"Nasty" Nate Becker, training out of Kazato Hen Jitsu (KHJ) under Randall Coburn in Salem OR, took home a quick first round guillotine win over Roy Bradshaw at the Feb 19th CageSport show in Tacoma. Nate talked with NW Fightscene's Spaniard a few days afterwards about the fight and a whole lot more...

NW Fightscene: What are you up to buddy?

Nate Becker: Oh not a lot man, just on my way to work. Just had a fight last Saturday. That was pretty neat.

NWFS: Yeah you got a win. Talk about that win. That was a pretty quick guillotine.
Becker: Yeah, I've just got to say finally. I lost 4 fights in a row, and I thought I was doing great in all 4 of those fights but I just found a way to lose. I felt great for this fight versus Roy Bradshaw last Saturday. He trains with Cody McKenzie.

You've heard of that guy?

NWFS: I think everybody has. Its interesting you got a guillotine against a guy who trains the McKenzietine and those guys win with it. And you got a guillotine against him. What was it, 46 seconds?
Becker: Yep, you should have seen the look on Cody McKenzie's face. He was cornering Roy Bradshaw. When he came in [the cage] he was like "Faaaaaahh!" (laughs) That was funny.

NWFS: Did you do anything different for this fight? Or was it the same go?
Becker: A lot of the same. We have been having a lot of guys come to our gym. KHJ, Randall Coburn, he's our coach. We're having a lot of guys like Shorty [Weikel] and those guys helping my wrestling out a ton.

NWFS: Do you have anything ready to go? Obviously you like to fight a lot. 
Becker: I love to fight. Dude, if I could fight every weekend, I would. Of course I have to wait that seven days, I wish it was six. I don't have any planned fights right this second. I was thinking April 16th, Rogue Warrior is having a fight. I think its in California. They wanted me to be a part of. Might do that.

NWFS: Do you have any sponsorships? 
Becker: Lucky for me, no one wants to be part of a losing fighter. Lets take it seriously. I lost 4 fights in a row. Nobody wants to sponsor me right now. I need to pull myself back up, get a few wins under my belt, and then I figure I'll have the capability of getting sponsors. Right now, with the money I win from fighting, I put that right into my company, Live To Fight, to make more gear.

NWFS: You see Live To Fight everywhere. Are you sponsoring anyone?
Becker: I'm not... They're buying my gear because they like to train in it and they like to fight in it. I don't sponsor anybody right now. The people you see wearing my stuff are wearing it because they love it. It makes me feel great when I see that.

NWFS: How did you get into the whole fight gear stuff? Did you say 'hey since I'm a fighter I'm going to do this'. Do you try all your product out first too?
Becker: Oh yeah, I rigorously test my gear before I actually put it to the mainstream.. But I got into it through Gladiator Fightwear. Ted Bundy, he owned it. He's not Ted Bundy, I forget his first name so I call him Bundy. The Gladiator guy. He got me into it. They went out of business and so I decided to do my own thing. That's how I got into it.

NWFS: I heard that you have a job delivering pizza. What's the deal?
Becker: (laughs) I do. That's where I'm driving to right now. Its snowy. I'm going to get tips. I do the pizza thing because my shift is from 11 to 5 every day. I'll train for 3 hours before it and then I'll get off work and do 3 hours after it. It works out perfectly.

NWFS: Have you ever had any fans recognize you?
Becker: I got a funny story about that. I'm broke because I'm a little fighter.

  I just got my car repossessed. And the tow truck driver was like 'Ain't you Nasty Nate, the fighter?' And I go "yeah." And he's 'Oh Man! You got cool fights. You want anything out of your car before I tow it away?' That's pretty funny. Also the other day I delivered a pizza to a guys house and he was wearing a Live to Fight shirt. That was pretty cool.

NWFS: You got to be kidding me.
Becker: No joking. I was like "Hey cool shirt" and he's like 'yeah, I bought it at the fight. Pretty cool'. I didn't tell him I was the owner but it was pretty funny.

NWFS: You have a job, you have a company, you're a pro fighter & you have a family. How do you balance that out?
Becker: Dude, its hard. Nothing gets the full attention. If the family needs more attention one week, I'll give them more attention and I've got to take that out of training. Or if the family is feeling smothered by me they'll say 'hey Nate, go train more'. I'll put more work into training so its like a teeter-totter.

NWFS: Where do you see the sport heading in the next 10 years?
Becker: Its just going to keep building. Man, its getting so big so fast. Its ridiculous. I have friends that think they are diehard fight fans who've never even heard of K-1 or Pride Fighting. Anything beside the UFC & Strikeforce. And they say they're huge fans. I love it.

NWFS: You live in Oregon but haven't fought there much as a pro. How hard is it for you to get fights there and what effect do you think the commission has on it? 
Becker: If you look at my record, I've fought once in Oregon in my entire seven fight pro career. Just because there's nobody in Oregon that really wants to pay. Its so hard because the commission charges so much for the promoters, its hard for them to afford to pay us pros. I wish the commission wasn't there but I guess its a love/hate, you need it. But I wish they'd back off it a little bit you know. I wish there wasn't a different commission for every state. I think its pretty ridiculous. 

NWFS: If you could fight any fighter tomorrow, who would it be?
Becker: I want to fight Jose Aldo. He's the number one 145er around. I know that right here and now, I don't necessarily stand a chance but I want to fight him so bad. (laughs) I'll make my own chance.

NWFS: That's a pretty big plate Nate. 
Becker: I'm not scared. I'll fight anybody. I'll fight Dan Severn. I'll fight a fifty year old man. I'll punch him right in his mustache. I'll fight anybody dude. Just give me a fight. I love this sport.

NWFS: If you could give some advice to an upcoming amateur, what would you tell them?
Becker: When you go to the gym to train, put 100 percent into it. When you go into a fight, there should never be any doubt in your mind about your cardio. You should never ever worry, am I going to get tired in this fight. You need to put the hours in at the gym so that you can be confident in a fight. That's the most important thing. Your skill will come. You just need to be in shape. There's no excuse. That's all I have to say.

NWFS: I'm going to say a few words to you and I want you to say the first thing that comes to mind. First word: Judges. 
Becker: Hopefully they get paid for nothing. Never let them do their jobs.

NWFS: Next word: Pizza
Becker: (laughs) I love pizza. Its my nemesis.

NWFS: Fedor.
Becker: He's still the greatest.

NWFS: And last word: Boxing.
Becker: I think of commissioners just because you had it in my mind. But I love boxing.

NWFS: Anyone you want to thank?
Becker: I forgot to mention NW Fight Soap. They just hooked me up with a sponsorship for my last fight against Roy Bradshaw. I didn't get to us the mic [to thank them] because Jimmy Lennon Jr is a hog. But I'd just like to thank the fight soap guys for hooking me up with that stuff, keeping me staph-free and ringworm-free and all that crap... It smells good too. I smell like a rainbow. I come out of the shower smelling really good.

NW Fightscene thanks Nate for taking the time to speak to us.

Visit the official Live To Fight (LTF) website at livetofight.net.