Nate Ghareeb’s last fight left him wanting.
The Southampton native knocked out Zach Johnson in 54 seconds at CES 59 in Rhode Island more than a year and a half ago. That victory moved him to 2-0 in his professional mixed martial arts career.
“Not to be disrespectful, but he wasn’t on my level,” Ghareeb said of the Oct. 2019 bout. “There was not a lot of satisfaction at the end of the fight. I want the test.”
It will be administered Friday at Bellator 256 when he debuts in one of the world’s most prestigious MMA promotions. Ghareeb took the fight at Mohegan Sun in Uncasville, Conn., a month ago when Bellator needed an opponent for one of its top featherweight prospects: Cody Law. His new management, Wolf Sports MMA, had the connections to put him in the position. The entire card will be streamed live on YouTube.
“There’s way more benefits in taking a fight like this with a guy like this for this promotion than anybody else at this point in my career,” Ghareeb said. “I didn’t expect to be exactly here. The goal has always been to fight in the UFC, but Bellator is an exceptional promotion. To be here, I’m going to take any opportunity I can. It’s a big show.”
Law has a strong pedigree. The Pennsylvania native won a Division II wrestling national championship working with American Top Team, one of MMA’s premier training camps.
“You’ve got a lot of people thinking this kid is going to come in and destroy me. I don’t see it that way,” Ghareeb said. “I see that he’s got a lot of problems. I’m going to present problems for him, and I’ve been working on my problem solving.”
That work began after Ghareeb lost two consecutive amateur fights in the first half of 2018. He changed his training camp from Team Link and Jon Manley MMA to Connecticut’s Fighting Arts Academy.
“I want to fight at a high level, and I believe your environment is one of the most important things. I think I’m more invested. It all comes down to choices,” Ghareeb said. “I’m making better choices with my diet, who I choose to train with, how I choose to train. I let too much of the idea of being a great fighter get to me. You’ve got to put in the work, and I’ve certainly been doing that.”
He’s also fully healthy walking into the cage for the first time. Ghareeb had shoulder surgery late in 2019 to repair an injury that hampered him earlier in his career and prevented him from practicing more grappling for fear of aggravating it. The COVID-19 pandemic shut down training gyms and most MMA promotions, allowing Ghareeb to recover and then improve.
“I 100 percent saw it as an opportunity,” he said. “I’m not going to sit around and watch Netflix and eat food and get fat. When COVID hit nobody knew what could happen. The only thing I thought I could do was work on things that needed to be worked on and find paths to improve.”
Ghareeb found training partners like Easthampton’s Alex Warren, who helped him fill holes in his ground game and will be in his corner at Mohegan Sun.
“We talked a lot about the ground game and the approach to ground game. I didn’t realize how many holes I had,” Ghareeb said. “I didn’t really understand how much I didn’t understand. He really enlightened me.”
How Ghareeb approaches the ground will be crucial against Law.
“His grappling is definitely his No. 1 thing. He’ll go to it when he doesn’t feel comfortable. His striking is boxing-oriented. He’ll throw some kicks but it’s limited in that sense,” Ghareeb said. “Wrestling’s his bread and butter. He’s finished guys on the ground when he’s finished them. He has some good, solid tools but nothing I can’t handle.”
He’s not fazed by facing someone with Law’s level of hype or the large stage of a Bellator event. Like most other things, Ghareeb looks at it as an opportunity.
“When the time comes to step in that cage and prove that I belong in there, my name will get out there, and they’ll know who I am,” he said.
Kyle Grabowski can be reached at kgrabowski@gazettenet.com. Follow him on Twitter @kylegrbwsk.