After Winning MFC Title, Nathan Coy “One Step Closer to That Goal…Fight St. Pierre”
By Kelsey Mowatt
Nathan Coy continued his post-Strikeforce winning ways on Friday, as the welterweight punished TUF veteran Ryan McGillivray for three rounds at Maximum Fighting Championship 33 to secure the promotion’s vacant championship. Not only did Coy extend his winning streak to three with the victory, but the accomplished wrestler added another dominant win over an established fighter to his resume.
“It’s awesome. It’s such a great feeling because all that hard work paid off,” Coy said about the championship win, which came after the ringside physician would not allow the bloodied McGillivray to continue on into the fourth round. “I’m getting one step closer to that goal, and that is to obviously fight (Georges) St. Pierre, and I’d like to do that…I’m very excited about it.”
Prior to the May 4th bout, Coy acknowledged that his wrestling skills might play a pivotal role in securing a victory over McGillivray, and in the end, his punishing top game was indeed the deciding factor.
“The performance was what it had to be,” Coy told FCF. “I actually thought I was going to fight on my feet more but that wasn’t the case, it was more of my top game and ground-and-pound.”
“Wrestling helps you with position and balance, strength, so all of that helps,” the former All American wrestler added. “Combine that working with Ricardo Liborio and American Top Team, that guy is massive; he really has great technique and knowledge, plus the training partners I have, so many great guys to train with off their back who are always looking to escape…if you get that pushing you and great coaching, it just works out. It’s definitely a strength.”
Not only was Coy able to take McGillivray to the mat shortly into the fight, but it wasn’t long before the 33 year-old vet had opened a significant cut on the welterweight’s forehead with elbow strikes.
“It’s just a distraction,” said Coy, while discussing the impact that the early cut had on the bout. “You continue to move forward and try to pull from within, but those elbows were hard. My elbow is swollen right now. Hard shot like that are bone to bone…I’m sure those shots were really affecting him.”
Although the resilient McGillivray battled on, and attempted several submissions while working off his back, he was unable to stop Coy’s attacks from above for any prolonged period of time.
“I would have liked to have seen the fight stopped a little sooner you know,” Coy noted. “It was a bit much I thought. If you watch the tape of the second round about 30 legit elbows landed and you can see that he didn’t have an answer for them…he was covering up a lot in the later part of that fight. That’s a sign to me that if you’re not doing much more than that it’s time to call it a night.”
Despite the dominant win, Coy continued to praise McGillivray for his drive and toughness.
“I like the kid. Those are the kind of guys I want to train with,” Coy said about the 25 year-old prospect. “The guys that love to be in there and have heart…He gave a great demonstration of heart, no question.”
Soon enough, Coy will begin preparations for his first title defence, which according to the welterweight will take place on August 10th. The fighter will do so with his aforementioned ATT teammates, who the former Team Quest member credits for much of his recent success.
“I do want to express how appreciative I am to American Top Team,” Coy furthered. “It’s a coalition of brothers who want to get after it and train, while weeding out anybody who doesn’t want to train hard, go home and be proud of what they did.”