Fighting Like a Hawaiian
By Ben Davis ·
Fighting Like a Hawaiian
by Ben Davis, Cronkite News
November 4, 2026
(Audio by Ben Davis/Cronkite News)Kevin Natividad details his journey from being a kid who was told he couldn’t be an athlete growing up in Ewa Beach, Hawaii, to becoming a UFC bantamweight. This episode of Kevin’s offers a lens into the inner turmoil he was putting himself through, with an unsustainable schedule and seeds of insecurity contaminating his mental fortitude.
Key takeaways of the episode:
Kevin Natividad operated with a chip on his shoulder from day one. While his entry to mixed martial arts was almost accidental, the doubters in Hawaii who didn’t believe he could be anything of note in sports were his biggest driving motivators.
The exhausting days balancing multiple training sessions, working, and attending high school built Kevin into an impressive amateur fighter – but after taking his first loss in his eighthj fight, his belief of grinding himself 18 hours everyday was challenged. When he changed this approach as his experience grew in the sport, his successful ways returned - affirming his own self-belief.
However, as Kevin got better so did the competition standing across from him. To continue towards his dream of becoming a UFC fighter, Kevin made a shift from Hawaii to Arizona - understanding that his training partners and coaches needed to upgrade alongside himself. This move was the final choice for Kevin to truly leave all other paths behind, and entirely commit himself to the goal of becoming a professional fighter.
TRANSCRIPT
Kevin Natividad
And you know, I'm about to be finished. And then I just remember thinking in my head like fuck this guy. I'm gonna win. I'm not losing and then I went out there and fought like a freaking Hawaiian.
Ben Davis
Before the lights and cameras, before the branded fight kits and the biggest stage in mixed martial arts, Kevin Natividad was just a kid in Ua Beach, Hawaii. Trying to prove something, not to the UFC or a specific promoter, not even to himself. At first, he was trying to prove it to everybody back home
Kevin Natividad
When I first started I just wanted respect from everybody back home and it was tough but like well I knew I wanted to fight. I just never knew the level I would get at and I just wanted to fight the best that I could. And um I never thought I would achieve anything that I actually did.
Ben Davis
Kevin says fighting all started with seeds of insecurity planted years before He wasn't viewed as an athlete growing up. He vividly remembers being the chunky kid who could catch a football but could not throw it so he found something he could throw.
Kevin Natividad
The only thing I found out I was decent at throwing was my hands. So I was like, here's a sport.
Ben Davis
Eventually, the kid who didn't think he belonged in sports found himself standing inside a cage against another human being and winning. Kevin's intro to MMA wasn't some carefully constructed path towards pro-fighting. He started with the gentle art of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. At 17, Kevin entered a Hawaii State tournament with his teammates, despite the crew having virtually no formal training. He lost unsurprisingly. But somebody watching saw a future star worth taking a chance on.
Kevin Natividad
Well we all lost one of these uh coaches that I knew. His name is Paul Ono. He literally comes up to me. Keep in mind I'm like 17. And he's like, he comes up and talks to my parents and he's like, let me train your son. I promise he has potential. Because I actually almost beat the guy who won, if that makes sense, with no training. So that was literally it. He was literally like, let me train your son.
Ben Davis
After Kevin's third amateur fight, everything changed. He'd been offered a bout against Brandon Mina, a two-time Hawaii State Wrestling Champion. A fight that on paper Kevin should lose handily. Kevin remembers getting battered in the first round, dropped need out wrestled, but something happened in between rounds.
Kevin Natividad
I don't remember what my coach was telling me, and you know, I'm about to be finished, and then I just remember thinking in my head like fuck this guy. I'm gonna win. I'm not and then I went out there and fought like a friggin' Hawaiian.
Ben Davis
Kevin came into round two with an indomitable ambition to get his hand raised.
Kevin Natividad
You know, like I just went out there, threw my hands, didn't know what I was throwing. I threw a teep to his stomach, didn't know what was going on, and he dropped me one more time, but then we Uh, he got tired and he went and shot desperately after because I was just throwing wild punches and I was hitting him. And I definitely won that second round. But I ended up taking his back and I threw ground and pound for like 30 seconds. The ref didn't stop it. And then uh they went into the third round and then uh he couldn't continue And he couldn't continue. And then they gave me the win and then they gave me the state title. So I was a champion at 135.
Ben Davis
Kevin left with his first MMA title. For him, the significance wasn't just the championship. It was the realization that all his suffering could actually mean something.
Kevin Natividad
That hardship I went through. I've never experienced anything like this. Like everything in life just seems so different after experiencing that. And I was like, I'm gonna do this. I can do this.
