John Howard (fighter)

Background

Howard was born and raised by his mother, Laurette, along with his sister in the Dorchester neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, where he still resides to this day. Howard got into fights often while growing up. In high school, Howard played football and basketball. He found martial arts after going to a Job Corps to get his high school diploma, where he learned grappling from a freestyle grappler. Later on in his career, he has become well known for his wrestling skills and takedowns in MMA despite not having any background in it. After graduating, Howard began training at a local gym. Howard once sparred against Tamerlan Tsarnaev, a boxer, when the two trained at Wai Kru Mixed Martial Arts in Boston.

Nickname: "Doomsday"

Howard's nickname, "Doomsday," was given to him by his longtime friend Henry Ainslie during a car ride as they discussed powerful comic book villains and potential fighter aliases. After joking around, the name "Doomsday" — inspired by the infamous character who killed Superman — stuck. In his first official fight, the announcer mistakenly introduced him as "John, The Doomsday," which was later corrected to the now-famous "John 'Doomsday' Howard."

Training

Over the course of his career, Howard has trained with top-tier coaches and teams around the world. His training includes time in Thailand, Brazil, and across the United States. He has been affiliated with several notable gyms:

• Ginsberg Academy Jujitsu – Cambridge, MA
• Waikru MMA – Allston, MA
• Sityodtong Muay Thai / MMA – Somerville, MA
• Team Grudge – Denver, CO

Notable coaches and training partners include:

• John Allen
• David Ginsberg
• Mark Nardone
• Nate Marquardt
• Scott Ream
• Eric Grossman
• Jorge Rivera (retired UFC fighter)
• Alexandre "Alex" Costa (Gracie Barra Boston)

Legacy and Entrepreneurship

On March 1, 2025, Howard opened his own training facility, the Doomsday Defense Dojo in South Easton, Massachusetts. The gym is one of the only known Black-owned mixed martial arts schools in the region. It serves as a community space and training academy for youth, adults, and aspiring professional fighters. In addition to MMA instruction, the gym offers fitness programs and self-defense classes.

Speaking on the launch of his dojo, Howard said, “Opening Doomsday Defense Dojo is a dream come true — not just for me, but for my community. This isn’t just about fighting; it’s about building confidence, protecting yourself, and breaking cycles. I want kids, adults, everyone who walks in that door to feel seen, strong, and ready for life.”

Advocacy and Representation

In 2016, Howard was diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder at age 33. The diagnosis, which followed a series of neurological tests, gave him clarity about many of his life experiences. “Now a lot of stuff in my life makes sense,” Howard said in an interview. “It makes sense why I do certain things. Even to this day.”

Following the diagnosis, Howard has used his platform to advocate for neurodivergent athletes. Through public speaking, media interviews, and inclusive programming at his dojo, he works to break stigma and encourage others to embrace their uniqueness. His gym offers sensory-friendly training and promotes martial arts as a tool for building confidence and communication for individuals on the spectrum.

Mixed martial arts career

Ultimate Fighting Championship

Howard made his UFC debut on January 31, 2009, against Chris Wilson at UFC 94, winning via split decision.

He then faced Tamdan McCrory at UFC 101. This fight was significant for both as the two had become friends fighting on promotions in the Northeast. Howard won the fight via split decision.

Howard fought Dennis Hallman on December 5, 2009, at The Ultimate Fighter 10 Finale. After getting out-grappled for most of the fight, Howard knocked out Hallman at 4:55 of the third round.

Howard was expected to face Anthony Johnson on March 21, 2010, at UFC Live: Vera vs. Jones, but Johnson sustained an injury during training. UFC newcomer Daniel Roberts stepped in to be Howard's new opponent. Howard defeated Roberts via first-round KO.

Howard was defeated by Jake Ellenberger via third round TKO due to doctor stoppage at UFC Live: Jones vs. Matyushenko. Though Howard had success on the feet, he was unable to defend the takedowns of Ellenberger. Ellenberger would go on to cause Howard's left eye to close after repeatedly landing short elbows and punches from the guard leading to the stoppage,

Howard next faced former title challenger Thiago Alves on December 11, 2010, at UFC 124. He lost the fight via unanimous decision.

Howard was expected to face Martin Kampmann on June 26, 2011, at UFC on Versus 4 However, Kampmann was forced out of the bout with an injury and replaced by Matt Brown. Howard was defeated by Brown after three tough rounds via unanimous decision (29-28, 29–28, 29–28). After the loss to Brown, Howard was released from the promotion.

Classic Entertainment and Sports (CES MMA)

Howard made his CES debut at CES MMA: Never Surrender against Todd Chattelle for the CES Middleweight Championship. He won via TKO in the second round.

