“I never counted myself out” – UFC Light heavyweight champion Carlos Ulberg
With an ulafala around his neck and the UFC light heavyweight belt glistening right next to him, Carlos Ulberg sits proudly at the post fight press conference letting everything that had just happened sink in.
The soft spoken Samoan who grew up in Otara South Auckland doesn’t really say much,
just uttering a few sentences to appease the reporters and their questions.
A few moments earlier, he knocked out Jiri Prochazka for the UFC light heavyweight title, all while hobbling on one leg as his right knee had buckled early on in the fight.
A performance that was far from soft spoken and quiet.
“I never counted myself out,” Ulberg says.
“It’s adapting on the fly. We’ve had issues like this before and we’re in a big fight, so you expect things like this to happen. The main thing is knowing I have that power and trusting myself.”
Ulberg’s journey to the top can somewhat be described as a long path of never counting himself out. A journey of adapting to whatever was thrown to him.
Originally wanting to pursue a career in rugby league, his dream was cut short after being suspended for fighting during a match.
From then on he found his way to kickboxing and martial arts, later finding a home with well respected coach Eugene Bareman and City Kickboxing gym.
He later featured in his first MMA fights in various bouts across New Zealand. This then led to him earning a spot on Dana White’s “Contender Series” which earned him his first UFC contract after a first round knockout of Bruno Oliveira.
His debut in the UFC however was not the dream start he had hoped for, losing to Kennedy Nzechukwu via knockout. From that loss, he then went on to claim a nine-fight winning streak, with five of those wins coming by way of knockout.
The heroic victory against Jiri now adds to his winning/knockout streak and also etches his name as only the second New Zealander to win a UFC title.
It also now makes him the third UFC champion of Samoan heritage with the likes of Max Holloway and Robert Whittaker.
“It means a lot, man. To be able to take another belt back home, it gives hope to the many other fighters and aspiring fighters back home to see that it is possible that someone like me can do it, someone that they can relate to,” Ulberg says.
