So, you’re a new fan of Robelis Despaigne, huh? Well, let me tell you a bit about him. He’s a fresh signee to the UFC, boasting a 4-0 record with all his wins being first-round knockouts. This 6’7″ Cuban Olympian has an 87-inch reach. And if you want to see him warming up like a middleweight, check out this tweet from his manager, AJ Ariosa, posted on December 4, 2023.
Now, Despaigne wasn’t always into mixed martial arts. In fact, he was a bit hesitant about it at first. But once he decided to give it a shot, he quickly got signed with the world’s top promotion.
Despaigne’s latest win was a knockout in just four seconds against Miles Banks at Fury FC 84 in Houston on December 3. This was his fourth consecutive knockout, with the last three fights lasting a total of just 19 seconds. And here’s the kicker: Mick Maynard, the UFC matchmaker, signed Despaigne minutes after his win over Banks. This was announced live on the broadcast.
Despaigne described the experience as surreal. He said, “It’s finally happened. My dream finally happened…I knocked him out. They raised my hand and I was pulled for an interview. When I came back, I spoke to my manager AJ Ariosa literally two minutes after the fight and he told me, ‘Hey, you’re signed to the UFC.’ Three minutes after that, they announced it in the cage. That’s how it happened.”
Despaigne’s journey to MMA is an interesting one. He’s a 2012 Olympic bronze medalist in Taekwondo from Cuba. He started training at the age of nine and made it to the national team at 16. But he started to drift away from the sport due to external factors. That’s when his coach suggested he transition to MMA.
The heavyweight standout said, “It was amazing. Since Cuba’s Angel Valodia Matos won the Olympics (in 2000), I looked up to him. Every person that is an amateur, that’s the biggest tournament you can go to. You’re representing your country. … Once I got to that, I had to leave with a medal. Of course, I wanted gold. But I had to leave with a medal for my country.”
He continued, “I was losing love for the sport in 2012. A lot was going on in Cuba where I wasn’t really happy about the sport. I was loving love of it. My coach kept on telling me to do MMA. But all I had seen about the UFC and MMA was knockouts. I was like, ‘I don’t want to get knocked out.’ I was skeptical about it. But then I started watching the fight and was like, ‘I can actually do this. I’m going to go ahead and try this.’ Yeah, that’s what happened. That’s why I went into MMA.”
Despaigne started training MMA in Cuba in 2019 and moved to Orlando, Florida in 2022. Now, with the UFC 300 being targeted for a yet-to-be-decided venue in Miami in March, “The Bad Boy” is planning a debut in his new home state.
Despaigne’s ambitions are high. He said, “That’s not going to change now. I want to fight three or four times next year. That’s for sure. And I want to hopefully fight for the belt in one or two years. … I’m going to fight for the belt – and win it.”