Meet TUF finalist Robert Valentin, “a man on a mission” with 185

Robert Valentine

Age: 29
Record: 10-3
Nickname: “Robzilla”
Division: Middleweight
Opponent: Ryan Loder
Road to the final: TKO in the first round by Giannis Bachar, Submission in the first round by Paddy McCorry

About the road to the UFC

Rob Valentine

“Honestly, I wasn’t imagining anything. I was just looking forward to the feeling and the feeling is indescribable. It feels like I’m in the right place. I wouldn’t call it pressure. I would rather say it’s excitement. I love the cameras. I love the show. I love the lights and the bigger the stage gets, the more excited I am to get on there. I’m so damn excited.”

About his TUF experience

“I loved every single day. I woke up every day with a smile on my face. It was the perfect environment for me. I feel like my whole life was preparing me to be in the (‘The Ultimate Fighter’) house and to do my best. I just felt like I was a man on a mission every day. I’m not going to lie: Everyone has doubts before fights and stuff. I had those doubts. But I always – like in the morning I go for a run and tell myself ‘nothing can stop me,’ to ‘OK, you’re going to change your life today. This is your time.’ And I told myself that every day for five weeks, and I think it came true. So, yeah – I didn’t want to go. I told the producers, it’s not about the house. You don’t take care of anything. You get food, you get everything you need, and you just train, fight and yeah, I miss it. I miss it.”

About opponent Ryan Loder

Ryan Loder

“I’m really excited to go in there with Ryan. I imagined us going head to head in the finals because he’s a very disciplined athlete. He’s a very strong guy, and I think we were both favorites maybe. I think I’m a terrible opponent for him, and I’m the guy who can make this fight entertaining, and I think I don’t want to take anything away from him because he has ways to win fights. But his style is not very appealing to the fans, and I actually have the skills to make this a fanatic fight. I’m just excited for the both of us to go in there, expect the best shape from the opponent, and put it all on the line. I want to have a long fight. I don’t want a first-round finish. I want to give the people what they need, and they need more airtime of ‘Robzilla’ in the cage because the last performance was too short. I want to give them more. I wouldn’t be sitting here. I would literally still be at home if there wasn’t a chance to make somebody bleed. That’s why I went to Vegas: I’m not going to jail for splitting someone’s skull. That’s why I’m here and that will never change.”

On a current fungal incident

“I have a pretty important fight coming up in 2023. I traveled from Thailand to Switzerland about three weeks earlier and my head wasn’t going well because I was battling staph infections. I was in a very bad relationship at the time. So I go to the mountains. And I take a shit ton of mushrooms with me. I’m alone in the forest, in the mountains, in the dark and I spent the night there. … After a few hours, the tree started to bend. The trees were bending and the gods appeared and literally told me, ‘You’re the guy. We need you to bring us bloody violence. We want to have something to cheer about and you need to make your ancestors and the old gods proud.’

“That night I felt so strong. I remember taking my shirt off. I started shadowboxing in the woods and I felt like my feet were putting roots in the ground. Nature gave me so much power and strength for the fights that followed the week. I had these voices in my head the whole time… That’s my source of power and that’s why before fights I always look for a connection to nature and if possible a connection to home. But if not, then I just connect with nature because that’s where I get so much strength from. That’s the whole basis of Norse paganism, the connection between man and nature. That’s basically the story of my journey to the mountains.”

For more information on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC on ESPN 62.