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Interview with Nathan Skidmore of Fighters For Kids

Interview by Mike Renouard, Photos by NW Fightscene


 

26 year old MMA Fighter, Nathan Skidmore, founded a new non-profit earlier this year called Fighters for Kids which offers scholarships and financial aid to children who show interest in Wrestling, Jiu Jitsu, Boxing and athletics in general who can't otherwise afford to participate. NW Fightscene always likes a good charity and this one rocks having the likes of UFC Fighter Nate Marquardt, The Ultimate Fighter Season 12 cast member Cody McKenzie, and Strikeforce Fighter Lyle Beerbohm get on board to help out. NWFS had an opportunity to speak with Nate Skidmore about his organization and how they help out kids in need, as well as learning how he is healing up from a brutal injury sustained in his debut pro fight in July...


NW Fightscene: What is Fighters for Kids?
Nathan Skidmore: It's a non-profit that I started that raises money through the auctioning of items to fund scholarships for kids that can't afford extracurricular athletic opportunities. Like jiu-jitsu classes or any of the classes that are offered at any of the gyms in Spokane. We're not just one gym specifically.

NWFS: When did you start your organization?
Skidmore: I started it in late August so it's really just getting going now. I had my first pro fight on July 31st against Brett Malphrus and took a knee to the face and broke my cheekbone. I needed surgery & I was laid up for quite a while, for about 2 weeks. My coach, Rick Little from Sikjitsu, and Charlie Pearson from Charlie's Combat Club raised the money overnight on the Lockflow.com forum to pay for my deductible. In the same breath that Rick told me I had a $1500 deductible, he told me it was paid for. I had no idea. I was extremely emotional. That day I received several phone calls from random people from C3 who had helped raise the money and they told me to get better and keep my head up, that we're all one family. Basically the way I look at it is that the MMA community came and helped me in my time of need.

NWFS: How's everything healing up?
Skidmore: Its been going good. About a month ago, I could open my mouth all the way. I took the fight on 13 days notice. I was 191 lbs and I cut 20 lbs in 13 days. I lost five more pounds in the hospital. The first thing I wanted to do was eat and a few hours after the surgery I started eating like a madman. I couldn't stop. I fell I love with food all over again. But I couldn't eat certain things like Subway sandwiches or a decent looking hamburger where I had to open my mouth real wide. Milkshakes became my best friend.


NWFS: Are you looking to get back in the ring?
Skidmore: I got a full-time job and fighting was never a source of income really. I was doing the amateur thing and was having a great time doing it. I got the offer to fight pro a little less than 48 hours after my last amateur fight. I was 5-1. Each opponent was getting tougher and tougher. And I kind of just said if I'm going to do this I might as well make a little bit of money from it and become a pro fighter. But I never quit my job. I got a mortgage to pay like everybody else. Fighting, unless its on pay-per-view, you do because you love it and not for the money. It was never a huge goal of mine to be at that level. Being 25, 26 years old, I didn't want to be a beer, softball guy. I wanted to compete and see what I was made of. 

 

I'm just starting to get active again, starting to grapple a little bit more. We haven't started sparring quite yet. My face isn't 100 percent healed where I can take that kind of impact. I have a titanium plate that is still settling. So once I get back 100 percent, that's when I'll make the decision whether or not I'll fight again. That's not something that I'm really even thinking about right now. All I'm thinking about and all the passion I have to train and to fight is going for Fighter For Kids right now.

 

Nathan Skidmore in action


NWFS: So how'd the idea for Fighters for Kids come about?
Skidmore: My mom, who just retired, worked out in District 81 in Spokane for 32 years in the Hillyard area which is a low-income area. The first time I really got the idea was when she asked me if a child had come up [to the gym] to come see us. And I said no. She said that because of his family's low income status, they don't have anything really out there to help them. I thought if that kid needs help and he can get to the gym, I'll pay for it. And I talked to [Sikjitsu owner] Rick Little and he was like 'I'll cut the fees in half. Lets just get this kid in there'. So the thought of providing financial aid was always in my head. We have kids that come out into the gym all the time to check out the free week or the free session, and they can't return just because their parents don't have that extra income. And its a shame. I was blessed. My parents provided me with every avenue to take advantage of and like any All-American kid I played 6 sports year round. If I didn't have that I wouldn't be the person I am today. And not every kid does. Its like that term, No Kid Left Behind. That's what I keep thinking about. We want every kid to take advantage of this. I'm as passionate about getting somebody into jiu-jitsu classes or kempo classes as I am about getting somebody into piano lessons. It doesn't have to be a combat sport for Fighter For Kids to support somebody that would be affected in a positive way by some sort of extracurricular activity.


