Matt Nice

Construction Company Owner/Pro Fighter , 26

Neal Santos

As a star wrestler and protective older brother, Matt Nice found himself in plenty of fights growing up in Warminster — sanctioned and otherwise. They left him scarred and motivated.

First, the scars: Nice's right calf is noticeably bigger than his right. It was stabbed in a street fight after he turned his back on an opponent. Not wanting to alert the authorities, he drove himself to the hospital. It didn't deter him from fighting. Several years later, armed with a wrestling background and not much else, Nice began an e-mail to Jared Weiner with, "I want to be a pro fighter.'

Nice advanced to blue belt in Jiu-Jitsu quicker than anyone in BJJU's history; it took him five fights to win his first MMA amateur belt, and he holds the honorable distinction of being the first fighter ever to choke me unconscious in training.

Now the owner of Nice Building and Renovation. Nice begins his second career May 14 at Locked in the Cage 4 at the John M. Perzel Community Center in Northeast Philadelphia.