Nick Newell

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Nick Newell
Born (1986-03-17) March 17, 1986
Milford, Connecticut, United States
Other names Notorious
Nationality American
Height 5 ft 10 in (178 cm)
Weight 155 lb (70 kg)
Division Lightweight
Reach 74.0 in (188 cm)
Style Wrestling
Fighting out of Springfield, Massachusetts, United States
Team Fighting Arts Academy
Years active 2009-present
Mixed martial arts record
Total 11
Wins 11
By knockout 2
By submission 8
By decision 1
Losses 0
Mixed martial arts record from Sherdog
last updated on: December 13, 2010

Nick Newell (born March 17, 1986 in Milford, Connecticut) is an undefeated American mixed martial artist, who fights at lightweight.[1] He is well known for being a one-armed fighter, with his left arm ending just after the elbow, meaning he has no left hand and does not have most of his left forearm[2]

Early life

From birth, Newell had a left arm that stopped past the elbow because of a condition called congenital amputation. But he adapted with his one arm, going into his high school wrestling team. He thought about quitting after his very first session because it was 'the hardest thing I had done in my life' as he says, but his mother did not allow him, and instead he worked hard from then on.[3]

Newell has over 300 victories between high school and college in wrestling.[4]

Newell stated that whilst growing up he idolized former Yankees pitcher Jim Abbott, who has no right hand and was an inspiration for Newell to challenge himself.[5]

His roommate in college was current WWE superstar Curt Hawkins. They would watch The Ultimate Fighter, which was on the same channel right after WWE Raw, and Newell has said this is what inspired him to take up MMA.[6]

Mixed martial arts career

Before turning professional, he amassed an amateur record of 2 wins, 1 loss. He describes his early MMA career as a struggle, not because he could not win (he is currently undefeated), but because other fighters did not want to fight a one armed fighter. The opponents who have turned down a fight against him felt that it would be a lose-lose situation for them, as if they won, they just beat a one armed fighter, and if they lost they lost to a fighter with only one arm. One fighter did not even show up at the weigh-ins because he did not want to fight him. This became a bit of a struggle for Newell to find good opponents for the number of fights he'd like to have.[7]

Xtreme Fighting Championships

In 2011, Newell signed a multi-fight deal with both Shark Fights and Xtreme Fighting Championships.[8] He was supposed to have made his Shark Fights debut at Shark Fights 19, however an injury resulted in him being left off the card.[9] He had his first bout with XFC at XFC 15: Tribute. The event was renamed 'Tribute' in honour of Nick's friend and fellow XFC signee Abi Mestre, who was killed in a motorcycle accident. Mestre was a close friend and teammate of Newell’s who joined Nick last year at the open tryouts for the XFC.[10]

Newell defeated Denis Hernandez at XFC 15 with a dominant 71 second submission (heel hook) victory. Multiple videos and sources covered the fight, with many videos of the whole fight being posted on multiple MMA websites, as well as being shared across many Facebook and Twitter pages worldwide.[11]

He did an interview with Bleacher Report to talk about the fame he has been getting since his first televised fight at the XFC event. According to him, all the videos of the fight combined have reached around 4,500,000 views.[12]

Newell then defeated Chris Coggins via majority decision in what was Newell's biggest test in his MMA career so far.[13]

Newell defeated David Mays at XFC 19 after landing a big left knee on Mays chin, rendering him unconscious.[14]

He next fought for the vacated XFC Lightweight title at XFC 21 against Bellator veteran Eric Reynolds.[15] Newell won the fight via submission in the first round and took the XFC Lightweight Title in the process.[16]

On June 14, he was scheduled to defend his XFC title against Scott Holtzman, however Newell turned down the fight stating that he only wants to fight ex-UFC fighters. Newell would be stripped of his belt.[17]

World Series of Fighting

On May 28, 2013, Newell signed a multi-fight contract with World Series of Fighting.[18] WSOF President Ray Sefo hinted that Newell will be featured on the upcoming WSOF 4 & 5 cards against an opponent who has yet to be named. On June 20, it was announced that Newell would fight Keon Caldwell at World Series of Fighting 4.[19] He won the fight via submission in the first round.

