At GLORY: "Last Man Standing," Marc de Bonte and "Bazooka" Joe Valtellini went at it hard for the full five rounds, trading big blows and exchanging fight altering knockdowns (recap here). At the fight's conclusion, when GLORY ring announcer Tim Hughes announced Valtellini as the winner and new GLORY welterweight champion, a lifelong dream of one day being champion was realized.
Although, the reality of actually holding the title has yet to sink in.
"It still hasn't set in," Valtellini told MMAmania.com after returning from a cottage vacation in his home country of Canada. "I have to kind of remind myself and think about it and keep watching the fight. To me it's the dream, right? So the fact that I have it, it's still kind of hard to set in. People keep reminding me. I have to remind myself, it's crazy."
The fight started out great for the Canadian-Italian kickboxer. De Bonte had the experience advantage over him, but Valtellini had proven over his 13 fight career that he could hang with the best, especially after the "Fight of the Year" performance in a loss to Nieky Holzken in the GLORY 13 tournament final. In the third round Valtellini caught the Belgian with a picturesque right high kick that sent him crashing to the canvas and it looked like a knockout victory was in the making.
Somehow -- much to everyone's disbelief -- de Bonte got back to his feet.
"I can't believe it," says Valtellini, sounding as if he was still surprised by it. "To be honest, when I went back to that corner and turned around I was confident it was over. I never landed any strike as hard and as precise and as perfect as that kick. Even re-watching the fight, the way he falls, he looks like he's completely out and when he hits the ground his head kind of bounces off the ring and he wakes up. I was shocked. My team was shocked. Everybody watching was shocked. It just shows how tough of an opponent he is."
When it went into the fourth round, the tide shifted back in de Bonte's favor as he landed a very impressive jumping knee to put Valtellini on his back. "Bazooka Joe" would make it back up to his feet, but was not in good shape at first. He looked to be tiring, but made it out of the round. Suddenly, after the first three rounds were looking to be in his favor, he was heading into the fifth running out of steam and on his heels, but he refused to break, dug down deep and held on until the end.
"Mentally and physically in any fight I am in, it's going to take more than... If I am able to stand, there's no way I'm going down, especially with what's on the line," said Valtellini. "I'm going to have to be completely out to stop. My corner was confident with me winning the first three rounds. Even at the end fourth after the knockdown they were like 'keep strong, keep defensive.' So that's what I did. I didn't want to open up and take chances. When I look back and reflect on my fight in Japan and the last 10 seconds with Nieky Holzken kind of cost me going to the score cards and who knows what would have happened with the scorecards? I was really about keeping smart and keeping defensive and not opening up too much. I'm happy with the results and you can't get better than winning a world title."
As excited as he is with the win and becoming the champion, Valtellini had some time on his vacation to think about what it would've felt like to be in de Bonte's shoes and not see his championship dreams come to fruition.
"It's crossed my mind," he admits. "Even during this break. It's a lot more enjoyable knowing that you won the fight. There was an article posted that kind of showed that as a judge in any fighting sport you have to look at it round for round. A lot of people will watch a five-round fight and only remember the last few rounds and not what really happened before. I'm happy the judges looked at it that way. It would've been crushing looking back on it, even before he knocked me down in the fourth, I was confident I was winning the first three and a half rounds. I'm happy. I want to keep improving. I'm a fighter who looks for the knockout. You look at my career and I've only gone to a decision twice. I want knockouts. I want to make it clear that I'm the better fighter. Not finishing him in the third, I'm a little disappointed in it, but it happens. It's a learning experience and I think a lot of those later rounds after the knockdown is where the experience showed."
To his credit, de Bonte came back with a vengeance after getting floored by the high kick in the third, and he was also much more aggressive than he was in his title-winning fight vs. Karapet Karapetyan at GLORY 16. Valtellini said de Bonte's approach didn't surprise him, mainly due to the disparity between de Bonte having almost 100 fights compared to him only having 13. He said his lack of experience also has his opponents feeling the best way to get to him is to come right at him and it "worked out for a good fight."
"Marc de Bonte brought a tough fight. Personally, from watching his past fights, he definitely brought his best into that fight. Now, owning a title, it's something you don't want to give up and so I think that really pushed him and he brought a tough fight. Looking back and watching it I'm just glad everything went my way. I know he was a little disappointed with the results, but re-watching the fight, it was clear that I won the first three rounds so I don't think he has much to talk about."
There were a ton of Valtellini supporters in California that week for the title fight at GLORY: "Last Man Standing." Family and friends were at the press conference, weigh ins and going crazy for him at The Forum on fight night. His father, who always travels with him and once turned the basement of their house into a makeshift gym so his son could train, could be seen beaming with pride at the post-fight festivities. To put that smile on his father's face and have family and friends there to witness him win the title meant the world to him.
