Nobody loves a scrap more than LFA flyweight Christian Natividad who has a banger of a bout coming up this Friday night at LFA 210 against Jose Sandoval that he hopes leads to a call up to the big show.
Natividad (6-0) hails from Hawaii and represents the islands and the Philippines, but has made the desert of Arizona his home. Arizona has quickly become a powerhouse of MMA talent in the last 10 years with some of the more premium gyms established there.
“I went from paradise to the desert dude. It’s all because of college and I think college is the perfect excuse to get out of Hawaii,” Natividad told Cageside Press.
“A lot of times, if you don’t go to college, you get stuck in Hawaii. It’s home. Who likes to leave home? Went to college in Oregon at first. I just wanted something a little bit different and Arizona’s the place I wanted to be because of ASU (Arizona State University). Brought my brother with me and I love it here.”
His brother? None other than former UFC bantamweight Kevin Natividad. Kevin fought the likes of Ricky Turcios, Batgerel Danaa and Miles Johns during his UFC run. He’s been an invaluable source of support and guidance for Christian.
“There’s one thing about having a brother that’s also your training partner, that’s also your coach, you know. Also your best friend,” Christian said.
Training at two of the biggest gyms in Arizona, Fight Ready in Scottsdale, and Arizona Combat Sports in Tempe, Natividad has found the right mix for himself.
“Arizona Combat Sports that’s my first MMA gym. When I first moved over here that’s when I started training MMA and it was AZ Combat. AZ Combat’s where I get like my meat and potatoes,” he said.
“(Fight Ready) I love it here. It’s a good gym, lots of different bodies. The one thing I like the most here is the knowledge from the coaches. There’s so much knowledge that’s so hard to take everything in. You have to be really picky and pick the things that you like. Anything that you want to learn the coaches probably have some kind of knowledge within it.”
All that knowledge will come in handy when Natividad faces the very tough and very game Sandoval in Louisville, Kentucky at LFA 210 on June 13. Sandoval comes in with a record of 7-3, a very heavy Mexican boxing style, and zero fear of getting into a scrap.
It’s exactly what Natividad has been hoping for.
“So, I kid you not, my fight that was supposed to happen in March, that fight ended up getting canceled. It got canceled far out, four or five weeks out of the fight, I thought I was going to fight a replacement. Unfortunately we didn’t get one,” said Natividad.
“The one person that I was hoping was going to take the fight or they were going to offer me was Jose Sandoval.”
Talk about manifesting what you want. It may have taken a while longer, but the matchup finally materialized for LFA 210.
“That didn’t happen. When they offered me Jose Sandoval (for LFA 210) I was like, ‘This is the guy that I wanted to fight months ago’ so turned out perfectly,” he said.
“It’s going to be a good one man. I’m so excited. He’s tough. He’s wild on the feet, he’s savvy on the ground, he’s well-rounded. I’m very excited to fight this guy.”
A victory over Sandoval gets Natividad to 7-0. A record like that, with an impressive win at LFA 210, might catch the eyes of someone in Las Vegas.
“Dana White! Sean Shelby! I’m not looking for a straight into the UFC. I know that’s hard to come around these days,” he said with a smile.
“I just want a job interview. Contender Series job interview, you know. Bring my resume. I’ll show up in the nicest suit that I could and show them what I’m about.”
Watch the entire interview with Christian Natividad above. He faces Jose Sandoval in the co-main event at LFA 210 on June 13 in Louisville, Kentucky. The event is headlined by Lance Lawrence taking on Javier Reyes.
