'Trees were bending and the Gods showed up'… UFC debutant shares crazy story about tripping on 'magic mushrooms' in the Swiss mountains
22/08/2024 15:36
'The trees were bending and the Gods showed up' might very well be the best quote you'll read from an MMA fighter this year – and the man behind that story is set to make his full UFC debut this weekend; meet Swiss submission artist, Robert Valentin.
The UFC returns to Las Vegas this weekend for a decent Fight Night card headlined by middleweights Caio Borralho and Jared Cannonier – yet there's one man whose story you need to hear before the Apex doors lock behind him on Saturday evening.
Robert Valentin makes UFC debut this weekend against Ryan Loder
29-year-old Swiss middleweight Robert 'Robzilla' Valentin is finally set to make his full UFC debut this weekend on the main card of UFC Vegas 96 against fellow newcomer, Ryan Loder, in what will be the final matchup of TUF season 32.
Loder has a pro record of 6-1 with four of those wins coming by way of knockout including a 2023 first-round finish over Leon Shahbazyan, older brother of Edmen Shahbazyan, who is also set to feature this weekend against veteran Gerald Meerschaert.
His opponent Robert Valentin holds a 10-3 professional record, with three wins by KO/TKO and six coming via submission; having been a part of Team Grasso during season 32 of TUF and going 2-0 en route to the finals.
Yet that 'route' to the UFC octagon once took him via the mountains of Switzerland, with 'Robzilla' sharing one of the craziest stories that you'll hear about his experience of taking a "s****-tonne" of magic mushrooms during one of his previous Fight Weeks.
Robert Valentin shares crazy 'magic mushroom' story during media day
Speaking to the media ahead of his full UFC debut this weekend, Robert Valentin couldn't help but break out into a cheeky smile as he was asked about an infamous 'trip to the mountains' he took last year.
- FIGHT NIGHT: Caio Borralho previews his first UFC main event as he targets a 'good finish' over Cannonier
"So, I want to say one thing before – I was thinking about consuming mushrooms but the person who actually pushed me to [do them] was Alistair Overeem, we had a conversation about mushrooms and he's like 'Yeah, yeah you should do that'."
Valentin explained that in 2023, his training camp for a "pretty important fight" on the regional scene wasn't going so great as he battled both a nasty staph infection and a turbulent personal life – his solution? Take a hike into the mountains and take a boatload of hallucinogens.
"So, I go into the mountains, and I took a s*** tonne of mushrooms; I'm alone in the forest in the mountains in the dark and I spent the night there. I don't know how many grams I ate, maybe 5 or 6, but after a couple of hours, the trees started bending – literally.
"The trees were bending and the Gods showed up and literally told me 'You are the guy, we need you to bring us blood, and violence and we want something to cheer for, you've got to make your ancestors and the old God's proud'."
Valentin smiled as he recollected how after the mushrooms started kicking in, he felt so powerful that "I took my shirt off and started shadow boxing in the forest" although he also "felt like my feet would grow roots into the soil.
"Nature gave me so much power and strength going into Fight Week, and I would have those voices in my head all the time, I knew after this that this is my source of power."
Even heading into his full UFC debut this weekend against Loder, Valentin will look to reconnect with nature in the hope of finding that 'source of power' once again.
"That's where I gain so much strength from; that's the whole base of Nordic paganism, the connection between man and nature… That's the story of my trip in the mountains."
As per the UFC event page, Valentin vs Loder will take place on the main card of UFC Vegas 96.
- Jared Cannonier vs Caio Borralho
- Angela Hill vs Tabatha Ricci
- Ryan Loder vs Robert Valentin
- Kaan Ofli vs Mairon Santos
- Neil Magny vs Michael Morales
- Edmen Shahbazyan vs Gerald Meerschaert
UFC Vegas 96, also known as UFC on ESPN 62, goes down live from The Apex on Saturday, August 24.
