In a sport where one is considered a veteran by the time they enter their fourth decade of life, 35-year-old Nathan Coy has bucked the trend of regression and pieced together a six-fight winning streak, the longest in his career, in his mid-thirties.
Coy will look to extend that streak tonight against Adam McDonough in the season ten welterweight tournament semifinals at Bellator 116.
Although Coy did have a two-fight stint in Strikeforce, he believes that all the stars are aligning and that he is finally hitting his stride as a mixed martial artist.
“This is my coming out party. People have been sleeping on me for a long time and I wanna show people what’s up,” said Nathan Coy. “This is my moment.”
The foundation of Coy’s MMA arsenal is his wrestling. Coy was an All-American at Oregon State that has been trained his wrestling for two decades, but the southpaw has also honed his striking tools.
“I have 20 years of wrestling and 7 years of MMA, and wrestling and striking are almost completely opposite sports,” said Coy. “I train to have fast hands, and throw punches in bunches. I love the stand-up game.”
After going 0-2 in Strikeforce, Coy was able to earn a spot in Bellator by winning four straight on the regional scene. At Bellator 101, Coy made a successful Bellator debut, winning a decision against Andy Uhrich. Coy would continue his success at Bellator 112 by winning a rematch against Paul Bradley in the opening round of this season’s welterweight bracket.
The victory over Bradley set Coy up with tonight’s fight against McDonough, who sports an undefeated record through ten fights. McDonough has an intriguing skill-set, but one of his facets as a fighter that impresses Coy is his heart.
“Adam McDonough has a lot of heart – I’ve noticed that. He has a full-time job, so you know he works hard and he’s determined,” he said. “But to be number-one, you have beat the number-one, so I always pretend I’m fighting against my vision of the world number-one. So in my mind, Adam McDonough is the number-one fighter and I have to beat the hell out of him.”
Most fighters that are 35 years old tend to be on the decline of their career, but apparently, Coy hasn’t gotten that memo. He’s finally put together a consistent win streak, and he is isn’t even close to his ultimate goal in Mixed Martial Arts.
“My motivation and my main goal are one thing: to be number, to be a world champion,” said Coy. “I don’t care care about the money. I don’t care about having some kind of status. I want to be number-one in the world.”