"It was amazing," Valtellini said. "Seeing my sisters, family, friends and teammates. For them to come down meant a lot. These are the people that are around you and know the ins and outs of how much effort sacrifice and how bad I wanted it. To share it with them after was a big deal. Hopefully one day GLORY can come to Toronto so I can experience a big win in front of co-workers and people who can't make it. My fingers are crossed that it happens one day."
The GLORY middleweight champion also doubles as High School teacher who works with students having special needs and behavioral issues, and when he returned to the classroom he had a nice surprise waiting for him.
"The day I came back to work there was a nice banner posted for me and all the kids got to sign it and all the staff," he said. "Everybody was proud. It's a big deal for me because I'm a big person in really motivating people to bring the best out of them. I think a lot of people become too comfortable in life and don't go out there and take chances and go out there and reach and accomplish their dreams. I'm a big believer and what I really push in my kids that I teach and those around me. I'm happy that people are motivated and inspired with by story and want to do better things with their life. I'm happy to be that role model and person to inspire people."
With his good looks, graceful demeanor, outgoing personality and clean reputation, to go along with his fighting pedigree, Valtellini could be fill the role of being the impactful athlete for kickboxing and become an ambassador for GLORY. That is something the champion would be more than happy in embracing. When told that some media members had likened him to becoming similar to how Derek Jeter is for the Yankees and Major League Baseball, the 12-2 fighter said, "it's an honor."
"To be looked as someone to be a positive role model for the sport and to push and grow the sport is amazing," said Valtellini. "I'm happy people can look at me as that person. I can do it. Especially the traditional stereotype you get with fighters. You get those goons, the tattoos, the mohawks, the aggressive trash talking. That's not me. A lot of people have those negative stereotypes that fighting is such a bad thing and 'look at these animals in the ring.' It's not like that at all and it takes the right person to push those people. All the people look at George St-Pierre as one of those people that kind of show combat sports in a positive way. If you look at GLORY, that's what they show in their brand. It's very clean, it's very professional, it's very high quality. I think us fighters in the sport, especially here in North America are doing a great job at pushing it and making it grow each day."
Kickboxing is a lot different than MMA in that the fights happen much more frequently. De Bonte just won the title at GLORY 16 in May and defended only a little over a month later against Valtellini. That's what makes "Bazooka Joe's" rise to the top so impressive, he fought and won the title in only his 14th career fight. By comparison the division's No.1-ranked fighter, Nieky Holzken has over 90 fights, as does de Bonte, and the the No. 2-ranked fighter, Karapet Karapetyan has over 50.
For Valtellini it's always going to be quality over quantity.
"For me, I've always looked at my career as I don't want to be that person that fights every week," he explains. "I think in order to improve and keep getting better you need that little bit of time. Whenever that opportunity comes. I don't want to rush it and I want to make sure the next time I am in the ring I am that much better. On top of growing the sport outside of the ring, you need to go in there and perform. I want to go in there and just blow peoples minds out of the water showing how high a quality of fight I can put on."
Valtellini said he took full advantage of the time off due to school being over for the year, and got a great deal of rest while on vacation, but now the time on the water with family is over and he is "back in there," training once again. Don't expect him to work any less than he used to just because he is the champ.
"That's what I love about kickboxing is that I'll never be satisfied with where I am at," he said. "There's always ways to improve whether it be offensive or defensive, or strategy, timing. That's the way I look at the sport. It's ongoing. It's a journey. I'm here to keep getting better. I think the journey to perfection will never be there so that's what keeps motivating me to keep getting into the gym."
There is one more thing that is driving him and on his mind: a potential showdown with Nieky Holzken, who has been absent from both welterweight title fights due to suffering and injury back in January. Once he is fully recovered, a heavily anticipated rematch between the two will be looming.
"Even after Japan he has always been on my thoughts," Valtellini admitted. "Our first fight, the fans loved it. To be called the "Fight of the year" was a big deal. The first fight was in a tournament and we both fought before (that night). He had a little bit more time to recover. He was a little more experienced, I feel, in tournament style. That was my first tournament. I think a single fight in one night would be a different story and we could just focus on each other and I think it could be an even better fight than our first. I think we are both going to be excited to put on a good show."
Nothing has been discussed as far as when his first title fight will take place or if will be against Holzken, so the new welterweight champion will keep working on his game and enjoy the title he has worked his whole life for.
"I'm sure something will come up pretty soon," he said. "Right now it's time to enjoy being the world champion, keep improving and keep having fun while I'm doing it."