A lot of people love the idea of being a fighter. Far fewer can explain what that mindset looks like when the cage lights turn off and real life starts asking for overtime, tuition money, and patience. I sit down with Nate Yoshimura, a former MMA fighter who went from college wrestling to competing on big Hawaii cards and Bellator, and he keeps it honest about the parts nobody glamorizes: nerves, fatigue, getting rocked, and the weird calm you have to find when everything goes sideways.

We dig into the lesson wrestling drills into you for years, the one Nate’s coach summed up as “Do it anyway.” We talk about the pain of discipline versus the pain of regret, why mental toughness beats raw athletic talent, and how staying humble matters when you’re tempted to build an identity around being “a fighter.” If you’re an athlete, coach, or anyone trying to stay consistent, you’ll hear practical ways that mindset carries into the gym and into everyday decisions.

Then the story shifts to what Nate does now: working as a psychiatric technician at the Hawaii State Hospital while grinding through nursing prerequisites to earn his RN. We get into verbal de-escalation, professionalism under pressure, and choosing between med-surg skills and psych nursing quality of life. The conversation ends with a big personal update that puts everything in a new frame: Nate is about to become a dad.

If you got value from this one, subscribe to Above the Bridge, share it with a friend who needs a push, and leave a review so more people can find the show. What part of your life needs a “do it anyway” mindset right now?