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Ateba Gautier: 'Now That I'm Here, Everything Is Possible'
Prospect From Cameroon Delivers Powerful Message Ahead Of Sophomore Appearance In The Octagon This Weekend
Tuesday afternoon, I asked promising middleweight Ateba Gautier what he would have said to someone if they came to him five years ago and told him that in the not too distant future, he would be competing in the UFC, fighting on a massive pay-per-view card in his second appearance with the promotion after debuting earlier in the year in Mexico City.
Propped up against the headboard in his New Orleans hotel room just a few days prior to his preliminary card clash with Robert Valentin, the 23-year-old middleweight from Cameroon left me speechless with his response.
“I don’t know what I would tell that person,” began Gautier, shaking his head and laughing at the thought of someone bringing those possibilities to him back in 2020. “(I would probably say something) like ‘There is no place here to have this kind of dream.’”
He continued smiling. I immediately stopped laughing alongside him.
“There is no place in Cameroon where you can have this kind of dream,” he continued. “They are still dreaming, but that’s not (possible); I can’t, I won’t be there. You can’t dream like that when you’re in Cameroon. That’s not a dream — it’s a hallucination or an illusion; it’s not a dream at all.
“Five years ago, I would have said no,” he added. “Now that I’m here, everything is possible.”
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These are the kinds of things you don’t necessarily consider when you’re a 46-year-old white Canadian male, born into a middle-class family where attending university wasn’t an option, but an expectation, and very few careers ever seemed out of reach.
Sure, I had childhood hallucinations of growing to be six-foot-four and turning my obsession with basketball and mediocre jump shot into an extended career in the NBA, but only reaching five-ten and never finding consistency with my jumper just meant that I had to shift my focus to one of the multitude of professional options available to me.
But Gautier’s teenage reality is one that is far more common for innumerable individuals, which makes the fact that a little over four years after making his professional debut — and just over three years after touching down in the United Kingdom — he’s set to make the walk to the Octagon for the second time this weekend even more incredible.
When asked what it means to have turned those hallucinations into reality and now be chasing tangible dreams, it was Gautier’s turn to be left without words.
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“I don’t know if I will find a word, but I’m going to try,” he said, taking a beat to express things as best as he could. “Now I’m just trying to live the moment; to be here in the moment. I don’t want to be somewhere (else) or think about the future; I don’t want to know my emotion now.
“I want to achieve something in my life, and I know I’m in a good place, have good people next to me, so I just focus on my goals. I will think about (what it means) later. Now I need to be in the moment.
“I have a fight, so let’s focus on the fight; live the moment.”
Ateba Gautier Knocks Out Jose Daniel Medina In The First Round | UFC Mexico
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Ateba Gautier Knocks Out Jose Daniel Medina In The First Round | UFC Mexico
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That was the mindset Gautier carried with him into his first appearance of the year back in March, when he walked into the Octagon at Arena CDMX in Mexico City and stopped Jose Daniel Medina in the first round to collect his first UFC victory.
“In the moment, it just felt like a normal day in my gym,” he said about his debut, which came six months after he earned his place on the roster with a second-round stoppage win over Yura Naito on Season 8 of Dana White’s Contender Series. “I didn’t put myself in the UFC — I was in my gym.
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“For me it was like sparring with someone without shinguards, without any protection; that’s how I thought about it in my mind to make it easy. In my head, even with 20,000 people (in the arena), I’m just going to fight against one guy, so it’s just him.”
He was facing a fellow Contender Series graduate, but not one that earned his place in the middleweight ranks with a victory.
Medina was given a contract following his loss to Magomed Gadzhiyasulov on the sixth season of the annual talent search series, as the Colombian impressed UFC President Dana White with his durability, toughness and overall moxie. Though he landed on the wrong side of the scorecards in his first trip into the Octagon, “Chicho” forced his opponent, Zachary Reese, beyond the first round for just the second time in his career, and made him battle hard for 15 minutes for the first time.
That durability prompted Medina to suggest he was incapable of being knocked out, an idea that Gautier took issue with even before they stepped into the Octagon together.
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“To be honest, I don’t believe someone can be that tough,” he said in regard to Medina’s pre-fight assertion. “People are tough, but if you connect in the right moment, the right place — you’re just human. He used to say no one can knock him out, but obviously everyone can get knocked out.
“Everyone is human, everyone can get knocked out by something. You’re human, so be humble. I know I have the power that I can knock anyone out; I just need to touch you in the right moment, land one good punch.”
Or, as was the case when they fought, one really good knee.
“Yeah, one really good knee,” Gautier agreed, chuckling.
Following the victory, Gautier and the crew from Manchester Top Team flew from Mexico City to Las Vegas, and the next day, the ascending prospect was right back in the gym.
No vacation, no celebration, no Las Vegas chaos — just right back to work.
“I don’t think of this as work,” offered Gautier, who carries a 7-1 record with six straight stoppage victories into Saturday’s televised preliminary card pairing with Valentin. “It’s not a job — I like to do it; no one forces me to do it.
“I love fighting, I have no fears to do it, and I like (being in the gym). I’m still learning, so why should I stop? There are no days off. Even on my day off, I’m doing something.”
That “Why stop?” mentality carries over to the way he views his career in the UFC, as well.
Though he’s solely focused on the task at hand, the powerful middleweight is fully confident in his ability to dispatch Valentin the same way he did Medina earlier this year, and should things play out that way, Gautier wants to get right back to work, immediately.
“To be honest, after I knock Robert out this Saturday, I just want the UFC to give me more fights,” began Gautier. “I’m still learning, so I need more experience, so just let me fight. I’m young! I have nothing else to do, so keep me busy!
“I will win the fight — I’m gonna knock this guy out — so just give me a fight. Next week there is a card: if they want me next week, just give me the fight; I’ll knock this guy out and then knock (the next guy out), very quick. You order and I deliver, easy.”
So a Sunday morning flight from New Orleans to Abu Dhabi, where a pair of middleweight contests are slated for the main card and could perhaps require a short-notice replacement?
“No problem,” Gautier said with a smile. “I just want to be busy, getting more experience; more and more and more. I just want to fight.”
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