After Losing Election, Osterneck Unbeaten In The Cage
The “rich kid.” The “white boy.” The alcoholic. The failed politician.
Nissan Osterneck has worn each of those labels, whether he liked it or not. Now, determined to make a name for himself in the mold of an Arnold Schwarzenegger or Jesse Ventura, the reformed wild child is steeling himself for the greatest challenge of his professional life – a showdown with former three-time NCAA wrestling champion Jake Rosholt.
“I just know he’s a decorated wrestler,” Osterneck said of Rosholt, another unbeaten middleweight who boasts a 4-0 record compared to Osterneck’s 5-0 mark. “He’ll probably be strong. My wrestling is decent, but it’s a fight, it’s not a wrestling match. So if he pins me I’m not going to lose. He may be a better wrestler than I am but he’s definitely not a better fighter than I am.”
Osterneck, 28, trains Muay Thai under the tutelage of Maurice Travis and holds a purple belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu under Relson Gracie. One of Rosholt’s trainers happens to be Marc Laimon, who in the past has criticized Rorion Gracie’s abilities as a teacher and also publicly disparaged the jiu jitsu skills of MMA pioneer Royce Gracie (during a media interview Laimon once called Royce’s jiu-jitsu “sh--“ and estimated the legend was “maybe like a good blue belt, maybe a purple belt.”
. Given the lingering bad blood between Laimon and members of the Gracie family, does Osterneck feel any extra motivation to beat Rosholt?
“I don’t put any thought into it,” said Osterneck, adding he doesn’t yet know whether Relson Gracie will be in his corner for the fight. “I’m sure the guys in my corner and his corner will think of it. But my job is to focus on my training and continue to do my best.”
While he isn’t buying into any Gracie versus Laimon subplot hype, Osterneck, who lives in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina most of the year, is eager to represent the southern state’s largely unheralded MMA scene.
“I’m definitely carrying the torch for South Carolina,” Osterneck said. “MMA is not sanctioned here yet, we can’t have fights here. In South Carolina there’s really nobody. Maurice is from Myrtle Beach and he’s a former Muay Thai world champion. He’s fought like 70 pro kickboxing matches across the world and I was lucky enough to meet him. Without him I wouldn’t have developed. He has world-class Thai-training skills. There’s not a hotbed of fighters here in South Carolina, but we have some good, strong warriors that both of us are turning out. I teach the jiu-jitsu and MMA class and Maurice does his Muay Thai and MMA class and we’ve got some good fighters that are coming up. I think that when MMA comes to town (and becomes sanctioned), which should be some time next year, a lot more guys here will start training.”
Unlike many fighters, Osterneck has not had to juggle a full-time job with his MMA training. As the son of a wealthy businessman, Osterneck has worked in commercial real estate, owns his house and numerous properties. He works when he wants to. He earned a college degree in business administration from Coastal Carolina University and is well-connected to elite movers and shakers in Myrtle Beach and Maui, Hawaii, where he was raised and grew up surfing, diving and playing golf.
“I didn’t have any tragedy. I was born into like a perfect scenario. I lived in paradise with loving parents,” he said. “My family has definitely given me the opportunity to do whatever I put my mind to. My mother won’t watch any of my fights, but my father is supportive. He sees how hard I train and he’s behind me on it. I’ve been fortunate with a good family upbringing and coming from a well-off family. They have helped me achieve the goal I have put in front of myself because I don’t have to worry and live a paycheck-to-paycheck kind of lifestyle.”
Osterneck very nearly became a politician about three years ago after hosting an annual Fourth of July bash at his house. Through the grapevine he heard that the city’s mayor had taken note of the mega-shindig.
“It’s kind of funny how I decided to do that,” Osterneck said of the incident that jumpstarted his political ambitions. “I’m someone who has done a lot of different things so wherever I live everybody knows me just because of all the different ventures I’m in. I know all the professionals in Myrtle Beach and I heard that he (the mayor) was at a cocktail party making comments about me and the party that I had, which is the best party of the year, there’s like a thousand to 2,000 people who come and we have a live band to celebrate our country’s independence. Nobody was out of control or anything, but it is a huge party. In the middle of the night a bunch of cops came and made sure everything was under control. They broke it up after 2 o’clock. I was like, ‘You know what, (forget) that guy, I’m going to run for mayor and show him.’”
