When Zac Richard graduated from Massabesic High School in 2015, he gained a high school diploma but also lost one of the things in his life that was keeping him on the right path — the sport of wrestling.

Richard lost his sister Lacy to cancer in 2012, but wrestling had helped keep him focused and doing the right things instead of letting the tragedy bring him down.

“I wrestled my whole life, and then my sister passed away, and after wrestling I kind of went down a bad path,” said Richard. “After I lost wrestling, I just had nothing to keep me entertained.”

Richard, who won a state title for Massabesic in 2015, decided to return to the mat in mid-January — but this time it would be in a mixed martial arts cage.

“I’ve always wanted to do it. I’ve always watched UFC and one day I just kind of had enough and I walked into Nostos MMA and never looked back,” said Richard.

With his knowledge of wrestling, which is an important part of MMA, Richard quickly showed he had what it took to succeed in the cage.

“The first few (training sessions) went real well. I definitely made a couple people turn their heads. They were like, ‘woah, have you ever done this before?’ And I was like, ‘no I just wrestled,’” Richard recalled. “I’ve always watched UFC and followed mixed martial arts, so I had a good idea of how to do some submissions.”

UFC fighter Devin Powell owns and operates the MMA gym in Somersworth, New Hampshire, and quickly started to pay attention to Richard.

“Devin was kind of always watching over my shoulder and then I started to pick it up more and more. I get out of work at 5 and stay there until 9 o’clock at night,” said Richard, who works at Alan’s Automotive in Sanford.

Richard wanted his first taste of live action in the cage early on in his training, but Powell was concerned it was too soon to put him in an actual fight.

“Every day I was (working out) there and then I told Devin, ‘I want to fight.’ He told me, ‘you just started, give it a few months.’ He said if you show that you’re here every day and you want to do it, I’ll let you fight,” Richard said.

Richard attended a New England Fights event in February and was informed by NEF owner Matt Peterson that he would get his shot in April.

“Once I got the news that I was fighting in April, I definitely stepped up the training quite a bit,” said Richard.

The former Massabesic wrestler made his MMA debut last Saturday at NEF 33: Riptide, which was held in front of a packed house at Aura in Portland.

Richard, who had approximately 100 friends and family in the crowd, put on a show in his first fight as he won by TKO in the first round against Gabriel Diaz.

“As soon as I stepped in that cage, the crowd just went nuts and I wasn’t nervous at all … best feeling in the world,” said Richard on his first MMA experience.

Richard was thrilled to have his former high school coach, Rick DeRosier, in the crowd to watch his debut.

“It meant the world that he was there,” said Richard, who wants the longtime Massabesic coach by his side the next time he steps into the cage. “I told him next fight I definitely want him in my corner.”

Richard believes the skills he learned from DeRosier during his high school wrestling career will help him succeed in MMA.

“It definitely helps out a lot … but it’s more my style of wrestling that really helps me a lot,” said Richard. “I was really good at takedowns, I set the school record in takedowns, and I was really good at riding on top. Those two things are definitely big in MMA.”

Richard also credits DeRosier with instilling in him the heart and work ethic to succeed in the cage and in life.

“Coach just pushed me, not only to be a good wrestler, but to be a better person. I’ve known him my whole life, and coach is definitely the reason I’m the guy I am today. I owe him everything,” said Richard.

DeRosier wasn’t the only familiar face Richard saw at Aura last weekend.

“It was cool because a lot of the people that went I hadn’t talked to or seen in years because, like I said, I went down a bad path for a while,” said Richard. “And then just a couple months of getting on the right track and having over 100 people that I truly care about show up and support me. That’s what definitely drove me.”

Having a large crowd there to support him was a special moment, but without Powell in his corner Richard likely wouldn’t have had that opportunity.

“He has all the faith in the world in me, and he wouldn’t sit there and say, ‘you have what it takes,’ if I didn’t and he didn’t have faith in me. He’s just such a great guy and he’s a role model of mine,” Richard said.

The 135-pound fighter believes with the help of Powell he can make a serious run in MMA — and he’s going to try and reach the pinnacle of the sport.

“I don’t like working an 8-to-5 (job) … people can be whatever they want if they try, so I’d rather give it my all and come up short than sit there 20 years down the road and be like, ‘oh, I could have been a UFC fighter,’” said Richard. “It’s now or never. I’d rather try and not make it than sit there and go, ‘what if?’ The sky’s the limit.”

The next opportunity for a fight is in June, but the NEF event conflicts with something even more important — the 6th Annual Lacy Richard Memorial Ride.

“We do a bike run every year in honor of my sister. It’s the same day (as the NEF event) and I can’t miss that. I’m hopefully going to fight in the September (NEF event) for sure,” said Richard.

Whenever the 21-year-old fighter steps into the cage, the motivation will always be the same — make his parents, Glen and Shelly, and his sister proud.

“Everything I do is for my parents and my sister. If I can keep them proud that’s enough.”