Joshua Rector - Photo courtesy Fight Hard MMA photographer David Appleton
VIDEO: One-armed fighter, Joshua Rector, scores TKO win
Heavyweight amateur mixed martial artist Joshua Rector (5-1) picked up a first-round TKO win at Fight Hard MMA:Fight Night at the Crossing on June 18. The Fight Hard MMA event took place at the Kansas Crossing Casino in Pittsburg, Kansas and the victory over Colby Carter was Rector’s first since 2014.
Rector, a U.S. Army Veteran who deployed to Iraq in 2010 was severely injured when the driver of the Humvee he was in, accidentally rolled the vehicle. Rector was the vehicle’s gunner, and when the accident happened, the armor protecting the turret severed his forearm. As a result of the unfortunate incident, part of Rector’s left arm had to be amputated and he was medically retired in 2014.
“I started practicing Jiu-jitsu in 2009 but didn’t really start training to fight until 2011,” Rector told MyMMANews. “One of my buddies from my unit, Miles McDonald, was an amateur cage fighter and after going to one of his fights I found a gym to start training at full time.”
While you may think that competing with just one arm might put Rector at a disadvantage, he sees otherwise.
“Despite what a lot of people think looking from the outside it’s not that much of a disadvantage as you would think,” Rector said. “Everything I’ve trained, I have to learn my own way. It’s just like anything else, there’s a way to do it.”
Injuries aside, Rector took some time off from MMA but is back at it after several years of inactivity.
“No one wants to be the guy who got beat by a guy with one arm and nobody wants to be the guy who beat a guy with one arm,” he said.
Now back in the mix, Rector is conducting his training at a variety of gyms, trying to become a more well-rounded competitor. He gets his work in at Gracie Humaita in Joplin, MO, Joplin Judo and Mosberg Boxing.
Fight Hard MMA will hold their next event at the Memorial Hall in Kansas City on Saturday, September 10th.
