Gilbert Nakatani has spent his whole life proving that where you start does not decide where you finish. Raised by his grandparents after losing his mother at a young age, the Californian has turned determination into a path to ONE Championship.
Nakatani grew up in Covina, a suburban city in the San Gabriel Valley region of Los Angeles County, as an only child. His mother passed away when he was just two years old, so his grandparents raised him. His heritage includes Japanese and Native American from his grandmother and Mexican and European from his grandfather.
Athletics run in the family. In fact, his uncle is Hall of Fame jockey Corey Nakatani, who won 3,909 races in his career.
At North View High School, home to one of the top wrestling programs in the state, Nakatani found his sport. He weighed about 100 pounds when he started, so wrestling was the only option that made sense. After high school, he went to the University of Arkansas, but it wasn’t necessarily a great fit.
But soon, when he returned to California, Nakatani discovered MMA, and his whole life was changed in an instant.
In 2013, he began his training under head coach Josh Aragon, an American Muay Thai Champion. Just a year later, he stepped into amateur competition and racked up plenty of experience, going on a 10-2 run and picking up a slew of regional titles.
Nakatani turned pro in 2019 and would earn his first six victories at Lights Out Xtreme Fighting, a promotion owned by former San Diego Chargers and Buffalo Bills linebacker Shawne “Lights Out” Merriman.
After compiling an 8-1 professional record, the Californian signed with ONE Championship and set his sights on the flyweight division, where he went the distance with future ONE Flyweight MMA World Champion Yuya Wakamatsu.
Now dropping to his natural weight class, Nakatani will stop at nothing to claim the ONE Strawweight MMA World Title and become the greatest athlete the division has ever seen.
