A Hawaiian in Phoenix
By Ben Davis ·
A Hawaiian in Phoenix
by Ben Davis, Cronkite News
November 4, 2026
(Audio by Ben Davis/Cronkite News)Moving from Hawaii to Arizona benefited Kevin in more ways than one. While he was able to train and learn from higher-level individuals, he also met the woman who would one day become his wife: Lex Heiser. Kevin’s LFA tenure starts with a big stumble, but he immediately gets back on track and finds the biggest winning streak of his career. However, the growing need to prove himself began to weigh more heavily, and Kevin’s inner doubt grew, eventually reaching a boiling point ahead of the moment Kevin had spent his entire career working toward: his UFC debut.
When the lights were at their brightest, Kevin found himself unable to perform at his best and “froze,” leading to a crushing knockout defeat in his first UFC bout. While it was not a fairy-tale start to his UFC career, simply competing in the Octagon meant his dream had been realized. Getting to the UFC was a feat nobody thought he could accomplish, and he did it. Now, Kevin has to answer a different question: Can he stay there?
TRANSCRIPT
Ben Davis
Hawaii's Kevin Natividad journeyed to Arizona to pursue his UFC dreams, and along the way, Kevin met Lex Heiser. They found each other at Arizona Combat Sports in Tempe. The gym Kevin's coach in Hawaii encouraged him to train at and according to Lex, Kevin wasn't exactly planning on finding a relationship at the gym.
Lex Natividad
Because he was at ACS to train. He was set on being single. He wasn't gonna date anybody from the gym and I just broke all those rules for him. Um
Ben Davis
Lex wasn't just falling for Kevin. She was falling for something she understood. She had her own martial arts journey, and she recognized the kind of fighter that Kevin was.
Lex Natividad
I I feel like I've always just believed in the confidence that he has and he can really break down the sport. I don't know, I've never not seen him as not a fighter, if that makes sense. I wanted to support him because I believe it's like When you're with somebody you should support each other, support each other's dream and sometimes it isn't fifty fifty and that's okay. But you need to take care of each other. If it stays like one way longer, like for a really long time, then that's when a different conversation. But it is. It's like a push and pull and it's like I always believed in him.
Ben Davis
Supporting Kevin didn't mean that all his prior sacrifices disappeared. They simply became shared.
Lex Natividad
We had to sacrifice like date nights and sacrificing like when we can hang out with our friends, when planning like trips, you know, it's like, oh, can you eat this, eat that? And then I would also, for a minute, I was the one working in corporate America I was the one bringing in the money for us, even though it's like we weren't married yet, but it's like I'm like that's that's my significant other And, you know, I understood where it's like, yeah, he might not be able to give me nice things and that's okay. But it at parts it was hard. Not necessarily getting the nice things, but just like watching him train all the time and having to put kind of like my feelings aside sometimes and be like, well, do we have to be here? Do we Like, do you have to do this? Like, hey, it's just one day. Can we just hang out together? And sometimes you had to sacrifice those like days.
Ben Davis
For Lex, an additional sacrifice wasn't just about what they couldn't afford or where they couldn't go. Sometimes it was about having to share the person she loved with the sport. that he loved.
Lex Natividad
Like I felt like I was fighting with fighting, like him fighting you know, and me being like juggling that and it wasn't like I wanted him to stop or anything like that, but it's just like Hey Kevin, like we're married now. It's different.
Ben Davis
Lex wasn't just watching Kevin chase a dream and supporting him from the sidelines. She was actively rearranging her life around it. And sometimes that meant asking a hard question Kevin wasn't always willing to ask himself. Is this sustainable? While Lex was learning how to support Kevin's dream, Kevin was learning what it meant to support her. For years fighting had demanded sacrifice from both of them, but the relationship couldn't be built around his career alone.
Kevin Natividad
She wants the best for me, like twenty-four-seven every single day, all the time. And I want the same for her. She's such a great support system for me, like, just generally in life. We learn together to be strong, not just for us but in Christ in a way. And like I don't know, it was just cool 'cause like We're learning selflessness throughout all the years of trying to be selfish.
