Pacers star claims to have incredible 20-0 in kickboxing record

Indiana Pacers veteran James Johnson is now in his 17th season in the NBA, during which time he’s played for ten different teams.

The 38-year-old is now a rotation player for the Pacers but he remains a keen competitor on the court, someone that no opposition will relish facing. Johnson has practiced karate his entire life and is a very imposing athlete.

On a recent podcast appearance James Johnson made the bold claim that he could defeat Jon Jones - widely considered one of the best MMA fighters of all time - if given time to prepare.

“I would need a year,” Johnson told the NBA Rookie Life podcast. “My stand-up game is great but what we all know with Jones is he’s a collegiate wrestler, really good on the ground and that’s not my forte. I can get on the ground. To his level? I’m not there yet I’d definitely need a year to work on counters and defenses against it so that we can stay on our feet.”

“He started learning how to use your hands and your feet, what, after college?” Johnson continued. “Like, I’ve been punching and kicking since I was five, six years-old. The opposite for him because he’s been wrestling for that long. Learning all his wrestling moves. As long as I can keep him from going on the floor, I win.”

In previous conversations Johnson has claimed to have a history in martial arts. Namely, a 20-0 record in kickboxing and 7-0 in MMA. There has been no verification for those claims, but he certainly has a pretty intimidating reputation within the NBA.

Last month Johnson was voted No. 1 in the entire league as the player NBA stars would least like to fight. Of the 141 players voters, a massive 63.1% named Johnson as their least-favorite sparring partner.

For the sake of the rest of the NBA, let’s hope that Johnson never tries to prove his MMA and kickboxing claims on the court.

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