08/28/2026
Everyone told him he had to leave Kentucky to make it. He never left.
Nathan Haddad’s father came to the US from Cuba with nothing and opened Core in Louisville in 2002, putting boxing, kickboxing, jiu jitsu and MMA under one roof. Haddad was born into it.
He earned his black belt under Helio Soneca, who ran every practice at that gym from the time Haddad was six until he was twenty three. He was the chubby kid who lost often while his older brother won tournaments. What he had was consistency, training through summers while other kids took time off.
He does not believe in camps. He trains six days a week, year round, and once went to Gi Worlds off the hardest training block of his life and got submitted in thirty seconds. Hard work does not entitle you to anything.
Three ADCC Trials failures came first, including a loss to Jon Blank in the East Coast quarterfinals. Going into his fourth attempt he felt worse than ever, facing what people called the most stacked 88kg bracket in trials history.
In the semifinal against Jayden Groner he got his back taken, baited a kimura grip, transitioned to an armbar and got the tap with one second on the clock. In the final was Ryan Aitken, who had submitted him twice before. He won gold, seven matches across two days.
He calls his style the fundamentals at the highest level with a bit of chaos on top. His advice to anyone grinding quietly: volume over years beats intensity over months.
04/08/2026