Howard made his first title defense against Scott Rehm. He won via TKO.

Howard's next title defense was against Brett Chism. He won via TKO.

Howard's next title defense was at CES MMA: Path to Destruction, against Jason Louck. He won via KO just 23 seconds into the first round.

Howard defended his title for the fourth time against Chris Woodall. He won via KO in the first round.

Return to the UFC

Following the Boston Marathon bombing, Howard openly stated that he would like to be on the UFC Fight Night 26 card in Boston, Massachusetts in August 2013 to show support for his hometown. On July 17, 2013, it was announced that he would appear on the card, replacing Josh Samman in a Middleweight bout against Uriah Hall. He defeated Hall via split decision.

Howard returned to Welterweight and faced Siyar Bahadurzada on December 28, 2013, at UFC 168. He won the fight via unanimous decision.

Howard faced Ryan LaFlare at UFC Fight Night 39. He lost the fight by unanimous decision.

Howard was then expected to face Rick Story at UFC Fight Night 45 on July 16, 2014. However, he was forced from the bout due to injury and was replaced by returning veteran Leonardo Mafra.

Howard faced Brian Ebersole on September 27, 2014, at UFC 178. He lost the fight via split decision.

Howard faced Lorenz Larkin on January 18, 2015, at UFC Fight Night 59. He lost the fight via TKO in the first round.

Howard was expected to face Brandon Thatch on July 11, 2015, at UFC 189. However, on June 23, Thatch was pulled from that bout in favor of a fight with Gunnar Nelson as his scheduled opponent John Hathaway was forced out with injury. Howard faced Cathal Pendred at the event. Howard won the fight via split decision.

Howard faced Tim Means on December 10, 2015, at UFC Fight Night 80. He lost the fight via knockout in the second round.

World Series of Fighting

On March 8, 2016, it was announced that Howard had signed with the World Series of Fighting promotion.

After winning against Michael Arrant at WSOF 31 via unanimous decision, Howard faced Abubakar Nurmagomedov on October 7, 2016, at WSOF33, losing the fight via unanimous decision.

A year later on October 27, 2017, at CES MMA 46: Howard vs. Carroll, Howard faced Roger Carroll, winning the bout by unanimous decision.

Professional Fighters League

2018 Season

In the 2018 season, Howard participated in PFL 3 on July 5, where he faced Gasan Umalatov. Howard won the fight via submission using a rear-naked choke in the second round.

Howard then faced Bruno Santos at PFL 6 on August 16, 2018. He lost the bout via unanimous decision.

Later that year, at the 2018 PFL Middleweight Quarterfinal bout, Howard faced Eddie Gordon and won the fight via unanimous decision.

However, at PFL 10 on October 20, 2018, Howard's bout with Louis Taylor ended in a technical draw due to an illegal knee. Howard was eliminated via a first-round tiebreaker.

2019 Season

To start off the 2019 season on May 9, 2019, at PFL 1, Howard faced Magomed Magomedkerimov, losing the bout via guillotine choke at the end of the first round.

On July 11, 2019, at PFL 4, he faced Ray Cooper III, winning the bout after knocking him out in the first round.

However, his next fight against David Michaud at PFL 7 on October 11, 2019, resulted in a loss via unanimous decision.

Independent promotions

Howard faced Ozzie Alvarez at CES MMA 63: Howard vs Alvarez, winning the bout via unanimous decision.

Howard faced Tyler Ray at XMMA 3 on October 23, 2021. He lost the fight via unanimous decision.

Howard faced Ramazan Kuramagomedov at Eagle FC 44, on January 28, 2022. He lost the bout via unanimous decision.

Howard faced Ange Loosa on April 2, 2022, at XMMA 4. He lost the bout via unanimous decision.

Bare-knuckle boxing

Howard made his Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship debut against Pat Casey on June 14, 2025 at BKFC Fight Night 25. He lost the fight by technical knockout at the end of the first round due to Doctor Stoppage (Cut).

Personal life

Howard has three daughters. Before fighting professionally, Howard worked as an electrician. He is also a diehard New England Patriots fan, and is a fan of all of the professional teams out of Boston including the Boston Red Sox, the Boston Celtics, and the Boston Bruins. He also enjoys playing video games in his free time.

