The sport of mixed martial arts has a tendency to drag its fighters through the highest highs and the lowest lows. Its athletes pour their hearts and souls into their pursuit of glory, and unlike many other elite-level disciplines, those involved in MMA are not driven by the pursuit of tens of millions of dollars but by the hunger to achieve something they can look back on with pride in years to come.
For Irish star Will Fleury, the past year has seen him pull his career back from the brink of extinction to a point where he has accomplished more than many fighters could ever dream of.
A week ago, Fleury (15-3) emerged from a grueling 25-minute war against Lazar Todev in Stuttgart, Germany, to become the Oktagon MMA Heavyweight Champion of the World. This title adds to the light heavyweight strap he won just 67 days earlier when he dominated Karlos Vémola in front of a partisan Czech crowd.
Fleury Reflects On His Achievements
I spoke with Fleury this week on his 36th birthday. Despite nursing a broken hand, an injured ankle, and a face that shows the visceral realities of the fight game, the Tipperary native is able to relax and enjoy the fruits of his labor.
"I remember my birthday (last year) turning 35 and I was like, 'Jesus, I’ve very little to my name…considering how much effort I've poured into this thing, it hasn’t left me much,” Fleury recalls. “Whereas now I'm in a position where God, yeah, that's way better, you know? So even though...okay my hand is broken today, my hand will heal and I will go on and I'll do more fantastic things.
"The doors are wide open now. Oktagon see the potential in me. I think everyone around the world can see this guy's gonna go out and do special things if you give him the opportunity to, so I feel like the future is bright even though the last couple of days have been tough days".
Chasing Opportunities
Having signed with Oktagon this time last year, Fleury announced his arrival in style with a submission win over Daniel Škvor in April. He made an even bigger splash at Oktagon 62 in October, which took place in front of 59,000 fans in Frankfurt, Germany. A scintillating first-round knockout win over Pavol Langer caught everyone's attention, and Fleury grabbed the bull by the horns, calling out light heavyweight champion Vémola, who was cageside at the event.
The promotion's matchmakers seemed hesitant to give Fleury a title shot, something that frustrated him immensely. Believing he was being denied because of his nationality and perhaps not being as marketable as some of the more recognizable (to the Oktagon fanbase, at least) names on the roster, Fleury embarked on an aggressive campaign across social media, ultimately harassing the promotion and Vémola into agreeing to the fight.
"Look, I suppose there's nothing more frustrating than not getting the opportunity", says Fleury, "so if you feel like you've worked extremely hard to get somewhere and yet you're being denied because you're not the right type of person, you're not from the right place (which was the case in that situation) and you're definitely a good enough fighter to go in and do it, and yet, you know, the business circumstances are conspiring against you, it's extremely frustrating, so that's probably what I was feeling at that stage".
Fleury Dreaming Big
Having dethroned Vémola and beaten Todev in such a short space of time to claim both titles, Fleury is in line for a well-deserved break. However, ever the driven competitor, and buoyed by the confidence of having achieved everything he set out to do over the past twelve months, the champion is dreaming big when it comes to what he might accomplish when he returns.
"If the opportunity presents itself I want to win that middleweight belt", Fleury responds when asked what he would like to do next. "I see that there's a rule in the contract that you have to defend the belt at least once a year or you get stripped so I now have a timeline until the 8th of March next year in my head to become a triple champ, so obviously I need to heal up right now.
"The fact that I'm even thinking this way is mad", he laughs, "but I've got a couple of months of rehab and you know, I'll get this surgery, stay in the cast for a while, then rehabilitate the hand and all that. I'll probably fight at light heavyweight on the way down, and then make middleweight and see if they'll give me the title fight there. And if it all makes sense, we'll do that.
"That would be the ideal. That's the plan right now, but you know opportunity comes to pass in life so if a bigger opportunity comes up somewhere else...like I see the KSW owner, he's saying that all of his champions would smash all the Oktagon champions. If he'd be willing to release his guy Rafał Haratyk (20-5-2), and we could do a KSW V Octagon champ fight.
"Something like that, I'd be very open to that too, and I honestly I just want to do the biggest fights possible for as long as I can. And if that's going down and becoming a triple champ which I think would be pretty special".