For his second fight with the promotion, Newell faced Sabah Fadai at World Series of Fighting 7: Karakhanyan vs. Palmer on December 7, 2013. Again, he won the fight via submission in the first round.

Championships and accomplishments

Mixed martial arts record

External links

References

  1. ↑ Sherdog.com. "Nick "Notorious" Newell MMA Stats, Pictures, News, Videos, Biography". Sherdog.com. Retrieved 2012-02-10. 
  2. ↑ http://www.nypost.com/p/blogs/the_main_event/connecticut_mma_fighter_undefeated_shtFyywbbqKyZWgX8OsVkO#axzz2bFwO2jct
  3. ↑ http://mmajunkie.com/news/19429/for-one-armed-mma-fighter-nick-newell-the-real-challenge-is-finding-opponents.mma
  4. ↑ "One-Armed MMA Fighter Remains Undefeated with Heel Hook Submission at XFC 15". Bleacher Report. 2011-12-05. Retrieved 2012-02-10. 
  5. ↑ "MMA fighter undefeated despite being born with one hand". New York Post. 2013-08-08. Retrieved 2013-08-07. 
  6. ↑ Posted by Chief 187. "Notorious Nick Newell by Chief 187 | Chief 187 Blog". Whoobazoo.com. Retrieved 2012-02-10. 
  7. ↑ "For one-armed MMA fighter Nick Newell, the real challenge is finding opponents". MMATurf.com. Retrieved 2012-02-10. 
  8. ↑ ""Notorious" Newell signs mutli-fight deal with XFC | New England Mixed Martial Arts News". Nemmanews.com. 1999-02-22. Retrieved 2012-02-10. 
  9. ↑ "The Fighting Truth – MMA Facts Exposed » Blog Archive » Nick Newell Forced Out of Shark Fights 19 Debut". Fightingtruth.com. 2011-09-01. Retrieved 2012-02-10. 
  10. ↑ "Nick Newell and his Inspirational Story Capped off Friday’s XFC 15". MMAValor. 2011-12-05. Retrieved 2012-02-10. 
  11. ↑ Ragsdale, Cheryl. "One Armed MMA Fighter 'Notorious' Nick Newell Excites Fans at XFC 15 - Yahoo! Sports". Sports.yahoo.com. Retrieved 2012-02-10. 
  12. ↑ Juul, Matt (2011-12-19). "B/R MMA Talks with Undefeated One-Armed XFC Lightweight Nick Newell". Bleacher Report. Retrieved 2012-02-10. 
  13. ↑ Haggerty, Kevin (2012-04-15). "XFC 17 Results: Eric Reynolds wins decision in main event, Nick Newell remains unbeaten". MMA Mania. Retrieved 2012-04-14. 
  14. ↑ "XFC 19 Results: Cury, Herrig, and Newell Earn Wins". MMA Frenzy. 2012-08-04. Retrieved 2012-08-04. 
  15. ↑ "MMA: Despite having just one arm, Nick Newell deserves title shot". Eagle Tribune. 2012-08-12. Retrieved 2012-08-12. 
  16. ↑ "XFC 21 RESULTS: NICK NEWELL SUBMITS ERIC REYNOLDS TO WIN LIGHTWEIGHT TITLE". USA Today. 2012-12-12. Retrieved 2012-12-08. 
  17. ↑ "XFC Strips Nick Newell of Lightweight Championship; New XFC 24 Headliner on Tap". MMAWeekly.com. May 10, 2013. 
  18. ↑ "Undefeated, One-Armed Lightweight Nick Newell Signs with World Series of Fighting". MMAWeekly.com. May 28, 2013. 
  19. ↑ "World Series of Fighting Reveals Aug. 10 Fight Card". 
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike; additional terms may apply for the media files.