NWFS: Who are some of the fighters you've drawn upon to help out?
Skidmore: Nate Marquardt for one. Fighters For Kids has a Twitter account and we hit him up on his Twitter. I sent him his UFC action figure from JAKKS, he signed it, sent it back, and we had it raffled off. And that's kind of where the auction thing started. He was so helpful and his communication was so easy, it was effortless on my part really. It meant a ton to me. Lyle "Fancy Pants" Beerbohm has come out and shown his support. Mike Hanks. Cody McKenzie obviously. When he came back from filming The Ultimate Fighter, he said 'anything I wanted, any appearances, anything you want signed I'll do it'. And he said 'hey, I got a pair of gloves that I got signed by George St Pierre that I fought with on Season 12. I'll sign them and we'll auction them off and see what we can get for them. And 100 percent of the proceeds is going to Fighters for Kids scholarship fund.


Fighters for Kids & Cody McKenzie are auctioning off a pair of Official UFC gloves worn by Cody on The Ultimate Fighter 12. They've been autographed by both Cody McKenzie and Georges St Pierre! The auction ends Sunday, Nov 14th at 5:42 PM PST so don't delay in getting your bids in.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=170561818223#ht_500wt_949


NWFS: What are some of the things you look to do in the future?
Skidmore: My lawyer has his own non-profit called Active4Youth. There's a Thanksgiving walk that they do that I'm going to take advantage of with Fighters For Kids where we'll go to raise money. We're trying to get into the t-shirts, and some bumper stickers. Spokane Valley Screen Printing has been a huge help. they've really helped me out in getting my logo designed. I'm very picky, Those guys, they understood that I had something in my head, and they did a wonderful job of putting it on paper for me.

NWFS: If someone wants to help out, donate, or volunteer, where can they go?
Skidmore: They can contact me at FightersForKids@gmail.com or through our fan page on Facebook which is really blowing up and where we do a lot of our stuff. And we have twitter. The ideas that comes out of it are great, like I had this soccer mom say we should be taking pictures and make a calendar out of it and we'll sell it. Her kids do that for school all the time and they make a ton of money for these things. That is something that a 26 year old MMA fighter is never going to come up with. There's so many people from so many walks of life that are coming to help us, no rock is going to go unturned.

 

 I want Fighters for Kids to be a financial aid, scholarship type of thing. I want these kids really taking advantage and I want their parents on board as well, willing to get their kids rides and get them to these classes. They're responsible. It's a benefit to have one of our scholarships, we want to give them to everybody. We want to make sure that the kids are focusing on school. That they're acting right. We're going to depend on the parents to make sure that they're staying in school and getting good grades. 

 

When kids get involved in combat sports it can go one of two ways. They can either mature, grow up and they'll be a leader in their social circle, and take that into other athletics. Or they can be a bully, and we don't want bullies. We've always said at Sikjitsu, you become much cooler when you come there to train. To me that means you become much more level-headed. You don't go out to the bar and get drunk and start talking about Sikjitsu and how you're an MMA fighter. You got to be much more responsible and you got to act accordingly. The conduct inside and outside of the gym is very important to us. We want these kids to be improving as persons. I would love to have a future UFC Champion be originally sponsored by Fighters For Kids and that's what got them into it. But I'd be just as happy if that person became a college graduate, someone who's better for their community and who's a better person because we helped them out. That's what we want to provide financial aid for.

NWFS: Who would you like to thank?

Skidmore: Everyone. Cody McKenzie, Rick Little, Charles Pearson, Dennis from Spokane School of Boxing & MMA. Spokane Valley Screen Printing. And my lawyer for Fighters for Kids, Mike Bresson, who's been a huge help. He runs his own non-profit, Active4Youth, which he founded to revive the elementary sports programs in Spokane Public Schools that were eliminated due to budget cuts. And Cellphone Outlet. I had a photographer come over and take photos of my kids for free. Its always been no questions asked. Its all for the kids. Fighter for Kids right now is the sheer definition of non-profit. There is no profit being made. [It's been] my money, my credit card, but I'm happy to do it. Because my MMA community stepped up for me, and its my responsibility to step up for my MMA community now. I'm not laying in bed anymore. My face is healed up. I'm about as good looking as I'm ever going to be. When you're average looking you can afford to break your face, because when it heals up you'll still be average looking. (laughs)

 

NWFS: Anything else you'd like to add?

Skidmore: Yeah. I'm not a Yankees fan but after George Steinbrenner died, someone close to him said we will never know how many people he put through college and helped out. He would read a story in the paper and tell his people to take care of whom ever was in need. I was motivated by that. I would like to help aid and help motivate a countless amount of people.


NWFS would like to thank Nathan for his time in this interview. The Fighters for Kids facebook page is at facebook.com/pages/Fighters-for-Kids/146595052037142. You can also follow Fighters for Kids on Twitter at twitter.com/FightersForKids.

 

Fighters for Kids & Cody McKenzie are currently auctioning off a pair of Official UFC gloves worn by Cody on The Ultimate Fighter 12. They've been autographed by both Cody McKenzie and Georges St Pierre! The auction ends Sunday, Nov 14th at 5:42 PM PST so don't delay in getting your bids in.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=170561818223#ht_500wt_949


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