Championships and accomplishments

Mixed martial arts

• Ultimate Fighting Championship
  • Fight of the Night (One time)
  • Knockout of the Night (One time)
  • UFC.com Awards
    • 2009: Ranked #7 Newcomer of the Year
• Ring of Combat
  • ROC Welterweight Championship (One time)
• CES MMA
  • CES Middleweight Championship (One time)

Mixed martial arts record

| ko-wins= 10 | ko-losses= 4 | sub-wins= 7 | sub-losses= 2 | dec-wins= 12 | dec-losses= 13 | dq-wins= | dq-losses= | other-wins=

| | New Orleans, Louisiana, United States | |- |Loss |Ramazan Kuramagomedov |Decision (unanimous) |Eagle FC 44 | |Miami, Florida, United States

| |Miami, Florida, United States | |- |Won |Ozzie Alvarez |Decision (unanimous) |CES MMA 63: Howard vs Alvarez | |Springfield, Massachusetts, United States

| |Las Vegas, Nevada, United States

| | Atlantic City, New Jersey, United States | |- | Loss | Magomed Magomedkerimov | Submission (guillotine choke) | PFL 1 (2019) | | Uniondale, New York, United States

| |Atlantic City, New Jersey, United States | |- | Win | Gasan Umalatov | Submission (rear-naked choke) | PFL 3 (2018) | | Washington D.C., United States | |- |Win |Roger Carroll |Decision (unanimous) |CES MMA 46: Howard vs. Carroll | |Lincoln, Rhode Island, United States | |- |Loss |Abubakar Nurmagomedov |Decision (unanimous) |WSOF 33 | |Kansas City, Missouri, United States

| |Mashantucket, Connecticut, United States

| |Las Vegas, Nevada, United States | |- |Win |Cathal Pendred |Decision (split) |UFC 189 | |Las Vegas, Nevada, United States | |- |Loss | Lorenz Larkin |TKO (punches) | UFC Fight Night: McGregor vs. Siver | | Boston, Massachusetts, United States | |- |Loss | Brian Ebersole |Decision (split) | UFC 178 | | Las Vegas, Nevada, United States | |- |Loss | Ryan LaFlare | Decision (unanimous) | UFC Fight Night: Nogueira vs. Nelson | | Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates | |- |Win | Siyar Bahadurzada | Decision (unanimous) | UFC 168 | | Las Vegas, Nevada, United States

| |Boston, Massachusetts, United States | |- |Win | Chris Woodall |TKO (punches) |CES MMA: New Blood | |Lincoln, Rhode Island, United States

| |Lincoln, Rhode Island, United States

| |Goiânia, Brazil | |- |Win | Brett Chism |TKO (punches) |CES MMA: Real Pain | |Lincoln, Rhode Island, United States

| |Lincoln, Rhode Island, United States

| |Lincoln, Rhode Island, United States

| |Miami, Florida, United States | |- |Loss | Matt Brown |Decision (unanimous) |UFC Live: Kongo vs. Barry | |Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States | |- |Loss | Thiago Alves |Decision (unanimous) |UFC 124 | |Montreal, Quebec, Canada | |- |Loss | Jake Ellenberger |TKO (doctor stoppage) |UFC Live: Jones vs. Matyushenko | |San Diego, California, United States | |- |Win | Daniel Roberts |KO (punches) |UFC Live: Vera vs. Jones | |Broomfield, Colorado, United States

| |Las Vegas, Nevada, United States | |- |Win | Tamdan McCrory |Decision (split) |UFC 101 | |Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States | |- |Win | Chris Wilson |Decision (split) |UFC 94 | |Las Vegas, Nevada, United States

| |Atlantic City, New Jersey, United States

| |Uncasville, Connecticut, United States

| |Atlantic City, New Jersey, United States | |- |Loss | Dan Miller |Decision (unanimous) |Ring of Combat 17 | |Atlantic City, New Jersey, United States

| |Revere, Massachusetts, United States

| |Revere, Massachusetts, United States | |- |Loss | Nick Catone |Decision (unanimous) |CFFC 5 | |Atlantic City, New Jersey, United States | |- |Win | Josh Rosaaen |Submission (triangle choke) |CFFC 4 | |Atlantic City, New Jersey, United States | |- |Loss | Alexandre Moreno |Submission (armbar) |WFL 10 | |Revere, Massachusetts, United States | |- |Win | Jason Dublin |Submission (arm-triangle choke) |CZ 15 | |Revere, Massachusetts, United States

| |Revere, Massachusetts, United States | |- |Win | Mandela K'ponou |Submission (heel hook) |WFL 1 | |Revere, Massachusetts, United States | |- |Win | Les Richardson |Submission (rear-naked choke) |CZ 9 | |Revere, Massachusetts, United States | |- |Win | Jason Dublin |Decision (unanimous) |CZ 8 | |Revere, Massachusetts, United States | |-

