Vancouver, Canada — John Alessio is a Canadian MMA pioneer, one who competed for the likes of WEC, Bellator MMA, and of course the UFC throughout his 15+ year run in mixed martial arts.
Born in Vancouver, Alessio kicked off his fighting career in 1998, and in 2000 arrived in the UFC — facing Pat Miletich at UFC 26 for the promotion’s welterweight championship in his very first outing. At the age of just 20, a record that still stands today.
Jon Jones was the youngest man to win a UFC title, but Alessio remains the youngest to have fought for one. The memory of that night — 23 years ago to the day — was something Alessio addressed at the UFC 30th Anniversary Q&A in Vancouver on Friday, ahead of the UFC 289 ceremonial weigh-ins.
“Going back that far, that was honestly one of the first fights that I puked before walking out to the octagon. I got so nervous,” Alessio recalled. “I was just a boy, fighting a man. In his home town. I was in Iowa that fight. So as I make the walk, people are leaning over, [saying] ‘you’re gonna die today kid.'”
Alessio wasn’t so sure at the time that they were wrong. “You might be right. I don’t know!” was his thought. “It was amazing. It was crazy.”
Since that night in 2000, in the pre-Zuffa era, the UFC has blossomed into a multi-billion dollar company. Alessio told Cageside Press on Friday that he saw the potential all along. “Yeah absolutely. I think every fighter that helped pioneer this knew what the sport was capable of.”
As for his advice to young fighters today, “just keep dreaming big. You’ve gotta put everything into it. This isn’t a sport that you can go in half-assed. You need to commit everything in your life to this. I was going to school to be an electrical engineer back then. I quit it all just to pursue this, back when it wasn’t even really a sport. And I was able to make a living at it.”
Watch the full UFC 30th Anniversary Q&A at the Rogers Arena in Vancouver above.
