After picking up two straight victories in 2021 and raising his career starting winning streak to four in a row, flyweight Christian Natividad was looking to carry his momentum into a big 2022, but things haven’t worked out as expected.
Not once but multiple times this year Natividad has had fights fall through, and only now with just two months left in 2022 is he finally able to get in the cage.
“This year definitely hasn’t played out as I have planned,” Natividad told MMAWeekly.com. “At the end of 2021 I sat down with my coaches and management and threw out what I wanted to do in 2022, including the goal of fighting four times in the year.
“It’s already October and I haven’t fought once yet, so I probably won’t hit that goal, but having time away from fighting has been a blessing since I’ve been able to sit back and grow as an MMA fighter.”
In terms of his growth, Natividad feels like he’s been able to mature to the point to where he doesn’t just have to try to overwhelm his opponents but can better pick his shots and control the fight another way.
“I’m still going to come out as I do, ready to fight, ready to throwdown, but in a technical aspect I feel like I’m not just a banger anymore,” said Natividad.
“I feel I can really sit back and be more technical and be a bit of a sniper instead of just throwing bombs and hoping the guy goes to sleep when I touch them with a strike.”
This Friday in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, Natividad (4-0) looks to keep his undefeated streak going when he takes on late replacement Israel Galvan (5-2) in a main card 125-pound bout at LFA 144.
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“It’s tough to really have a game plan for a fight because if a fight doesn’t go to plan a lot of guys start to panic. So I really just go into the fight and see how it plays out,” Natividad said.
While Natividad likes to focus on the here and now, he does know where he wants to find himself in the coming year and is working towards that.
“Most importantly you have to go one fight at a time, because if I plan too far head things can get pushed too far away, so I feel like the biggest thing is just focusing on the fight I have ahead,” said Natividad.
“That being said I do plan on being in the UFC sometime next year, because I feel like things do need to be planned for to actually happen.”
Christian Natividad looks to remain unbeaten against last replacement at LFA 144