While Robert Valentin encountered some difficulties doing tape study for Ateba Gautier, he thinks he will have the durability and on the job experience to put on a memorable performance. Valentin vs. Gautier will transpire at UFC 318: Holloway vs. Poirier 3 on July 19th. Valentin appeared on Bowks Talking Bouts to touch on seveal subjects including fighting someone this weekend that some people are calling ‘the middleweight Francis Ngannou.’
When expounding upon how if he gets his ideal outcome on Saturday night that a victory over someone being buzzed about like this could give him a lot of momentum in his career, Robert Valentin said,
“Yeah, definitely. I mean getting an opportunity to fight a guy with like you said such hype behind his name. I mean even if they call him the little Ngannou or middleweight Ngannou, that’s a big name to put behind someone. So that’s definitely also [an] opportunity for me to capitalize on and yeah, I’m looking forward to.”
Robert Valentin gets into the X’s and O’s of this Ateba Gautier clash
In terms of the overall resume and skillset of Ateba Gautier heading into this matchup in the coming days at UFC 318, Robert Valentin stated,
“So you definitely see an individual who is very athletic and big and strong. It was still very hard to analyze him before the fight. Just because of the level of competition he faced. It’s very hard to tell how he fights when the fight gets tough, when the opponent is resisting, you know. He has eight professional fights and kind of all of them, they were not really giving him a fight.”
“So I think in regards of that, there is definitely some room for interpretation. But also for me, an advantage in the experience of facing higher level opponents. So yeah, all of that in combination with an athletic and strong opponent, yeah, it’s like a surprise box. You don’t know what you get out of it. But it’s definitely a recipe for a f***ing good fight.”
After a pair of first round finishes punched his ticket to the finals of The Ultimate Fighter season 32, Valentin is still looking for his first win on the UFC main stage. This on the heels of his controversial loss to Torrez Finney via split decision in April. ‘Robzilla’ initially cut his teeth on circuits like Levels Fight League and Ares FC before entering the TUF house.
