Mexico City /
UFC Paris will have a Mexican presence this Saturday, September 28, when the original of the State of Mexico, Victor the Magnificent Altamirano, faces the Spanish Dani Barez in the flyweight category, a battle that could help him regain confidence later of two consecutive defeats.
Before the fight, Víctor spoke with MILENIO-La Aficion and he told how his life changed thanks to a humanitarian visa, because unfortunately when he was 9 years old, his father fell from the roof of a house in the United States.
“My dad was building a house in the United States, the roofs there are not concrete, they are like plaster and fragile, they do not support much weight. He was on the second floor and they were running cable, he didn’t know, he stepped on it and fell. My life changed because I was far from my home, from my family; When you leave the place where you grew up for a long time you have to assimilate it, but it was mixed martial arts that gave me my second home, where I could feel like I belonged,” he shared.
Life change
However, years later the humanitarian visa expired and Víctor became undocumented, He assures that he experienced moments of anguish, since being illegal he could not study a university career, but thanks to MMA his life began to make sense.
“If you don’t want to pursue a university degree, the truth is it is not that difficult to live undocumented in the United States. Even if you don’t have papers, one can work, earn money, have a good life, you just can’t travel; basically if you behave well and You do what the laws dictate, no one bothers you. I wanted to go to school, have a career in some ways, that did affect me because even if I had graduated I wouldn’t have been able to have a work and that was another reason to continue fighting; I liked it and they didn’t ask me documentation to continue doing it, that’s when I decided to focus fully on MMA,” mentioned.
a coincidence
Víctor never had in mind having a professional career in MMAWell, from a very young age I practiced taekwondo, something I did as a hobby; One day he was presented with an opportunity to fight and from then on he began to love mixed martial arts.
“I started training in taekwondo since I was 12 years old and the truth is it was never my goal to pursue this as a career, I just loved doing it, I did it every day. One day they asked me to help prepare their fighters, not as a coach but as sparring partner They told me: ‘Hey, you’re here all the time, why don’t you fight?’ You basically do everything our fighters do.’ They got me a fight, I won, I fought in the LFA (MMA promotion), I won the Dana White’s Contender Series and here I am,” he shared.
He took the opportunity
August 31, 2021the life of the Magnificent took another direction, since he defeated Carlos Candelario in Dana White’s Contender Series and he earned a contract with the UFC
“My life changed a lot, I had just had my first child and it was a very big change; I was able to move forward doing what I liked and be a breadwinner for my family, it was a wonderful change, I hope my wife and children see that the only thing needed in “This life is about desire, inspiration and believing in yourself,” he noted.
Finally, the Mexican assured that He will seek to knock out his Spanish opponent this day and put the Mexican flag at the top, and in that sense he and his work team managed to decipher the weaknesses of their opponent.
“The knockout is always the goal, finish the fight no matter what. Expect something very exciting and interesting, with me it will always be a very high, fast and dynamic. We have plan a, b, c, we want to be there and execute what we have to do. We know that we have better cardio, we have better endurance, better kicks, better jiu-jitsu, we are not worried about any aspect of the fight,” he concluded.
AVV
