While he is surfing on an impressive momentum, Wilson Varela hopes to conquer the HEXAGONE MMA lightweight world title on August 4 in Béziers, with another victory before the bell, and confirm his reputation as an outstanding finisher.

Watching Wilson Varela move, hit, and send his opponents to the mat, you’d think he’s been boxing since childhood. In reality, it’s quite the opposite: originally trained in sambo, the Portuguese fighter honed his striking later to correct his main weakness and succeed in his transition to MMA. In acquiring a bases behind the punching bags, Wilson Varela has worked hard, to the point of committing for five years to a kickboxing career, marked by thirty professional fights. It was only in 2021 that the young talent redirected himself to mixed martial arts, metamorphosised.

“I have total confidence in my strikes,” he said today, at 27.

And this confidence is backed by his performance. Winner of his last three fights before the bell, including a K-O in just 20 seconds, Wilson Varela has asserted himself as a true finisher, particularly sharp when the fight is settled standing.

“My victories are owed to my defeats”

“Right now, I’m successful. But all these victories are owed to my defeats. I had nights without sleep, great moments of doubt, long conversations with my coach… In the end, I learned, and I managed to move forward. »

A sound mentality for an intelligent, quadrilingual young man who draws his education from the three cultures in which he grew up.

“I was born in Cape Verde, but I spent my childhood in Portugal. And at 15, I finally arrived in France. When I arrived, I had left my whole life behind me overnight. I was supposed to be going to join the training centre for Sporting Portugal, Ronaldo’s football club, but I wanted to stay with my father and brother (in France), so I dropped out. He could have had a completely different career, but is now fully satisfied with martial arts, even if “MMA does not pay all the bills yet”.

So he alternates: sports coach in the morning, fighting in the afternoon. “I can juggle the two, so everything is fine.”