Johnny Case: The Risks of Being a Financially Comfortable Fighter

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Johnny Case is aiming to take the $1 million prize home at the end of the Professional Fighters League 2021 Season.

It’s been a while since fans last saw Case (27-7-1) compete. His most recent appearance was a losing effort against Tofiq Musayev in the opening stanza in Rizin Fighting Federation’s lightweight tournament back on Dec. 31, 2019. After that battle, “Hollywood” took a break to spend some quality time with his family.

“The hardest thing of what I do as a fighter is being away from my family,” said Case. “There are no good gyms in Iowa where you can train to fight at a world level, and Vegas is so far away. One thing that has been really nice to come out of this whole COVID-19 thing and not fighting for a year is that I spent more time back home with my family basically since I started fighting. That’s been kind of a blessing in disguise.”

Case then revealed that he was fortunate enough to live off his savings during the pandemic, given that he hasn’t been paid to fight in a while. At the same time, the situation helped him to become mentally stronger.

“The worst thing that can happen to a fighter is to be financially comfortable,” he added. “Case in point, look at Conor McGregor. Before he made all that money in fighting Mayweather, McGregor was the real deal. I feel like now it’s harder to get up punched in the face when you got money in the bank.”

In a few months, he will join the PFL 155-pound division, where he hopes to meet two-time PFL champion Natan Schulte again. The first time they clashed, they fought to a majority draw at PFL 9 back in Oct. 2018.