Ben Davis
Kevin kept fighting, and eventually the loftier levels of the MMA regional scene became his proving ground. the LFA, a platform that's launched over four hundred fighters to the UFC since its inception. Kevin's LFA debut came when he was three and oh as a professional. He thought he was unstoppable, as did Lex. Then Kevin got knocked out in nine seconds.
Kevin Natividad
I went into that fight so cocky, just wanting to get into the firefight, and um I got knocked out. I was like, I'm not unstoppable. I remember when he hit me, I like it was a flash and then I remember getting up but the ref stopped it.
Ben Davis
It was the first professional loss of his career. It could have easily broken him as a defeat like that had broken many others. Instead, Kevin did what he had always done. He moved on.
Kevin Natividad
And I was just like, damn, that sucks This is embarrassing. That sucks. And I didn't question stopping or anything. I was just like, this sucks. I need to win again so I can get over this feeling.
Ben Davis
With a setback, there can always be a comeback. Fight after fight, win after win, Kevin rebuilt himself and established his name as a dangerous one on the scene But the old demon of injuries piled up even more as the wind streak doubled and tripled. Kevin says he fought through injuries to his knees shoulders and elbows. Eventually surgery was required, and what the doctors found surprised Kevin, but did not stop him.
Kevin Natividad
When I finally had surgery, they found like seventeen bone chips and like they had to repair the ulnar nerve and the really bad tennis elbow and I have arthritis of a sixty year old So it's really bad. But from that time, uh I had a lot of injuries But like it just didn't matter to me, if that makes sense. Like I just wanted to fight.
Ben Davis
Kevin's LFA debut loss had been long forgotten amidst his four-fight win streak in the organization. And suddenly the conversation changed. People around Kevin weren't asking whether he could fight. They were asking when he would fight in the UFC. Combat sports biggest stage. South Dakota, July 2020, LFA 85. Kevin's younger brother Christian was making his pro debut earlier on the card. Kevin was in the co-main event against 15-fight veteran Kyle Estrada. Despite being hurt throughout the fight, Kevin found the finish.
Kevin Natividad
He was beating me up. For the most part that fight with my calf was like done. But yeah, I ended up setting up a I went to his body a couple times. I threw a couple kicks, I threw a couple right hands to his body, and then I made the same motion and went to his head, and that's how I knocked him out.
Ben Davis
Afterward, the message was simple to Kevin's team He was ready. It was time. The work had been done and the UFC was the next step. He wasn't as convinced.
Kevin Natividad
And then after that they were telling me, Kevin's ready. He's in the UFC. You sure and I remember telling him I was like, you sure we don't wanna do like, you know, I could fight for the title against that Russian guy? Like I kinda wanna tough test to make sure I'm ready You know, and they were just like, No, Kevin's ready. We're gonna get him in I was like, Are you guys sure? I mean we can do it, but you know, I don't think I was ready.
Ben Davis
And that's the strange thing about reaching a dream. Sometimes the people around you believe you've arrived before you even do. Kevin wanted one more test, one last piece of evidence that he belonged in the big show, and everyone was wrong to doubt that he could rise to that summit. But the UFC didn't want to wait. It never does. In August 2020, Kevin's phone rang.
Kevin Natividad
Trevor calls me. And he tells me like, Kevin, I looked up the opponent, Brian Kelleher, Jiu Jitsu guy, this, that, you're in. You want it? We're in. I'm like Yeah, if you think it sounds good, let's do it. Yeah, you're in. Alright.
Ben Davis
Welcome to the UFC Kid. Lex was there when the call happened And her reaction says almost everything about how long she had watched Kevin chase this.
Lex Natividad
Because I just believed in him so so much I was like, it's about time, you know what I mean? Yes, it's like, what took you guys so long? You know what I mean? I was just like, I was so excited for him, but at the same time I was like, in my mind, I'm like, yeah, he deserves to be there. So like, let's go.
