Fight Path: College football player Omar Johnson got a black eye from Marcus Brimage

Omar Johnson

In the summer of 2008, after his freshman year as a member of the Samford University football team, Omar Johnson wanted some extra conditioning.

He had been a fan of MMA since high school in Mobile, Ala., and now that he was living and training in Birmingham, he thought he could find a nearby gym and get some extra work in. On his first day at Spartan Fitness, he was asked if he wanted to do some sparring.

He was a sturdy defensive back who had played with future major college football stars in high school and now was on his way to a notable career of his own at Samford. Of course, he thought, he could hold his own.

“So I go in against Marcus Brimage,” Johnson told MMAjunkie of the now-UFC fighter. “He gave me a black eye, on my first day. It wasn’t a very pleasant thing.”

Marcus Brimage

But after years of training during the time away from his football seasons and then working as a bartender to support his training, Johnson is finding the sport to be very pleasant after all.

Now 3-0, Johnson is set to face welterweight Brad Thompson on Saturday at Strikehard 40 at Belk Center in Tuscaloosa, Ala. After spending his youth pursuing a passion for football in an area rife with future NFL players, Johnson has shifted the focus of his hard work to the cage, where he went 10-2 as an amateur before becoming a pro on short notice in 2014.

The talent comes naturally. Both of Johnson’s parents were athletes, and he wasn’t able to beat his mother in basketball until he reached the eighth grade. Learning hard work and aggressiveness to stay competitive with the strong athletes around him, Johnson was unintentionally preparing himself for the grind of an MMA career.

“There’s nothing I would change to this point; I think things have worked out well for me,” he said. “My biggest thing is to get the finish. I don’t want to be a guy with a bunch of decisions.”

Football life

Johnson was born and raised in Mobile, a city of about 200,000 that sits on the Gulf of Mexico. For much of his youth, his mother ran a single-parent home, though his father re-entered his life in middle school and has stressed closeness among his five children.

His mother and father were both track and basketball athletes, natural skills that they passed onto their son.

“I got strength from my dad, because he’s a strong guy,” he said. “Then my mom and I played basketball all the time, and I didn’t beat her until I was 14.”

But starting at a young age, Johnson’s focus was football. He started by playing in the yard with a cousin, and he grew up around some extremely gifted players.

For example, by the time he was a senior at St. Paul’s Episcopal School in Mobile in the fall of 2006, the sophomore quarterback on the roster was A.J. McCarron, who would go on to star at Alabama. One of the defensive backs was Mark Barron, another future Alabama standout.

“That’s pretty much the way things are there,” Johnson said of Mobile and its football talent. “There are always great players.”

Because Johnson wasn’t as naturally gifted as some, he had to work a little bit harder. He chose to play in college at Samford in Birmingham over the Naval Academy because, at least in part, the weather was too cold in Maryland. Plus, that would’ve removed him too far from the fresh seafood he loves.

Then in the summer after his freshman year, Johnson sought out a gym where he could try MMA, which he had enjoyed watching since high school. And his mindset about his future changed.

Changing focus

After awhile, Johnson’s MMA workouts became the talk of the team.

“My focus was on football while that was happening, but sometimes I would go do some training after practice,” he said. “Some of the guys would come and watch to see what was going on and what I was doing.”

He was building a sturdy foundation for MMA. He played his last football season at Stamford in 2011, and he graduated that December. He quickly got a job as a bartender so he could keep going to the gym during the day and try to cut down from his 210 or 215 pounds of playing weight to 170 for fighting.

Johnson made his amateur debut in May 2012, set up against a fighter who was already 10-1 as an amateur. His victory by decision gave him an immediate boost.

“At our gym, we make sure we’re prepared before we do anything,” he said. “ I was invested in football, but then I shifted by focus and did something different.”

He was supposed to take another amateur fight last November, after already compiling a 10-2 amateur record, but the promoter needed another professional fight. He asked Johnson if he was ready to turn pro.

By the time, he felt more experienced. Earlier in his amateur career, he would often storm at his opponent when the fight started. He had an aggressive nature, stemming from his football training.

But when he was ready to become a pro, he was not as wild.

“I’m more calculated, and I have a plan,” he said. “That was the biggest change for me.”

After surging to a 3-0 record, including a knockout in less than a minute in his last fight, Johnson is set up for another chance to stay undefeated. He still pays close attention to football, especially with the regular stream of talent always around the area, but he’s now a fighter.

“I still love the game, but it’s different,” he said. “That’s a team sport, and people see what’s happening. A lot of people look at MMA and don’t know the work it takes. I know what it takes.”

Award-winning newspaper reporter Kyle Nagel pens “Fight Path” each week. The column focuses on the circumstances that led fighters to a profession in MMA. Know a fighter with an interesting story? Email us at news [at] mmajunkie.com.