Gunshots knock Johnson down, not out

The ear-piercing blasts came as no surprise to Lavar Johnson as he celebrated with relatives at a family reunion in Bakersfield, Calif.

It became a little more concerning when no fireworks followed the thunderous sounds on that Fourth of July evening in 2009.

When someone yelled out that the noise was actually gunshots, everyone hit the deck. Johnson pulled a young girl to the ground to protect her and waited for the gunfire to stop.

When the threat passed, Johnson tried to stand to assess the situation. That's when it finally became clear what had happened.

"I didn't even know I got shot until I tried to get up off the ground," he said.

Johnson, who will fight Shawn Jordan tonight on the Strikeforce Challengers card at the Palms, feared he wouldn't wake up if he lost consciousness.

"I just stayed awake and prayed for God to forgive me for my sins and take care of my kids if I didn't make it," he said. "I remember everything. I didn't want to take that long dirt nap. It's not like the movies where you can just get up and run away or do whatever."

He had been shot three times, with the bullet in his abdomen doing the most damage. His intestine and colon were punctured and his appendix had to be removed.

Johnson, 34, was a rising heavyweight mixed martial arts prospect riding a five-fight winning streak at the time. He spent more than a month in the hospital, being fed through a tube in his chest because his intestines weren't working.

The 6-foot-4-inch, 250-pound athletic freak lost more than 40 pounds while he was hospitalized, but returned to action just 10 months after being shot and scored a second-round knockout.

Now Johnson is coming off a loss to Shane del Rosario in February in what was his biggest opportunity to date in MMA. Still, he is a promising talent with a 15-4 record that includes 13 knockouts and two submission victories.

He realizes he will have to accomplish a great deal more in the sport to avoid being known mostly for his harrowing ordeal, though he knows it has increased his profile.

"I would like to be known for knocking people out, but it has worked for me. A lot of people know me, so I just roll with it," he said.

Johnson does want to clear up one common misconception, though.

"I'm not a gangbanger or anything like that. I was at a family reunion. Everybody was having a good time, and at the end of the night, people just walked up and decided to shoot people. Not much you can do about it," he said. "People say things like, 'What kind of environment was I putting myself in,' like I was hanging out in a bad neighborhood. Well, it was a bad neighborhood, but my family has been there forever."

The only lasting effects of the shooting are "a nasty scar, some nerve damage in my leg and gas," according to Johnson.

Four other people were shot during the incident, one fatally. The little girl he covered up was unharmed. Johnson scoffs at the notion his actions were heroic.

"It was just something anybody would do; you see everybody getting on the floor and a little 9-year-old kid standing up, of course you're going to try to shield them," he said. "I've got two kids myself, a 9-year-old (Donovan) and a 6-year-old (Bishop). Thank God they weren't there."

Johnson will meet Jordan on a card headlined by unbeaten light heavyweight prospect Lorenz Larkin taking on Nick Rossborough.

Also, Las Vegan Ryan Couture, the son of Randy Couture, will face lightweight Maka Watson.

The card begins at 6 p.m. with the main card starting at 8. It airs tape-delayed on Showtime (Cable 240) at 11.

Contact reporter Adam Hill at ahill@reviewjournal.com or 702-224-5509. Follow him on Twitter: @adamhilllvrj.