Naptime defends against The Ghost

In what could potentially become Fight of the Year, “Naptime” Nic Herron-Webb makes his first title defense this Wednesday night at the Alaska Fighting Championship’s 76th event: Ghost Buster.

Great backdrops arrive only once in a while. This one showcases two elite fighters with one of Anchorage Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu’s most outspoken and successful representatives facing one of Alaska’s most prominent young champions.

Barely a week after Nic won the welterweight belt against David Knight at AFC 74, Josh issued a public challenge for a shot at the title. “I want to fight Nic Herron-Webb in October for the 170 pound belt,” he said. “How many people want to see me smash this little punk into next week? I guarantee I will knock him out no later than the third round.” Within a few days the match was booked.

Nic says, “I knew I was going to want to fight again after I won the belt. I’m actually glad that Josh stepped up because I had just beaten the last three champs in a row and I didn't know who I’d be able to fight.”

In his usual candid form, Josh ignited the feud by insulting his opponent’s gym, Greatland MMA. “Obviously anyone can start a gym but it doesn’t make them good or legit. Who’s their main coach and what are his accomplishments? Exactly. Do I hear crickets in the background? They don’t have one that’s why I call them wannabes. You need to let your fighting and records prove how great you are. Nobody cares about how good you say you are when you’re not producing.”

Nic’s response: “Josh's best aspect is not in his fighting it's in his ability to run his mouth. Our gym’s young but we already have 5 belts in different fight organizations around the state. If you go back and look at Greatland’s fight records and ABJJ's, our numbers are a lot better.”

At AFC 75, during a promo in the cage, fighters met face to face and Josh gave his take on what went down. “The outcome was me embarrassing Nic in front of his mom and girlfriend. I still see Nic as a young naive kid who should take at least 3 years off and train at a legit gym before stepping back into the cage. Then maybe I would respect him.”

He continued, “I want their whole gym to know how I feel. Go back to the Alaska Club where all of you work and stand around telling each other how great all of you are. Ask Nic why he could not make it through one of our classes at ABJJ? You don’t need to ask him, I’ll answer it for him. It’s because he couldn’t hang with us. He left right after warm ups.”

“I did attend one of the classes at ABJJ,” Nic says, “and I don’t think I remember Josh being there. Maybe he should worry about his own training instead of mine. The reason I left early was because my training at Greatland was going to start so, yes, thank you Josh for letting me get a good warm-up before I really started training.”

Nic also addressed Josh’s accusation that his armbar victory against David Knight was a fluke. “Just because you don’t know how something works you don’t make fun of it. That’s a childish response from a man who’s scared of what he doesn't understand.”

As for the match, Josh predicts the outcome in his favor. “I see my style dominating every facet of his game. All he has is a punchers chance and he better pray to whatever God he prays to that it happens. If it doesn’t then his night will end with him on his back and me standing over him smiling. He won’t stand and bang. He’ll clinch and try to take me down. If that happens he’ll go night-night with a submission.”

And how does Nic see his match playing out? “Josh...wake up....”