organisations.

Brett Johns Career Highlights

All the way back in 2012 Johns made his professional MMA debut and was 5-0 after just 12 months in the pro game. In 2013 he won the Cage Warriors bantamweight tournament and then the title the year after. Another title followed as he jumped across the pond to Titan FC and won the 135lbs belt there in 2015 and he defended it later in that same year. The now 12-0 record caught the eyes of the UFC and they came calling for the Welshman. In 2016 he made his debut in Belfast alongside fellow Welshman Jack Marshman with both men claiming victories.

The UFC tenure had mixed results after facing an array of names including the likes of Aljamain Sterling, Pedro Munhoz and Montel Jackson. In 2020 Johns decided to leave the UFC for a better contract elsewhere. Bellator was his home for his next 3 fights winning two losing one and at the end of 2023 he competed under the PFL banner. His PFL debut was exceptional with a third round TKO win, however the successes did not continue. He joined the PFL regular season last year but faced the unbeaten relentless Russian Timur Khizriev suffering defeat and a second defeat after that to American Tyler Diamond.

This year saw Johns join Spanish promotion WOW in search of another title in a third organisation. In August he won his debut in spectacular fashion with a rare Suloev stretch submission. Unfortunately this weekend he fell short against Nikolay Grozdev when shooting for the featherweight title. Johns laid his gloves down in the centre of the cage in Madrid to close the chapter on a special MMA career.