UFC featherweight Andre Fili is showing up locked and loaded for his fight with Christian Rodriguez at UFC Vegas 109 on Saturday night.
If by ‘locked and loaded’ you mean a diaper bag, baby toys, and his infant son.
“I moved to Vegas about a year-and-a-half ago so I get to be a dad during fight week. It’s good for the soul,” Fili told reporters on Wednesday.
“I get to wake up in my own bed, make breakfast with my wife and son, and yeah it’s been amazing.”
Fili (24-12) sees fatherhood as a super power. Having a family to provide for and a son to raise has put his fighting career into perspective. No longer is life all about fighting, if anything, life is about the balancing act between fighter and father.
“It’s like a superpower man, you know? I feel like I wish I did this 10 years ago it’s crazy. The drive, the motivation and just the gratitude of these little moments. One day we’ll be able to look back at this picture. There’s just a lot of cool moments this week,” he said.
“Huge motivating factor for me. It’s the first time in my life that something’s cooler than fighting. My whole life since I was 14, that’s 20 years, since I first saw the UFC. Fighting’s been the coolest thing in the world to me, and now it’s the second coolest thing and he’s the first.”
Watch the entire media day scrum with Andre Fili above. He takes on Christian Rodriguez at UFC Vegas 109 on Saturday night.
