Nate Williams on eighteen years and more than a hundred fights

Eighteen years in

Nate Williams has been at this a long time. The 38-year-old, known to fans as Teddy Bear, comes from Waterloo and fights out of Des Moines, Iowa, where he trains at Porcelli's Training Center (Des Moines MMA Academy & Team Porcelli). When he sat down with MMA Futures in October, he summed up the length of his career in a few words.

"Eighteen years, over a hundred fights. It's a lot," Williams said.

The numbers on his profile back that up. He is listed at 49-7 as an amateur in MMA, 33-24 as a professional in MMA, and 5-3 as a professional in Muay Thai and kickboxing. He is a two-time Bellator veteran, and he has also competed in bare knuckle with BKB. He told MMA Futures that at first he never wanted any part of bare knuckle and thought the idea was foolish, before coming around to it.

An accidental start

His way into the sport was not planned. He told MMA Futures he went along to corner a wrestling buddy, only to learn that the friend had signed him up to fight as well. Then his name was called, and that was that.

In a sense he was ready for it. He wrestled in college and credits wrestling for the grit he has carried through his career. Competing, he explained, is simply who he is.

"I just like to compete. I've always competed my whole life," Williams said.

The nickname goes back even further. He said it came from one of his buddies in high school, who told him he was like a teddy bear. The name stuck, and it has followed him through all those years since.

Belts and the people he coaches

Asked which title means the most to him, he pointed to an MCC belt from 2012. What makes it stand out, he told MMA Futures, is that he had to fight twice in one night for it.

These days a good part of his time goes into other people. He coaches at Porcelli's Training Center in the Des Moines area, and he has also coached wrestling at the middle-school and high-school levels. When he talks about what he would pass on to younger athletes, his advice is short and practical.

"Don't take things to heart. Jump on the opportunities when they're available to you," Williams said.

It is advice that fits his own story. A career that started because a friend put his name on a list turned into close to two decades and more than a hundred fights across amateur MMA, professional MMA, Muay Thai, kickboxing and bare knuckle.

The fighter he has tried to be

For all the numbers, Williams talks about his career in simple terms. He does not dress it up. He wrestled, he competed, he kept showing up, and now he helps teach the next group coming through the gym.

When he described the kind of fighter he wants people to see when they look back, he spoke about himself in the third person.

"That he never quit. He was always an exciting fighter. He was a good role model," Williams said.

That is a fair way to describe someone who has spent most of his adult life in the gym and in the cage, and who still talks about the sport with the same plain enthusiasm he brought to it on the night a friend signed him up without asking.

You can find more on Nate Williams at his AFC roster page.