Morehouse enters ring with clear vision of risk

As a college student in Wisconsin struggling to pay the rent, John Morehouse was offered a last-minute fight.

The amount covered another month, so Morehouse took it, then scrambled for help in his corner. He wasn’t particular. He pulled two guys out of the crowd and tapped his girlfriend at the time to coach him.

Not much coaching was involved.

“I think I just said, ‘C’mon, John. Punch him. Punch him,’ ’’ Morehouse’s girlfriend said.

Amanda Morehouse helped the man who would become her husband win that night. On Friday night, Morehouse (10-8) will fight Keemaan Diop (2-1-0, two KOs) in a 154-pound bout on the Glory 67 Orlando kickboxing card at Silver Spurs Arena in Kissimmee.

“I’ve never said no to a fight,” Morehouse said. “I’m scared to go in there every time. There’s nothing scarier than walking into a ring or a cage and know that essentially someone is going to try to kill you.”

The choice of Central Florida was strategic, Glory Kickboxing matchmaker Steven Wright said.

“The last few years, it’s just been Chicago, New York,” Wright said. “We do both of those locations twice, and then maybe we do a Denver or L.A. once, and that was it. And I was like, ‘You know, we are going to have to see if we can do better in these other markets.’ ’’

Morehouse, 30, trains aspiring kickboxers at a gym he owns in south Orlando, but he began in taekwondo. When he was in his teens, he and his stepfather were watching “The Ultimate Fighter” — a reality TV series where contestants pursue a UFC contract — when it hit him.

“I was like, ‘Oh, that looks cool. I would love to try it, try to fight,’ ” he said. “I found the nearest MMA gym, and within three months, four months of training there, [they] gave me my first fight, and I loved it.”

Morehouse estimated he has fought a total of more than 60 times in MMA, kickboxing, muay thai and even bare-knuckle boxing.

No matter the combat sport, the basic blueprint is the same, Morehouse said.

“One thing I like to tell my students is that you need to adapt in there,” he said. “You need to take a punch or take a kick and be in pain, and your game plan needs to fail while you’re in there, and you need to change it to overcome and be successful.

“That’s hard for me to do.