Josh Stansbury (born November 19, 1984) is an American

mixed martial artist Mixed martial arts (MMA), sometimes referred to as cage fighting, no holds barred (NHB), and ultimate fighting, and originally referred to as Vale Tudo is a full-contact combat sport based on striking, grappling and ground fighting, incorpo ...

. He was the light heavyweight North American Allied Fight Series (NAAFS) champions in 2013 and formally fought for Bellator. Stansbury competes in

Light Heavyweight Light heavyweight, also referred to as junior cruiserweight or light cruiserweight, is a weight class in combat sports. Boxing Professional In professional boxing, the division is above and up to , falling between super middleweight and cruise ...

division of the

Ultimate Fighting Championship The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is an American mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion company based in Las Vegas, Nevada. It is owned and operated by Zuffa, a wholly owned subsidiary of Endeavor Group Holdings. It is the largest MMA ...

(UFC).

Background

Stansbury was born in

East Liverpool, Ohio East Liverpool is a city in southeastern Columbiana County, Ohio, United States. The population was 9,958 at the 2020 census. It lies along the Ohio River within the Upper Ohio Valley and borders Pennsylvania to the east and West Virginia to t ...

, Ohio, United States. His mother's family owned a business that travels to put on carnivals in the summer where Stansbury spent most of his summers at the carnival selling soft drink and helped work the rides and games. Stansbury started trained wrestling when he was six years old and he placed 4th Division 1 in the Ohio State Wrestling Tournament in 2002. His hopes of wrestling in college was not able to be realized and went to work full-time when his girlfriend was pregnant and had a child not long after his high school graduation. However, he still went to do some open mat wrestling session during his spare time. One of the guy at the wrestling gym who was also a MMA fighter, Nick Spencer, invited him to do some MMA session with him and he was instantly hooked. He started his first fight two months later at the age of 21 in 2005 and won his first fight, feeling a surge of emotion from cheering crowd, and never looked back. As an amateur, he won and successfully defended the heavyweight title of Next Level Fighting four times. As a professional, he won NAAFS and Fight to Win light heavyweight titles. Stansbury was a Bellator veteran and held notable victories over Dane Bonnigson, John Hawk, and Dan Spohn.

Mixed martial arts career

Early career

He started his amateur career in 2005 and made his debut on November 23 against Aaron Caw at NLF 2 and won his first win via KO on round one. He amassed a record of 9-2 prior moved to fight professionally. He fought most of his fights for North American Allied Fight Series and Bellator prior signed by UFC with a record of 7–2.

The Ultimate Fighter

The Ultimate Fighter 19

Stansbury was one of the participants in

The Ultimate Fighter 19 ''The Ultimate Fighter: Team Edgar vs. Team Penn'' (also known as ''The Ultimate Fighter 19'') is the nineteenth U.S.-based installment of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC)-produced reality television series ''The Ultimate Fighter''. The ...

, a UFC's reality TV series, where the show debuted on April 16, 2014. He fought Irishman Chris Fields in his fight to enter the TUF house. Stansbury dominated the most of the round one but injured his left knee when he went for a takedown at the end of the round one. He lost the fight and failed to enter house as one of the contestants.

The Ultimate Fighter 23

After his knee injury rehabilitation, Stansbury tried out The Ultimate Fighter 23. This time he managed to advance into the house, where Stansbury defeated Trever Carlson via Americana on round one. On elimination round, Stansbury faced Abdel Medjedoub for Team Joanna Jędrzejczyk. He defeated Medjedoub via majority decision after two round with the score board of (20-18, 19-19, 20-18). Stansbury advanced to semi-finals round facing Cory Hendricks. Hendricks withdrew from the fight due to neck injury even though he was cleared by the doctor to continue on in the competition and was advised that he had a pinched nerve. Hendricks was replaced by

Khalil Rountree Khalil Ibn Rountree Jr. (born February 26, 1990) is an American mixed martial artist who currently competes in the light heavyweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). Background Rountree was born in Los Angeles, California. ...

, who was given the second chance by UFC president

Dana White Dana Frederick White Jr. (born July 28, 1969) is an American businessman who serves as president of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), a global mixed martial arts organization. In August 2019, White's net worth was estimated at $500 milli ...

. Rountree defeated Stansbury via TKO on round one and ended his advancement to the final of TUF 23.

Ultimate Fighting Championship

Stansbury made his promotional debut on July 8, 2016 at UFC: The Ultimate Fighter 23 Finale against Cory Hendricks. He picked up a win via majority decision with the score board f (29-27, 29–27, 28-28). He was expected to face

Jake Collier Jake Collier (born October 23, 1988) is an American mixed martial artist who competes in the Heavyweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship. Background With no background in sports, Collier started Brazilian jiu-jitsu to lose weight ...

on December 3, 2016 at The Ultimate Fighter 24 Finale. However, Collier pulled out of the fight in late October citing injury and was replaced by Devin Clark. After the three rounds, the judges handed down the win to Clark via unanimous decision. On June 25, 2017, Stansbury faced

Jeremy Kimball Jeremy Kimball, (born March 1, 1991) is an American mixed martial arts fighter who formerly competed in the Light Heavyweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship. A professional competitor since 2010, Kimball has also formerly compete ...

at UFC Fight Night: Chiesa vs. Lee. He lost the fight via TKO on round one. On October 25, 2018, it was reported that Stansbury was released from UFC.

Superior Challenger

Stanbury faced upcoming light-heavyweight Swedish prospect

Karl Albrektsson Karl Albrektsson ( sv , Karl Albrektsson, (born September 27, 1993), is a Swedish mixed martial arts fighter, competing in the Light Heavyweight division of Bellator MMA. He has been performing at a professional level since 2012, and he is als ...

at Superior Challenger 18 losing via knockout.

Championships and accomplishments

Mixed martial arts

*North American Allied Fight Series ** North American Allied Fight Series Light Heavyweight Champion (One time) vs. John Hawk *Fight to Win ** Fight to Win: Prize Fighting Championship Light Heavyweight Champion (One time) vs. Jeremy Osheim

Mixed martial arts record

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Cheswick, Pennsylvania Cheswick is a borough in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. The population was 1,672 as of the 2020 census.https://data.census.gov/all?q=Cheswick+borough,+Allegheny+County,+Pennsylvania History Cheswick, named for a town in England, is a small tow ...

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Dan Spohn Daniel Brian Spohn (born October 12, 1984) is an American mixed martial artist currently competing in the Light Heavyweight division. A professional competitor since 2006, he has competed for the UFC, Bellator, and was a competitor on The Ulti ...

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References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Stansbury, Josh 1984 births Living people People from East Liverpool, Ohio American male mixed martial artists Light heavyweight mixed martial artists Mixed martial artists utilizing collegiate wrestling Mixed martial artists utilizing boxing Mixed martial artists utilizing Brazilian jiu-jitsu Ultimate Fighting Championship male fighters American male sport wrestlers Amateur wrestlers American practitioners of Brazilian jiu-jitsu