Josh Emmett Seeks Lightweight Foes Late in Career
With Josh Emmett having lost three bouts in succession, he says a switch back to lightweight is the right move for him in the latter portion of his career
Josh Emmett (19-7 MMA, 10-7 UFC) has fallen on hard times of late. It's been a little more than three years since Emmett stood across the fabled Octagon from Ilia Topuria, fighting him in the headlining bout of the evening in a UFC Fight Night event on the ABC Television Network.
That night ended in defeat for Josh Emmett, coming out on the wrong end of a unanimous decision after 25 minutes in Jacksonville. Since that June evening in 2023, Emmett, who left Florida with an 18-4 record, has lost three out of his ensuing four fights.
At the moment, Josh Emmett has dropped three fights in succession. Most recently, he lost by way of first-round knockout at the hands of Kevin Vallejos (18-1 MMA, 4-0 UFC) on March 14 inside Meta Apex in Enterprise, NV. Vallejos, a 2024 graduate of Dana White's Contender Series, still has yet to lose as a member of the UFC's active roster.
Josh Emmett Preparing to Move Back to 155
At 41 years of age, Josh Emmett is ready to make a change in his professional MMA career, He mentioned to MMA Fighting that he'd like to make another appearance in the cage before the calendar flips over to 2027, but he wants to do so in a weight class where he has prior experience.
"I'm enjoying some things that I've wanted to do for a while, so I'm doing that right now," Josh Emmett began. "I might go back to 155. It's just that the cut to 145 is so crazy. It's so hard and I think it is affecting my performance."
Josh Emmett fought as a lightweight between April of 2014 and April of 2017 before switching to 145 lbs in October of 2017. During Emmett's previous stint in the lightweight division, he was undefeated and ultimately found himself with a perfect 9-0 record before he joined the UFC in the spring of 2016, moving to 11-0 prior to sustaining the first defeat of his career against Desmond Green (25-8 MMA, 4-3 UFC.)
Josh Emmett Hoping to Switch to Wrestling Once MMA Career Finishes
Emmett has fought 26 times as a professional between October of 2011 and the present day. Before turning his attention to MMA, he wrestled collegiately, first at Sacramento City College and then at his alma mater of Menlo College.
With Real American Freestyle serving as a rising wrestling promotion, Josh Emmett says he wouldn't mind suiting up to wrestle once he hangs up his gloves as an MMA fighter.
"I wrestled since I was a young child, all the way through college and I never got a dime for wrestling," he recalls. "If I could wrestle on a big stage, and RAF is doing some amazing things for the sport of wrestling and just the athletes that are involved, so it's super sick."
Emmett also waxed nostalgic about his weight division in his college years.
"Even when I was wrestling in college, I was always in the toughest weight class," Emmett continued. "I wrestled at 157 in college, so in hindsight, I wish I was smaller or I wish I had this frame."
