Issue 112
March 2014
Nick Newell used to be known as the one-armed mixed martial artist. Now he’s simply recognized as one of the planet’s leading MMA talents with a submission game that’s lighting up the World Series of Fighting
NEED 2 KNOW
ALIAS: ‘Notorious’
AGE: 27
PRO DEBUT: 2009
PRO RECORD: 11-0
TEAM: Fighting arts academy
DIVISION: lightweight
HEIGHT: five-foot-ten
STYLE: wrestling
As the only athlete shortlisted for ‘Breakthrough Fighter of the Year’ at Fighters Only’s Sixth Annual World MMA Awards not currently plying his trade inside the UFC Octagon, you’d be right in thinking Nick Newell was facing a pretty significant career obstacle.
Yet if you know anything about the ‘Notorious’ one then you’ll realize that obstacles are a part of his daily life, and he’s been leaping them one submission at a time ever since he started competing in mixed martial arts.
The undefeated World Series of Fighting (WSOF) lightweight prospect has amassed a slick 11-0 pro record, with eight taps, after making his debut in the summer of 2009. All the more incredible when you consider he’s missing his left hand and most of his left forearm due to the congenital amputation condition he was born with.
The disorder used to define him: Newell was ‘the guy with one arm’ who was making waves with his achievements on small MMA cards across Massachusetts. But that was then, and this is now, and today – as his World MMA Awards nomination suggests – the 27-year-old is one of the planet’s most talented lightweight prospects.
“At first, most people looked at me as a novelty,” he says, “first doubting I could ever win an MMA fight, then doubting I could ever beat anyone good, then doubting I could ever beat anyone that’s really good. But I have been getting a bit more credit lately, now that I am proving to be a legitimate martial artist and competing at a high level.
“I’m beating really good guys now. I have come to terms that it will always be a part of the story. It will always be a factor in how people look at me.
“No matter where I go, if I go to an amusement park people will still look and comment at the guy with one arm riding the rollercoaster. It’s who I am and I’m not ashamed of it. But I want to be known as a great martial artist, not just one known for being pretty good for having one hand. Signing for World Series of Fighting, and winning there, has already proved I am a good fighter. And now being nominated in the Fighters Only World MMA Awards, that just backs it up again.”
Not only has Newell won all 11 of his fights, he’s actually only ever been taken into a second round once, and his run included a stint as Xtreme Fighting Championships lightweight champion just 12 months ago. But it’s undoubtedly his performances on NBC Sports Network, under the WSOF banner, that have projected the Milford, Connecticut, 155lb’er up to the next level.
Back-to-back first-round submissions, both guillotines and part of an eight-sub career tally, have earmarked Newell as a future star, lower left limb or not. Yet mention phrases like ‘overcoming adversity’ to the former high school and college wrestling prodigy and he shakes his head.
He says: “I’ve never been the guy to say, ‘Oh, man I’m facing so much adversity, I only have one hand and I can’t believe I’m doing this.’ I’ve never been that guy. Every day is a struggle when you are working hard and have lofty goals. My very first wrestling practice was probably the hardest thing I’ve ever done. I learned that if you want something bad enough the road to get there is probably going to suck.
“I came home from practice and I’d gotten beat up by everybody on the team. I was a 95lb freshman wrestling at 103lb, and I was the only person at that weight so I was wrestling the kids at 112lb. Everybody else was cutting to make 112lb. They had at least 20lb on me and I’d never wrestled before.
“Afterwards I went home and I was crying. I told my mum that I wanted to quit, but she told me I’d made a commitment to the team and that I wasn’t allowed to quit. She said I couldn’t quit something just because it was too hard.”
Over 300 career wrestling match victories quickly followed. Then, while in college, Newell became a fan of The Ultimate Fighter and his childhood dream of one day becoming a Ninja Turtle bizarrely became a possibility (almost).
However, his early career was a struggle for all the wrong reasons as it quickly became clear nobody wanted to fight a one-armed man.
Newell recalls: “After I won the XFC lightweight championship everything changed, everyone wanted to take me out then. And I’ve not had too much trouble finding fights since. Now that I have a name and I’m a good fighter there is a lot to gain from taking a fight with me.
“But earlier in my career it was hard. I had five fights in a row canceled on me, like a week out. I’ve had people scheduled to fight me and not even show up for weigh-ins. One time I drove four hours, made weight and the guy didn’t even show up.
“At the time I didn’t have much vacation time at my job and I used it all up for fights and guys just wouldn’t show. I would go back and try to get put back on the schedule at work. It was a real pain in the ass for my boss at the time.”
Capturing the XFC belt live on national TV in the US really shot Newell into the mainstream, however, and, perhaps not surprisingly, onto the radar of WSOF president Ray Sefo and his team, whose own new NBC TV deal demanded top-class rising talent.
Newell adds: “I was a 2-22 freshman high school wrestler who nobody expected s**t from, who then goes on to win a professional title on national TV. It was a pretty emotional journey. It really is coming from nothing to something.”
And while he’s delighted with his current position, featuring on the main cards of WSOF events, Newell admits the lure of the UFC remains a long-term career goal. When asked if he believes he’ll ever fight inside the Octagon, he says abruptly: “Yes, I think I will. I don’t think you can delay the inevitable forever.
“I’m far from invincible and anything can happen on any given day, but I am more than capable and better than a lot of the guys that are in the UFC right now. If I went there I think within a few fights I would establish myself as one of the better fighters in the lightweight division.”
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