Ben Davis
Unfortunately, like Kevin's whole story so far This next chapter came with its own twists. Kevin's first UFC fight wouldn't happen against Brian Kelleher. Despite the lack of notice or real fight camp, he made wait. He had done the Fight Week Media and signed all the posters. Then came the COVID test. The first test was negative. The second test was also negative. The third test positive. The fight was immediately canceled. Kevin had been inches away from making his debut, and it disappeared as quickly as it came. In 2022, of the 725 UFC fights booked across the organization's 42 events, 214 of them or 29. 5%, either had an opponent change or was simply cancelled outright. Even at the highest level, nothing is certain. Kevin simply had to wait and hope the call would come again.
Kevin Natividad
Why I was crushed from that because I thought I was gonna make my UFC debut.
Ben Davis
The UFC wasted no time and quickly booked him again. Five weeks now to prepare against a new opponent, a Bantamweight with ten wins and one loss, Miles Johns. The pressure he'd spent years building toward finally arrived in the month-long build-up. The UFC experience began for Kevin before he ever stepped inside the cage. The moment he and his brother Christian landed in Las Vegas they were presented with the premium treatment that had become standard for all UFC personnel. But for two brothers from UA Beach, Hawaii, it was a culture shock.
Kevin Natividad
First off, when they picked me up from the airport it was just me and my brother. They had a guy with an iPad that had my name on it and I was like, what the hell? And then he picked us up and then he drove us to the v to the apex in uh in a limo. And I was like, this is insane. And then I remember my brother being like, can we take one of these waters? And I was like, yes. I think that's why they're there. This is like superstar status. I never thought I would experience this.
Ben Davis
Underneath his excitement was something else. A toxic voice that nobody but Kevin could hear. Doubt.
Kevin Natividad
It's so bad because it was a bunch of like I didn't know if I was uh I I didn't know if I was ready for it, you know, if I deserved it. Me looking back at it now, I'd been like you totally deserved that
Ben Davis
When fight night came, that doubt followed him into the cage.
Kevin Natividad
I went out there and I froze. It was a rough night for me. I remember. And I didn't remember what happened. I don't remember them raising his hand. I don't remember walking to the back. I just remember waking up, looking up at my brother in the back room with the apex, going, Was it an uppercut? My brother was like Yes, Kevin. Just so you know, you asked me that like twenty times. I was like, damn.
Ben Davis
In the aftermath, Kevin wasn't just processing a loss. He was confronting the thing that had followed him from Hawaii to Arizona throughout his LFA rise to the UFC, the weight that's only been getting heavier as Kevin's career grew more impressive. the fear of not being good enough.
Kevin Natividad
I froze. Like I didn't know how to deal with the pressure. I let it control me, the fear and all that, and the lights. I let it control me. That's really what it is. Like I I made it a much bigger deal than it was. All the lights, all the people in the back, the sp spotlight, the media, the people online, like telling me that I ruined their parlays and All that stuff was really it's really hard to deal with for me. I don't know. Like I I I made a much bigger deal out of it than I should have and I forced myself to believe that I wasn't ready when I could have done it Especially that guy. I could have beat him.
Ben Davis
For years Kevin had believed that the answer was to work harder. To train more, to sacrifice more, to prove more. But standing inside the UFC cage, he discovered a different opponent. the monster of everything he built up in his own head. And maybe that's where this story really begins, because Kevin had finally reached the place he'd spent years trying to prove that he belonged in the place his wife knew he could get to. But that came with consequences neither of them could fully understand when Kevin first walked into a gym in Hawaii. This was the story of Kevin Atividad's rise to the UFC. His unlikely journey through the hardships of the regional scene to the biggest stage in MMA. While the debut did not go his way, the dream of becoming a UFC fighter. had come true. Now he was among the most elite competitors in the world, and there were still more fights to come on his contract. But in the next episode, Kevin's dream starts to unravel. I'm Ben Davis, this is the Natividads - Hawaii's fighting family from Cronkite Sports.
This article first appeared on Cronkite News and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Originally published by Cronkite News Sports