Jul-16-2008
Nate Loughran – Breaking The Mold
By Thomas Gerbasi
In most cases, a typical day of training in mixed martial arts is just that – typical. Do some bag and cardio work, hit the pads, drill technique, spar, etc. But for Santa Rosa, California’s Nate Loughran, his training day isn’t complete without at least an hour of reading.
Yes, reading.
“It’s extremely important, and the funny thing to me is - and I hear this a lot - is that fighters say this sport is 90 percent mental,” said Loughran, who makes his UFC debut this Saturday night in Las Vegas against Johnny Rees. “I completely agree with that, but then they train the physical part a hundred percent of the time, and that really doesn’t make sense to me. The rare time that they do train the mental part is when the physical part is just pushed to the extreme. But this is a mental game.”
And one the 27-year old takes very seriously, whether it’s getting in a couple games of chess daily or sticking his nose in a good book. Not that he’s willing to reveal the latest tome on his night table.
“Honestly, it took me 27 years to find a lot of these books that I’m reading, and if I told you, I think I would tell a lot of my opponents, so I wouldn’t be as comfortable,” he chuckles when asked what’s on his reading list. “I honestly get a lot of my security when I’m in a fight from these books.”
But before you expect to see a bookworm complete with thick glasses and a pocket protector strolling into the Octagon at The Palms this weekend, it’s worth noting that the 6 foot 2 middleweight is 8-0 as a pro, with all but one of his wins coming by submission (the other victory was by TKO). So he is paying attention to the physical side of the game as well, aided by former UFC middleweight title challenger David Terrell, who has been a constant source of inspiration for the native of Rohnert Park, California.
“He’s been grooming me over the years and telling me all these little things that got to him that I should expect,” said Loughran, referring to the advice Terrell has given him regarding his Octagon debut. “And the main thing is people asking you the same question over and over. Let’s say you’re hurt, like you always are training for a fight, and everybody asks you 500 times. You have to answer the question 500 times and it’s just gonna make you more hurt.”
These little annoyances aside, Loughran seems to have everything together – mentally and physically - before the biggest fight of his career, and if he’s in need of more positive reinforcement, he can just look at what Terrell and former teammate Tyson Griffin did in their first UFC fights.
“I honestly think that if you’ve been there in the mind, you’ve been there in the body, and as far as I’m concerned, I’ve been there thousands of times in my mind,” said Loughran of the first-time UFC jitters. “Another thing is, I’m fighting another guy making his debut, and when I always imagined my debut in the UFC, I never imagined fighting another debuter. The fact that some people get some UFC jitters gives me more confidence because I figure if anyone’s gonna have it, it’s gonna be him. My teacher, Terrell, also had one of the best UFC debuts ever. He fought the number one contender (Matt Lindland) and knocked him out in 24 seconds, and he’s a jiu-jitsu guy, so that gives me confidence as well. And my old teammate Tyson Griffin cleaned house when he had his UFC debut too. So I honestly think that it won’t be a problem. I believe that stress is self-induced.”
That’s not to say that Loughran hasn’t felt under the gun before; that would be simplifying things. A longtime wrestler who competed for two years at Santa Rosa Junior College, Loughran performed well, and at times built an impressive unbeaten string. But as the wins piled up and more attention came, it started to wear on him.
“When I was in wrestling, I was 31-0, 32-0, and everyday in the papers, it was ‘undefeated’ or ‘unbeaten,’” he recalled. “At one point I felt that, so I could see it wearing on people, but being undefeated doesn’t really pop into my head that much now. As far as I’m concerned, my last eight fights, I chalk them up as lessons learned and I don’t feel any added pressure from being undefeated. I just want to be undefeated in my next fight and I’m totally focused on that. I try to live in the now and I think that really helps me with whatever’s coming. I keep it simple.”
It’s been pretty simple for him thus far in the pro ranks for the jiu-jitsu blue belt and judo green belt – he goes in there, fights, and wins, with no bout making it out of the second round. He’s become a fighter who is maximizing his gifts mentally and physically, something not everyone in this sport can do.
“I
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had teammates that would do really well with me in practice, but then they would go into the match and not even do half as good that I thought their skills warranted,” said Loughran. “And the more I looked for it, the more I saw it, and the mental part of your game allows you to use all of your physical game. I see people with marvelous physical talents and gifts, and they don’t even have the ability to use them because their mental game is holding them back in one way or another.”
Loughran – with the help of his coach, manager, and teammates - refuses to let that happen to him, and when it comes to competing in the UFC, he’s not just happy to have made it here – he plans on sticking around long enough to give the top 185-pounders nightmares.
“People keep congratulating me (on making it to the UFC), but I haven’t done anything yet,” he said. “As far as I’m concerned, I’m sitting at the bottom of a humongous mountain that I’m looking to climb. Honestly, I get paid to be healthy and fit and to do my favorite thing on this earth. A lot of people don’t get to do what they love to do in their spare time, and I get to do it all day every day.”
Then the UFC’s book-loving battler whips out an oldie but goodie:
“Find what you love to do, and then find someone to pay you to do it,” said Loughran. “And fortunately, I’ve done that, and I feel blessed everyday to wake up and do what I love.”
And even though he will walk into the Octagon with a gaudy 8-0 record on Saturday night, when it comes down to it – and this shouldn’t be a surprise if you’ve read the previous 1,166 words – it isn’t all about the fame or the money for this young man. For Nate Loughran, what he does in competition goes much deeper than that.
“One of the aspects I take most seriously about martial arts and MMA is that people correlate how well I do in the cage to how well my teacher can teach,” he said. “I take that extremely seriously, and that’s one of the main reasons I want to do well. Not only win, but do well when I win because if I do bad, they’ll think my teachers are bad. If I do great, they’ll think my teachers are great and that’s what I want people to take away – how good my academy is, and how much support I get from my teachers, my sponsors, and my family and friends.”
