UFC middleweight Ateba Gautier might be the most chill fighter on the roster coming off a violent first round finish over Robert Valentin at UFC 318.
Gautier (8-1) faced off with Valentin at ceremonial weigh-ins. The latter screamed in his face trying to get a reaction from Gautier, but got nothing more than a slight smirk.
“About the energy, you know, I didn’t really care. Everything he was doing for me was ok. You can do whatever you want, but in the cage you’re going to be just you and me. Whatever you can do it won’t change the results,” Gautier told reporters including Cageside Press at his post-fight scrum.
If earning a bonus was his plan well then it worked perfectly as he scored a 50k bonus. It was something he expected following the result.
“I’m going to get the bonus (the scrum was before those were announced). I was violent. Have you hear(d) the noise of my punch like BOOM, BOOM. Like a small explosion. So I’m going to get the bonus,” he said.
Not many people know that Gautier has actually attended university and earned degrees, but the reason behind it is interesting. Mama Gautier laid down the condition that, if he wants to fight, he must have a degree.
“I always used to fight, but not like proper fight. I always used to fight in the street in my country. For me it was normal. I wanted to fight, but my mom (was) like you can’t fight if you don’t get degrees,” he said.
“So that’s why I went to uni. I did physics just to make her like, ok, I’m smart, but fighting for me is for like stupid people. I’m smart, but I want to fight. I just enjoy it.”
Watch the entire post-fight scrum with Ateba Gautier above.