Ben Davis
The other possible paths for Kevin's life began disappearing. A career in engineering, working on cars like his family, a more stable life, with less risk for his economic well-being. Up to 95% of fighters work other jobs before they make it to the UFC. And even when they get there, upwards of 19% of fighters on the UFC's roster maintain outside work. With the burdens of providing financially on his mind, Kevin only had one question for himself. How far can I take this?
Kevin Natividad
I singled it down to fighting. I was like, if I work hard enough, I can do this And now you think about how I w how I went from like no one you know, I used to get beat up in school and stuff and all these kids and uh wanting to be an engineer what all whatever probably would have been better like in terms of financial stability but I wouldn't change it for anything. I wouldn't. It went the way it was supposed to.
Ben Davis
Kevin didn't just work hard. He built his entire life around fighting. No days off. Kevin skipped holidays. He trained instead of celebrating birthdays. Kevin simply had no balance. Every egg was in the MMA basket.
Kevin Natividad
If everybody else had better technique than me, they're not outworking me. That was my whole mindset. You know, like I wasn't technical besides my jujitsu and I just wanted to know that if we were both tired, I'm going to outwork you And that's how I'm gonna win. And eventually I'll drown you and submit you.
Ben Davis
Kevin's mornings began at 4 30 a. m. running long distances. Then he'd go to work, sometimes at a Zales jewelry store or landscaping or whatever he could pick up to make money. After a shift of odd jobs, he'd train at 24-hour fitness Then, he'd drive to attend class at James Campbell High School. Following class, he would drive to the jujitsu mats, then back to 24-hour fitness for another lifting session. And finally, Kevin would close his day with another stamina draining run. Typically he'd return home between midnight or two in the morning, and be awake again only a few hours later to do it all over
Kevin Natividad
I did not sleep. So if we're talking about balance, there was no such thing. All I know I wanted, I want and I did this for years. That's probably why I'm not so tall. That's what my mom tells me. Like I could have been bigger. Yeah, like I just didn't sleep. Like if you talk to my brother, he'll tell you that I did not sleep. I trained and trained and trained so much.
Ben Davis
That relentless mentality produced amazing results. Kevin started his amateur career with seven wins and zero losses, a stellar beginning to his MMA journey, but it also cost him greatly.
Kevin Natividad
Like I just had no money because I spent it all on Wanting to be a better fighter. I lost a lot of friends, relationships, and a lot of stuff that I should have done even with my family. You know, like growing up, like I'd never sacrificed anything. If I had like my brother's wrestling tournaments, we had to go there, but if it was at the same time I had to go train, I went to train like it was bad. Like I feel bad for those days because I could have absolutely gone and watched my brother win a state title. But it was just selfishness on a level that I never really want to repeat.
Ben Davis
The obsession had become the point. Victory wasn't enough for Kevin and every win turned into a loss as it only further moved his mountaintop away from him and reinforced the ideology that training more created more success.
Kevin Natividad
Every win that I got, I kinda like Just erasing and move on to the next one. But like for me, every time I won I kinda just went into like I need to do more so that the next guy who will probably be better doesn't beat me.
Ben Davis
Then Kevin lost in his eighth fight A fighter who had competed once from Pune Hawaii, Shaden Laoha, an opponent who, on paper, Kevin should have beaten, outsmarted him and beat him by decision For the first time ever, Kevin had to consider that maybe more wasn't always better.
Kevin Natividad
It wasn't until I lost that I was like Okay, yeah, I gotta do something else. And when I lost I actually started training at HMC and um Haru Shimanishi, that's uh Trevor Lally's coach. So yeah, so when I started training with him, that's when I started learning how to strike. And uh when I moved to Arizona I was gonna train at the lab and uh Haru was like, oh no, go to Arizona Combat Sports. My students own that gym. And that's why I came here.
Ben Davis
A shift from Hawaii to Arizona at twenty two years old was the inflection point in Kevin's journey, and slowly fighting became something different, not his entire life, but just part of it.
Kevin Natividad
You know, I still trained a lot, but not as much. And realized that I can make the best out of sessions versus like piling multiple sessions. Make the best out of one session versus like Finally on like five or six in one day. Um, I was able to balance more with my family and my friends.
Ben Davis
This distinction and newfound approach would matter greatly to Kevin later. As in Phoenix, Arizona, he met the person who became more important than anyone, his wife, Lex Heiser. But with love comes struggle And in the next episode, the strain of Kevin's plight to join the UFC wears heavy on the young couple as they navigate the regional MMA scene. 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