For one Springfield mixed martial arts competitor, fighting has been a part of his life since childhood.
Known as “Tyler the Cage Fighter,” Tyler Johnson, 35, began MMA in 2005 and over the years has stepped away from the sport to prioritize other aspects of his life, including his education. However, this May, after a seven–year hiatus, he is returning to the ring.
Today, Johnson is an eighth grade reading teacher at Westport Middle School.
His passion for literature transcends into multiple areas of his life. He compared his MMA career to a book with three chapters, which outline how he got started, fighting while studying to become a teacher and his future.
Chapter one: Earning his badge of honor
Johnson and his brother were raised by their mother on the west side of Springfield. Johnson said his neighborhood, which included low income households and high poverty rates, impacted him and his peers.
According to the city of Springfield 2008-2012 Census Data, the Westside neighborhood had a population close to 6,000, with 29 percent of families living below the poverty line.
Johnson said once in middle school, fighting and roughhousing became popular among kids.
“The schools on that side of town typically have the most discipline issues, and so growing up in that type of environment, it was just natural to get into fights,” Johnson said. “It was kind of like a badge of honor. It was a way of getting status from family or friends.”
Throughout middle and high school, Johnson said he participated in about 20 street fights, often coming out on top.
Fighting was more than just throwing a few punches after class though. Johnson described himself as an introvert, who lacked self-confidence growing up. Fighting allowed him to break outside of his shell.
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“I wasn’t super confident in my social skills, and I just didn’t believe in myself in a lot of things,” Johnson said. “However, for some reason, fighting was different. With fighting, even from a young age, I just kind of felt good at it. That was my way to feel competent at something because other than that, I just had school. However, that wasn’t valued among my friends. Anytime I wanted to feel confident in something, I remembered how I felt whenever I fought. That was my source of self-esteem or self-confidence.”
When he wasn’t roughhousing, Johnson had his nose in a book.
“Whenever I was growing up, I was automatically interested in books,” he said. “It was like a fun juxtaposition because I was a street fighter kid, but I was also always reading books all of the time.”
As he grew up, Johnson came to realize that he needed a healthier outlet for his passion than sparring with classmates and neighbors.
It was in middle school that the idea of becoming a teacher piqued Johnson’s interest. However, after graduating high school, he joined the U.S. Marine Corps. One of the main reasons was because he was still interested in the physical activity of fighting but didn’t know of any outlets to do so safely, without getting in trouble.
“The way I always think about it … with Mozart and Beethoven, imagine if music was illegal and no matter what, they knew they loved it, but any time they (made music) they got in trouble,” Johnson said. “That’s kind of the same way it was for me (with fighting). I knew I wanted to be a teacher, so I knew I couldn’t get in trouble with the law, so I had to find some sort of outlet for it.”
While in the Marines, Johnson was introduced to the Marine Corps Martial Arts Program. After joining the Marine Corps Reserves, Johnson returned to Springfield to pursue a higher education at Missouri State University. During this time, he joined a local MMA gym.
After six weeks of training, Johnson participated in his first MMA fight.
For two years, Johnson continued to train, while working, attending school and raising his eldest daughter.
“I had seven fights all in a row and I won all of them, and my eighth fight I lost,” Johnson said. “Whenever that happened, I took a little bit of a break to mentally accept the defeat. Once I took a break, I got too busy with school and work. I realized as I was getting to a higher level (of MMA), if I didn’t have time to commit to training full time, I would lose more.”
Toward the end of his “first chapter” of his MMA career in 2009, Johnson’s grandfather was able to attend one of his fights, only a few months before he died.
“The guy I was fighting at the time was a giant guy and it was intimidating,” Johnson said. “He was beating me up for a few minutes, so it looked like I was going to lose. But then he started getting tired and I took the fight to the ground. Once I got it to the ground, I submitted him. That was a real positive thing my grandpa got to see. My grandpa didn’t have a sport like MMA when he was growing up, so I think he got to live that vicariously through me a bit.”
Chapter two: Connecting with his students
After about a four-year break, Johnson began training again.
During this stint of his career, he competed in five fights, his last being his first, and only, professional MMA fight.
In MMA, there are amateur and professional fighters. Johnson said the difference is that amateurs fight for free, while professionals get paid. In addition, professional rounds are longer.
Two weeks after his final fight, Johnson started student teaching. The time commitment forced him to step away from the sport again.
For three years after graduating from Missouri State with degrees in psychology and English education, Johnson taught at the Osage County R-1 School District in Chamois. There, he was a yearbook director and taught science and English. He then spent one year at the Sparta R-III School District, teaching social studies, before finding his way back to the west side of Springfield at Westport Middle School.
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Johnson said his MMA career has allowed him to connect with his students in a unique way, specifically at Westport.
“A lot of kids in (the west side) neighborhood have trouble connecting with teachers because a lot of the teachers come from educated families on the south side of town or other towns altogether,” Johnson said. “There’s not a lot of teachers who come out of the west side that stay there. A vast majority of the students like me, not only because I’m from the community, but I get it with the whole fighting thing.”
Johnson said most of his students know about his MMA career, enjoy hearing his stories and are excited for his upcoming match in May.
Chapter three: What’s next
Seven years since his last match, Johnson still thinks about fighting.
“I don’t have a ton of time left,” he said. “Most MMA fighters start declining between the ages of 35 and 42 or so, depending on if they’ve already had a lot of fights or not.”
Johnson said he feels like he has about seven or eight years of fighting left in him and is excited to re-enter the ring soon.
Johnson’s upcoming fight is Saturday, May 21 7-10 p.m. at Abou Ben Adhem Shrine Mosque, located at 601 E. St. Louis St.
The fight is a part of a line-up of MMA competitions hosted by a new organization, Fight Hard MMA, managed by Zak Cummings, an Ultimate Fighting Championship competitor from Springfield.
Tickets for Johnson’s fight will be available for purchase on the Fight Hard MMA website closer to the event.
Greta Cross is the trending topics reporter for the Springfield News-Leader. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram @gretacrossphoto. Story idea? Email her at [email protected]
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