A few months later, Osterneck, at the tender age of 25, announced his candidacy for Myrtle Beach’s city council. The rookie candidate wrote speeches and delivered them in front of crowds. He and his team posted large signs around the city that read “Nissen Osterneck for City Council” along with the slogan
“The Future Is Now.” He campaigned for two months.
“I realized after that that nobody was going to take me seriously,” Osterneck said. “It was something I had never really thought about but I do want to help people in my life because I think I’ve been so fortunate. I think I could reach a large amount of people, sharing my ideas about government. I saw the people in Myrtle Beach that are making the decisions … either a trust fund lady who has never had a real job … and they should not be there. There were just no real people that were on the board to make (good) decisions. The focus of our platform was to get young people engaged in politics. I ran against three incumbents and they all got elected. I lost by 400 votes out of 5,000. It cost me a lot of grey hairs. It was a very stressful crash course into politics. I didn’t want people to take me as a joke. I did my research and practiced my speeches and I spoke almost every day for a month. I took it serious and I think one day that might be something I revert to. But right now it’s MMA and that is another thing where I can build credibility for my name, I can become a champion and people will know who I am. That will give me more bargaining power to do something like Arnold Schwarzenegger or Jesse Ventura, something like that.”
In hindsight, Osterneck sees value in losing the election.
“I thought that deep down inside, if I had won, I would have put 100 percent of my effort into it for the city’s sake,” he said. “But when I didn’t win it was a blessing in disguise because I’m not ready to work on city issues. I’m glad I didn’t win because now I’m taking my time in my physical prime to compete in the sport I love. So it was a lesson learned and I got my name out there. I might be fighting but I wouldn’t obviously be as good as I am because I wouldn’t have as much time to do it.”
He said his first name, Nissen, means “Nathan” in Yiddish, and that he was named after a great uncle. Osterneck doesn’t use a moniker or nickname when he fights.
“People are always trying to stamp a name on me, but people can call me whatever they want,” he said. “I think eventually I’m going to become just like Madonna, Prince or Pink.”
Growing up in Maui, Nissen took Karate classes at a young age. He attended private schools until fourth grade, when he attended a public school, where he sometimes became a target for being a white kid in a state where Asians and Pacific Islanders are a majority.
“In the fourth grade I went to public school and the first day of school I got punched in the mouth by a Hawaiian kid,” Osterneck recalled. “I didn’t back down from him. I think I said, ‘You do that again and I’m going to kick your a--’ He just kind of walked away after that. Ever since then I’ve kind of had this need for personal security. Fist fighting is a huge part of Hawaiian culture. They respect fighting and surfing in Hawaii more than anything. Every single party I went to (as a teenager) there was at least one or two fights. In other places people get shot or stabbed; in Hawaii there is just fist fighting. I just needed that security deep down inside to be comfortable and confident in my surroundings and not be a coward or insecure being around these guys. I just wanted to be ready for whatever came at me. I didn’t want to be a coward.”
After seeing a couple UFC shows in the early 1990s, and how Royce Gracie dominated foes much larger than him, Osterneck enrolled in jiu-jitsu classes with a local Gracie affiliate. He was 15 years old and estimates he was 5 feet 5 and 125 pounds at the time. He trained for three years, until he went off to college.
“From the time I was about 18-20 I didn’t train at all, I kind of just lived the college life,” he said. “But I had this exterior pressure put on me because of the success my father, he was so successful and smart. He’s so well respected and everybody knows him, so I was kind of put behind this huge obstacle of trying to live up to his success. I kind of think that is what drove me to alcohol and drug use in high school and college. It was like, ‘God, there’s no way I can be as good as this dude.’
“Then I got sober when I turned 21. I quit drinking. I’m still a recovering alcoholic. I took all that energy I put into partying and put it into my training.”
Since the WEC is scrapping the 185- and 205-pound weight class, and relocating those fighters to the UFC, Osterneck is faced with the opportunity of a lifetime. The only thing standing in his way is Jake Rosholt.
“It’s about time,” Osterneck said of his shot with the WEC and UFC. “I’m not taking anything away from the UFC fighters but I know I can compete at that level. I’ve known that for a few years. I’m ready. I want to see how far I can go and push myself to the limit. I think I’m a good combination of a smart fighter and hard worker. I just love to compete and learning about myself in times of enduring pressure. Ever since I was young and surfing, I was always the craziest one, taking off on the biggest wave at the latest time. Just to get that Fear Factor involved, that’s the way I am. Being scared is where I put myself because I’m not comfortable being comfortable. I like being pushed outside my comfort zone.”
