His manager, Mark Pavelich, asked if he could come over to help move a poker table. “I got there and he handed a folder over. I opened it and all I saw was Zuffa and Dana White and those names. It was just very surreal how it happened. Everyone knew for a week or two before I knew,” Valimaki laughed.
When asked about his opponent, Valimaki said he wasn’t very impressed.
“He’s a dangerous fighter, don’t get me wrong, but I’ve seen footage on him and I’ve seen some vulnerability there that I can take advantage of,” said the Canadian.
About his game plan, Valimaki says, “I’ll have a general game plan, but nothing too specific like I’ll only throw left hooks where I’ll limit myself. I know how the fight’s going to go,” he laughs again. “But Heath might read this, so I’m not going to give him any fuel.”
Valimaki grew up as a self described “military brat,” with both parents spending time in the Canadian Air Force, and he’s looking forward to entering the Octagon in front of an estimated 3,000 U.S. Marines at the Miramar Marine Corps Air Base in San Diego, Calif.
“I was always on military bases and I’ve grown up around it, so it’s kind of interesting to go back onto a base,” he said. “Military people have a rep of going a little bit wild at times, so it could be a bit of fun.”
Valimaki started his fight training when he was 15 with traditional Japanese jiu-jitsu; he also did a bit of wrestling in high school.
“The thought of competing in MMA was just a little spark then, but I realized even then that I had to train with different guys,” he said. “My first fight was in 2001 and I had five fights. I was a little bit injured and took some time off, had a kid and things like that. I ended up taking about two and a half years off. I trained sporadically, but never thought about competing. I missed the sport a lot, saw how much it was evolving and I decided to get back into it.”
Since returning to MMA just over a year ago, the light heavyweight has put together five victories in a row, starting with UFC legend Dan Severn (Pictures). Although at the time he was already the 205-pound champion in Edmonton’s MFC organization, Valimaki believes it was a victory over Vernon White that piqued the UFC’s interest.
“I beat quite a few guys, but no one at that caliber,” Valimaki explained. “I think that’s what opened their eyes to me. It didn’t hurt to have Jason MacDonald (Pictures) going in and cleaning up in his first UFC.”
Valimaki say his training has been intense: “We always train very hard. We’ve been bringing in Golden Gloves boxer Kevin Royal. We train with national champion wrestlers and we’ve been training at Lee Mein (Pictures)’s school (Canadian Martial Arts Centre) with Jason Day, Dan Chambers and Lee Mein (Pictures).”
Reaching the UFC is the dream of many a fighter, and Victor Valimaki is no different. When asked if he’s considered how this will affect his life, he’s very pragmatic.
“You know, I’ve got to win first,” he said. “This is the test. It’s very surprising and it’s very exciting that I’m in the UFC, but I have to win first. If I go in and drop the ball on my very first UFC fight it doesn’t look very good. Chances are you’re not going to get invited back for a while without going five or 10 fights elsewhere.”
Valimaki flew to Las Vegas for two days prior to heading to San Diego. Apparently the UFC is not accepting any foreign medicals anymore, so was forced to those again in the States. This will also be where the UFC takes promotional pictures and conducts pre-fight interviews with the fighters.
When asked if the whole thing has hit him yet, Valimaki said, “It’s just starting to sink in now. But I think it’ll really sink in when I’m flying into San Diego.”