Bare-knuckle boxing record

|ko-wins=0 |dec-wins=0 |ko-losses=1 |dec-losses= |other-wins=

| |Uncasville, Connecticut, United States |

References

References

1. "Print Fight Card - UFC 178 Johnson vs. Cariaso". [[Ultimate Fighting Championship.
2. "John Howard - Official UFC Fighter Profile". [[Ultimate Fighting Championship.
3. Rodriguez, Ariel. (January 16, 2015). "UFC fighter: I busted 'arrogant' Tamerlan Tsarnaev's nose". [[Boston Herald]].
4. (August 15, 2013). "UFC fighter says he could have put accused Boston bomber 'down for good'".
5. Nason, Josh. (December 8, 2010). "John Howard Promises You Will Not See A Boring Fight".
6. (2016-06-16). "At age 33, John Howard finally freed by diagnosis of clinical autism". MMAFIGHTING.com.
7. ""Superman" vs. "Doomsday" shifted to The Ultimate Fighter 10 Finale in December". MMAjunkie.com.
8. "Daniel Roberts Steps in to Face John Howard". bostonherald.com.
9. (September 2, 2010). "Thiago Alves vs. John Howard targeted for UFC 124". mmajunkie.com.
10. "Martin Kampmann vs. John Howard on tap for UFC on Versus 4". mmajunkie.com.
11. "UFC on Versus 4: Matt Brown vs John Howard booked for June 26 with Martin Kampmann injured". mmamania.com.
12. "Welterweight John Howard Released from the UFC Following Loss at UFC on Versus 4". mmaweekly.com.
13. Staff. (2013-07-17). "John Howard re-signs with the UFC, fights Uriah Hall at UFC on Fox Sports 1". bostonherald.com.
14. (17 August 2013). "UFC Fight Night 26: Sonnen, Browne usher in Fox Sports 1 with quick finishes".
15. Staff. "Siyar Bahadruzada vs. John Howard added to December's UFC 168 event". MMAjunkie.com.
16. Mike Chiappetta. (2014-02-14). "John Howard vs. Ryan LaFlare targeted for UFC's Abu Dhabi show". foxsports.com.
17. Jesse Holland. (2014-05-05). "John Howard vs. Rick Story set for UFC Fight Night 45 on July 16 in Atlantic City". mmamania.com.
18. MMAJunkie.com Staff. (2014-06-18). "Leonardo Mafra replaces John Howard at UFC Fight Night 45". mmajunkie.com.
19. Staff. (2014-07-14). "Brian Ebersole vs. John Howard slated for UFC 178 in Las Vegas". mmajunkie.net.
20. Staff. (2014-11-03). "John Howard vs. Lorenz Larkin set for UFC Fight Night 59 in Boston". mmajunkie.net.
21. Mike Bohn. (2015-04-01). "Brandon Thatch vs. John Howard added to UFC 189 in Las Vegas". mmajunkie.com.
22. Matt Erickson. (2015-06-23). "Brandon Thatch meets Gunnar Nelson at UFC 189, John Howard now gets Cathal Pendred". mmajunkie.com.
23. Dave Doyle. (2015-07-11). "UFC 189 results: John Howard gets the nod over Cathal Pendred". mmafighting.com.
24. Staff. (2015-09-17). "UFC Fight Night 80 gets slew of new bouts, including Howard-Means, Graves-Roberts". mmajunkie.com.
25. Ben Fowlkes. (2015-12-10). "UFC Fight Night 80 results: Tim Means knocks John Howard stiff in second round". mmajunkie.com.
26. Rey Sefo. (2016-03-01). "WSOF Signs Gladiator, Thug Nasty And Doomsday". mmajunkie.com.
27. "WSOF 34". pictaram.com.
28. (2019-05-10). "Магомед Магомедкеримов победил Джона Ховарда".
29. Anderson, Jay. (2019-07-11). "PFL 4 2019 Results: John Howard Scores Highlight Reel TKO of Ray Cooper III".
30. (2021-10-23). "XMMA 3 Results - Dodson vs Gibson".
31. Stumberg, Patrick L.. (2022-01-28). "LIVE! Eagle FC 44 Results & Streaming Updates".
32. (2022-03-11). "14 former UFC fighters booked for XMMA 4 card in New Orleans".
33. (2022-04-03). "XMMA 4 video results, full replay: John Dodson tops Francisco Rivera; Jared Gooden and Kyle Stewart thrive".
34. "BKFC FIGHT NIGHT MOHEGAN SUN EVENT {{!}} BKFC".
35. "BKFC Fight Night Mohegan Sun Results {{!}} BKFC".
36. (2009-08-07). "Dorchester's John Howard hopes to log bonus time". BOSTONHERALD.com.
37. Thomas Gerbasi. (December 18, 2009). "Ten Best – The Newcomers of 2009". [[Ultimate Fighting Championship]].