WSOF 7's Nick Newell Isn’t Here to Play Around

World Series of Fighting’s Nick Newell doesn’t care what you think about him. Say what you will about his performances, the fact that you may or may not give him credit for finishing seven of his 10 wins by submission isn’t on his radar of things to worry about.

Instead, Newell said he focuses on having fun – the simple fun that comes from fighting in a cage.

“I don’t really care about about, ‘Hey, give me more credit.’ I don’t really care about that stuff,” Newell told MMAWeekly.com. “I just enjoy fighting and enjoy the competition. If you want to give me credit, you can. If you don’t, you don’t have to. Either way, I’m cool with just having fun doing something that I love.”

Seventy percent of wins coming by submission is impressive by anyone’s standards, both in the MMA and Brazilian jiu-jitsu realms. The fact that he’s been able to tap BJJ black belts, Newell explained, makes his game “legit.” This also explains the level of confidence for which he’s made himself known.

In his typical confident style, Newell explained that he’s a fighter that doesn’t show up for playtime. It’s all business in the cage, and those who get caught in his web of submissions do so by making mistakes. It’s those mistakes that Newell said he has a knack for catching.

“I’m very good at capitalizing on openings,” he said. “I have a lot of early finishes because I’ve been able to capitalize on peoples’ first mistakes. I have pretty good instincts and when I go out there I don’t come to play around. I’m aggressive and I think that’s what helps me be very good in the submission aspect of the sport.”

Being sharp on the ground has helped Newell establish an unblemished 10-0 record, the most recent of victories coming in his WSOF debut against Keon Caldwell. He finished the fight by – you guessed it – submission, a first-round guillotine choke.

Newell’s next bout will come against Sabah Fadai at WSOF 7 on Dec. 7. It’s a contest that Newell described as “just another fight,” against a fighter that he said appears to have the right mindset.

But even if Fadai’s mindset is one that consists of underestimation, Newell brushes it off with the understanding that his arsenal is well-polished and prepared for fight night.

“I’ve won a lot of jiu-jitsu tournaments and tapped out a lot of black belts, and I think I have a pretty legit ground game where if someone wants to underestimate me … that’s on them,” he said. “You can think whatever you want to think. At the end of the day, I’m as good as I am and I have what I have. You can say whatever and think whatever, but what’s going to happen is what happens.”

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