hands prepared for battle

❝ STRENGTH COMES FROM THE GOOD THINGS: YOUR FAMILY, YOUR FRIENDS, THE SATISFACTION OF HARD WORK. THOSE ARE THE THINGS THAT WILL KEEP YOU WHOLE. THOSE ARE THE THINGS TO HOLD ONTO WHEN YOU ARE BROKEN. ❞

NAME: Nathaniel Grant GENDER/PRONOUNS: Male, He/Him DATE OF BIRTH: April 22nd, 1989 BIRTH PLACE: Thousand Oaks, California  CURRENT RESIDENCE: Mid-City OCCUPATION: MMA Fighter FACE CLAIM: Tyler Hoechlin

BIOGRAPHY

trigger warnings: physical abuse, mental abuse

Born into a family with high expectations of fame and glory after his father’s failures, he was supposed to grow up to be the most decorated boxer with his younger brother Nicholas following right behind his tracks. It was as if upon his birth, a shadow was cast over the entire world around the oldest Grant son and there wasn’t anything his father wouldn’t do to ensure his success. Nothing ever came without consequences though, making the upbringing Nate went through a hell that anyone should have been put through. Ruthless, reckless, volatile and violent, Nate’s father was undisputedly the most dangerous man for the job he had given himself since the day Nate could put on boxing gloves. Joseph Grant had zero tolerance for anything that wasn’t beneficial for his son’s athletic future. Joseph was an endless pit, a dark hole, and those who have looked into his eyes claimed to see nothing there. It was a horrible reality that Nate and his brother Nick had to grow up with and there wasn’t anyone they could turn to. Not even their mother was able to do anything to change their childhood — she had been far too busy with her profession that kept her traveling up to even know as much as the color of her son’s eyes.

For most of Nate’s childhood well into his teen years, there was nothing but training from dusk till dawn, following a regimen that paralleled physical military training at times. While his younger brother seemed to be perfectly fine following instructions towards success from Joseph, it was obvious that the pressure on his shoulders wasn’t anywhere close to the way Nate was pressured. It was becoming far too much for Nate to handle that eventually, it had all driven Nate to an emotional numbness that made it impossible for any of the harsh training faze him. The training was no longer with glory in mind as every hit that he landed was with his father in mind. There was an anger that had begun to fuel him which also became his coping mechanism.

Becoming a headliner for the sport was the only thing that Nate’s father had wanted him to think about until his junior year of high school when he found himself signing up for journalism when his counselor insisted he needed extracurricular activities that didn’t involve any sort of physical training. The need for other activities was only an excuse though as it had become evident that there was a strain on Nate’s mind that needed to be lifted one way or another. While Nate insisted that everything was fine, that his training and his father’s pressure wasn’t affecting him, his counselor insisted. It had all happened somewhat out of the blue but it was all because of his brother. After years of watching Nate go through hell because of their father’s obsession with making them the best, Nick finally began to take notice and with no family to turn to he had no other choice but to seek help at school which was the only place they got a break from their father.

It wasn’t long before his passion for writing grew and while his newfound interest was going to look great on college applications and slowly helping him release tension, it wasn’t what Nate’s father wanted taking up his son’s time. It was then when the man decided to pull both Nate and Nick from school to homeschooling which would allow them more time to prepare themselves for where they needed to go. That wasn’t the only thing he changed for them though; on their last day of attending school the boys came home to find that most of their boxing equipment had disappeared and it was in that moment when Joseph told them that he had decided to slightly switch their career path. Instead of boxing, he was going to have them start training in mixed martial arts. The decision didn’t scare Nate since he had never really had much concern over his own well-being but it did make him start to worry for Nick more than ever before. Whatever was ahead for them would take a toll on them like nothing before.

As time passed and his MMA career finally began to take off, everything that happened felt like a blur except for the moments in which he was in the octagon. There was no way for him to turn back and every single one of his steps felt like he was being crushed under tons of pressure. Sound vibrations reverberated throughout the arena every time he was there, but the only thing he could ever resonate with was the sound of his heart beating rapidly against his chest. Amid the chaos, the only thing that kept him tethered to reality was Nick but it all changed in a split second. On the night of May 18th, 2019 Nick had finally gotten into the octagon for his first main card UFC fight which resulted in tragedy for the Grant’s. Halfway into the third round of the fight, Nick went down after being struck by a head kick which immediately knocked him out. While his opponent celebrated the win, Nick remained on the floor unresponsive until the medical team pushed through.