Joshua Oxendine shares his story of losing his father, becoming injured during his military service, and his road to recovery and eventual entry into the sport of bare-knuckle fighting.
“Everything went black,” says Joshua Oxendine, recalling the moment his leg was nearly destroyed after his platoon was ambushed in Afghanistan’s Helmand Province. At the time, Oxendine had only been in the military for nine months, serving on the front lines with the Infantry First Battalion, 8th Marines out of Camp Lejeune in his home state of North Carolina. Disaster struck during a mission when a pair of improvised explosive devices (IEDs) erupted. His dreams of following his family’s legacy of military service came to an abrupt end.
Growing up in Robeson County—a notoriously tough part of North Carolina with the state’s highest rates of violent crime—Oxendine was no stranger to fighting. His father introduced him to boxing as an outlet for his aggression, and the two shared a love for the sport. However, when Oxendine was just 14 years old, his father passed away from lung cancer, leaving the young teen to find his own path. Oxendine continued boxing to honor his father, and eventually enlisted in the Marines—a departure from his family’s tradition of Army service.
Oxendine’s military career was cut short by the ambush in Afghanistan, and the resulting injury led doctors to tell him that he might never walk again. After three years of grueling rehabilitation, he defied the odds and learned to walk—and eventually run—again. The experience taught him to never take a day for granted and inspired him to return to boxing as both a tribute to his father and a means to cope with the post-traumatic stress from his military service.
Over time, Oxendine moved from boxing to mixed martial arts and eventually discovered bare-knuckle fighting. So far in his bare-knuckle career, he has a 2-0 record with two knockouts and is set to face Mark Irwin for the title of BYB Extreme lightweight champion in May 2022. Outside the ring, Oxendine serves as a minister and is pursuing a Bachelor’s degree in Christian ministries. His life now is focused on being a “walking testimony” that adversity can be overcome with determination, hard work, and faith.