Johnny Eblen is living it up outside of the cage.
The Bellator middleweight champion made headlines twice over the past couple weeks for reasons unrelated to his upcoming bout with PFL light heavyweight champion Impa Kasanganay, who he faces at the PFL vs. Bellator event this Saturday in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
In one instance, Eblen raised eyebrows when it was reported that he spent $85,000 on a shopping spree with OnlyFans model Jessenia Rebecca. Then, this past weekend, Eblen was caught on camera nearly getting physical with a prankster after being set up by manager Brian Butler.
Eblen was asked about the two stories during an appearance on The MMA Hour on Wednesday and he did his best to play coy.
“I’ve just been balling a little bit lately,” Eblen said when asked about his shopping habits. “I can’t talk too much about it, it’s fight week, I’ve got to focus on the fight. I’m a man, I’m a professional, I’ve got to focus on the fight.”
Pressed on the $85,000 figure, Eblen didn’t confirm nor deny, saying, “That’s what they said.”
Eblen’s love life generated further gossip when Bellator later released a clip of the champion frolicking with a different woman. The sudden attention on his choice of companions has Eblen chuckling in response.
“There’s a few girls fighting for my attention,” Eblen said. “They’re battling for it. It’s great to be the king and I’m going to continue to be the king, but we’ve got to focus on the fight. I’ve got to win, that’s the thing. You’ve got to stay the champ, you’ve got to keep winning, or they’re all going to just leave. Got to keep winning.”
“Just shenanigans,” Eblen continued. “It’s the shenanigans I get into. You get me out there, out in the free world, I’m bound to do something.”
Those shenanigans don’t just involve Eblen flaunting his bank account either. Eblen almost had to show off the skills that have made him an undefeated fighter when he was recently confronted by a stranger at a Home Depot.
Fortunately, Eblen quickly came to the realization that it was his manager Butler playing a prank on him, but the fighter says that the situation could have gone down a lot differently.
“[Butler] got me so good,” Eblen said. “I had no clue, I was just shopping, trying to get this hose. My dog uses a shower, we like to shower outside. We were at the Home Depot and I was looking around and all of a sudden this guy is just standing in front of me talking and he had a mask on, I’m like, ‘What is this mask?’ it’s like the Apple Vision Pro or something like that? And then I saw a camera behind him, I was like, ‘This guy’s probably trying to film funny content, he’s probably trying to do something.’ But I didn’t know him, I had no clue who he was. I just happened to be a part of it somehow.
“So I was like, alright, he was kind of talking s***, whatever, he kept egging me on, kept egging me on, and I was leaving and then he said something smart about my girl. Then I was like, ‘Bro,’ that’s when I flipped the switch and started walking him down. He was like, ‘Brian sent me.’ I was like, ‘Brian who? Brian who?’ He’s like, ‘Sucker Punch [Entertainment].’ I was about to give him a three-piece and f****** knock him out in the middle of Home Depot. Yeah, Brian, he f****** got me good.”
As Eblen recalls, it was the woman who was with him that not only set up the prank alongside Butler, but also made sure there were plenty of cameras to record it. He admitted that he was so heated from the confrontation that he was actually “sweating” after, and though he could laugh it off, he was 100 percent ready to throw hands.
Just how close was Eblen to punching the prankster?
“Very close,” Eblen said. “The fact that I walked away and he told me to come back after he continued to disrespect me and my girl, I was like walking him down like, ‘OK, I’m going to throw punches.’ That’s when he said, ‘Brian sent me,’ and I was like, ‘Brian who?’ My brain wasn’t, like, ‘Why are you telling me Brian?’ Then he said ‘Sucker Punch,’ and I was like, ‘Oh s***, yeah, I can’t punch this fool, he’s pulling a prank for my friend.”
