Fight Path: After family tragedies, UVC 20's Jon Washington seeks redemption

Jon Washington's start in MMA can be traced to the fact that he just plainly looks the part.

About four years ago, the former high school wrestler was at a club, where a friend was performing. He was approached by a man in the crowd, who asked if Washington was a fighter – because he sure looked like one.

Washington laughed, said he wasn't and went back to watching the show. The man, though, stuck with it.

"He gave me his card and said I should call him," Washington told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com). "He was a trainer, and he worked at a gym not too far from me. I called him pretty much the next day."

With that, the Columbus, Ohio resident started a career that would serve as both redemption for lost opportunities in wrestling and a way to move on from the deaths of two family members, his mother and one of his children. Washington (5-2) hopes to continue that path on Saturday when he faces undefeated Lance Palmer (3-0) at Ultimate Victory Challenge 20 in Columbus.

Athletic as a kid, Washington followed his identical twin brother into wrestling when he started high school, and he found quick success. But his mother's death from cancer when he was a high school sophomore caused him to veer away from school and wrestling.

Since, he has wondered what could have been. When he lost a child in a house fire while living in Florida, he searched for more opportunities back home in Columbus. He has since balanced labor-intensive jobs with a family that includes a wife and three children and an MMA career that has seen a 5-2 professional start.

He has kept his family close – his twin brother and his wife will at times work his corner – and hopes he can continue climbing in the career he started because he looked like a fighter.

"My thing is I've been in tough situations, so I know how to handle the things that come with fighting," Washington said. "I know I'm coming in focused, and this is a big opportunity for me."

Quick study

Washington has had a close confidant since he and his twin brother were born 27 years ago.

They grew up as the two youngest of five children in a Columbus neighborhood that Washington described as "pretty tough, but a nice place to grow up." He was one of the smaller kids in the neighborhood, which caused him to defend himself against older kids.

By his freshman year of high school, Washington wanted to try out for basketball, but his brother said he was going to try wrestling. Washington joined him, and by his sophomore season he was in the state tournament.

"That's how we've always been: When we do something, we do it as hard as we can," Washington said. "We would learn things in practice and then keep practicing them at home. I've done the same thing with my (MMA) career. It's just the way we've always been."

But Washington didn't get to complete his wrestling career. He and his brother helped take care of his mother, who was stricken with cancer, ensuring that she took the necessary medicine and had everything she needed. He finished his sophomore season after her death, but not long after, he left school – and wrestling as well.

It was a regret he carried with him as he became a father as a teenager and moved to Florida to raise his family. Tragedy struck him again when faulty smoke detectors failed to alert him to a fire in his home one night that killed one of his children, he said.

He soon moved back to his hometown and searched for a focus in his life outside of his family.

"I've had some tough losses," he said. "But they're why I am who I am now."

Looking the part

Washington was interested in MMA from the moment he was asked if he was already a fighter.

The nearby gym became one of his most-loved places after he called the man who offered his card and a chance to train. It was only several weeks before the former wrestler accepted his first amateur fight, which was the first of seven he took before turning pro.

Actually, he tried to stay an amateur longer, but he was frustrated with the difficulty in finding or keeping opponents, especially as he spent time away from his family to train. He won his first three professional fights in the first round in a quick start to his career.

"It was just something I felt comfortable with right away and felt like I could do well," he said. "I just tried to take on the best guys I could."

After starting his career 4-0, he suffered back-to-back losses against Jeff Smith and Darrell Horcher, who are a combined 16-1. But Washington still feels he hasn't met his potential, even after a May victory against Morgan Sickinger improved his record to 5-2.

So Washington has continued his training while taking care of his family and working a string of jobs from carpenter to laborer at a glass manufacturer. He's hoping the commitment will soon turn into a bigger opportunity, and his next opportunity comes on Saturday.

"This is big for me because of who the wrestler (Palmer) is and the gym he trains out of," Washington said of his opponent, a four-time NCAA Division I All-American. "Most probably consider me the underdog here, but that's not bothering me. I'm just working hard like I have in everything because that's the only way I know how to do it."

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