Red, White and Boom: A Two Part Series on WAKO Team USA Kickboxing in Minnesota
The following is part one of a two-part series of interviews conducted by nordeastnakmuay.com guest author, Seth Goin. Seth sat down with Nate Richardson of WAKO Team USA to discuss Nate's upcoming trip to participate in The WAKO World Championships in Belgrade, Serbia in October 2015.
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In less than one week, the World Association of Kickboxing Organizations (WAKO) USA Kickboxing Team will depart the familiar amber waves of grain and purple mountains majesty to travel overseas and compete in the 20th WAKO World Championships in Belgrade, Serbia against some of the best amateur kickboxers in the world. Two of the athletes representing the United States, Antonio Dvorak and Nate Richardson, are based here in Minnesota and train with WAKO coaches Chris Cichon and Justin Whiley at the Cellar Gym in St. Anthony, Minnesota.
Nate Togbah Richardson was born in Monrovia, Liberia in 1990. By 2000, Nate and his family were forced to flee the country to escape the civil war that had enveloped it. After landing in North Minneapolis for a short while and then settling in Coon Rapids, a suburb of the Twin Cities, Nate began to immerse himself in the local combat sports scene. Competing in his first amateur Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) fight at the age of 20, Nate declared himself a competitor to watch by winning three amateur fights in just four months. He ended his amateur MMA career in mid-2012 with a record of four wins and one loss and began his professional career earning two first round submission victories and one loss. He then switched gears to a professional boxing career and in 2013 recorded one win by knockout and one loss. His triumphant return to MMA came earlier this year when he put down MMA veteran Courtney Buck with a 3rd round knockout on a nationally televised Legacy MMA card, improving his pro MMA record to 3-1.
Nate’s true affirmation of his skills as a kickboxer emerged under the Extreme Striking Promotion banner. After winning a kickboxing match in August 2014, Nate was invited to participate in an eight man bracket-style tournament in November. It was a battle of pure heart and determination as he competed as the smallest man in the tournament, ten pounds above his normal fighting weight. He fought and won three times in one night to walk away as the Extreme Striking Promotion 155 pound champion. He has since defended his title, winning with a fifth round technical knockout in February 2015.
Despite overwhelming success in the last three years, Nate remains humble and down to earth. When reminded of past successes and victories he smiles, laughs and shrugs. In large groups, he is quiet and observant but one-on-one he opens up, making jokes and laughing easily. In the gym, he is encouraging and eager to talk fighting with anyone, discussing technique and training. I sat down with him on a sunny Saturday afternoon to discuss fighting overseas for WAKO Team USA, how he found his way into combat sports and what he would be doing if he had never discovered his passion for it.
SG: This is your first time fighting outside of Minnesota and you’re flying halfway around the world to do it. Does that add anything to the experience, or is it just business as usual?
NR: It’s a whole new experience for me but once we actually get there it’s going to be business as usual.
SG: How does it feel to be asked to represent Team USA?
NR: It’s an honor and it’s not every day you get to compete against the best in the world. So it’s going to be fun.
SG: What drew you to fighting in the first place?
NR: To be honest with you, I do not like the violent part. I got into it after high school because I figured I already had the wrestling background so I might as well learn how to defend myself. So I went into it and got my butt beat (laughs). I learned just because you got muscle it don’t really help when you get tired. So that got me focused to try to get to be the best possible and just kept pushing until I learned I had knockout power. I was like, ‘oh this is fun’.
SG: Did you get into it with the idea to get into MMA or kickboxing?
NR: No, basically just to learn how to defend myself.
SG: How would you describe your fighting style?
NR: I’d say it’s a little of everything, I pretty much do a little of everything. From boxing to kickboxing to muay thai, I like mixing a bunch of different stuff in, seeing what works for me, what I can add onto it and what’s going to work for me in that fight.
SG: What does a week of training look like for you?
NR: A week of training is running in the morning - I try to get a good seven miles in. In the [afternoon], I’ll be off to the boxing gym [Lyke’s ACR Boxing Gym in Coon Rapids, MN] and be done with that at 5:30. Then I’m off to the Cellar for team training at 6:30, and then jiu-jitsu later. After that, I’m off to LA Fitness to work footwork drills or treadmill, just staying constantly active as much as possible. Then I’ll be done training at 11 P.M. and I’m in bed. On the weekends I do hill sprints and running with my teammates at the Cellar.
SG: What time do you wake up in the morning?
NR: I work [as a PCA] from 8am-2pm seven days a week, so I wake up around 7am so I can get my run in.
SG: What would you be doing if you weren’t fighting?
NR: To be honest, if I wasn’t competing in fighting I would be the guy you see in the gym working out a lot. I’d probably consider… I wouldn’t say bodybuilding… what are those?
SG: The body sculpting?
NR: Exactly, something like that and I’d always be at the gym working out.
SG: What helps you, mentally, get into a place you need to be before a fight?
NR: Mentally, for me, it’s pretty much music. People around the gym see me a lot of the time with my headphones in. For me, it’s music. It’s one of the first things that helped me walk as a kid and it’s been stuck with me ever since.
SG: What kind of music do you listen to to get in that zone?
NR: I’d say rap, hip hop and R&B. It just depends what mood I’m in. I try not to listen to something too violent. Something that would almost sort of pump you up for football season or something like that. Just trying to make sure my head is clear whether it’s a motivational speech or something to get me focused on
the task I gotta do.
SG: What is it about rap and hip hop and R&B?
NR: It’ll be a certain song like the beat or the lyrics. How it just relates to the situation I’m in and about to get into. For example, what’s it called? ‘Till I Collapse by Eminem, that’s one I’ll listen to and just get in that zone.
SG: Any shout outs before we finish up? Any sponsors?
NR: Unfortunately, I don’t have any sponsors right now (laughs). You’d be surprised.
SG: Maybe this will help you out.
NR: I’m not big time like most of the guys you see around here. I like to keep it low key, which is not a good thing business-wise. Not many people know who I am yet. Right now, I’m just an ‘on his own guy’ trying to make his way up. The only people there are my family, my friends and the coaches and people at the gyms I work out at. That’s about it.
SG: Who are some of those people?
NR: Chris [Cichon], I have Dave [Simonson] out of Lyke’s and then I got Caleb Truax who is the Minnesota middleweight boxing champ and a bunch of other guys who I get a chance to work with on a daily basis…Chris [Cichon] and pretty much everyone from the Cellar, Pam [Sorenson] and Ryan [Sternberg] and there’s so many names (laughs), just the whole team.
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Like most fight sports, even at the highest levels where someone like Nate is representing their country, the athlete must cover his/her own expenses for the trip. Visit Nate's Go Fund Me page and consider kicking him some cash to help cover the expenses of participating in the tournament.
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