MMA fighter charged with manslaughter after Florida bar fight

Panama City Beach (WMBB) — An amateur MMA fighter has been arrested on suspicion of murdering another man in the parking lot of a Panama City Beach bar.

Ross Allen Johnson, 23, of Cartersville, Illinois, has been charged with manslaughter by the Panama City Beach Police Department. The incident occurred Sunday night in a bar parking lot on his 10500 block on Front Beach Road.

Police wrote that Johnson was an amateur mixed martial artist with a record of five wins and two losses and had three years of “advanced fighter training.”

Johnson was running towards a brawl involving friends when he punched another man behind the ear, police added. Police said he did not seek help for the man after Johnson knocked him out.

Instead, Johnson left the man he had beaten lying in the parking lot and continued towards the fight where he skirmished with another man, police wrote.

When that second fight ended, Johnson left the area and remained in a hotel room while trying to avoid investigators, officers wrote.

When he was finally taken into custody, investigators said Johnson gave multiple different explanations for what happened, including simply pushing the man. He spoke and wrote, “The man is still not moving.”

They added that Johnson told witnesses, “I hit that guy, I laid him out, and I think I killed him.”

According to arrest reports, the victim died of blunt force trauma to the head. An autopsy revealed a “softball”-sized bruise behind the victim’s left ear and a fractured skull.