Fight Night.

Maroubra’s Richie Vaculik is one half pro-surfer, one half professional Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) fighter. The guy is also a full-time madman. In the coming weeks Richie will take on Hawaiian Justin Wong as a part of Proud Warrior Productions 3, which is organized by former pro surfer John Shimooka. Richie was first introduced to Brazilian Jiu Jitsu when he was 19 but then switched to MMA and has never looked back. Waves caught up with the ground and pound specialist to chat about his upcoming fight, his record of 6-1 (six wins, one loss) and how he handles time in the gym instead of the water.

Tell us about your upcoming fight.
“It’s part of the event that Proud Warrior Productions are putting on at the Roundhouse in Sydney on September 3. Justin Wong and myself are the headline fight so it should be a good night. Justin’s coming in from Hawaii and I know he’s an excellent fighter. From what I’ve seen I think we’re going to match up pretty well. There’s also a bunch of solid undercard fights as well. It’s looking like it’s going to be an exciting night.”

We heard the reason that you’re fighting a Hawaiian is that the rest of the Aussies don’t want to fight you. Any truth to that?
“(Laughs) Nah I’m not too sure. I’ve had trouble getting fights here in Oz in the weight division that I want to fight in. I’ve moved up to fight in a heavier weight class to keep busy. Whether or not people want to fight me or not, I don’t know. This time around we’ve gotten a Hawaiian and I’m looking forward to getting in the cage with Justin.”

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How has this year been fight-wise?
“This year I planned on staying busy but unfortunately I dislocated my elbow during training back in March. It took me a while to get back to 100% so this upcoming fight is going to be my first of the year. It was unfortunate but I was lucky at the same time because I was able to get a bunch of surfing in.”

You’ve got a pretty good fight record, how does that affect your confidence?
“Yeah I’ve only had one loss and that was for the CFC World Bantamweight title. It was a pretty tough fight and was a really good experience. My opponent was an experienced fighter and was better than me on the night. I was absolutely gutted to lose but I also took a lot of positives from it. I like to take as many positives as I can from each fight and improve on the areas that I need too.”

Are there still nerves before you step into the cage?
“Absolutely. It’s all a whirlwind of emotions before you walk in. It’s a pretty good feeling when you’re switching everything on to prepare for what you’re about to walk into. There are nerves, fear, excitement and plenty of adrenalin all thrown into the mix. It’s almost the part you enjoy the most. I’m learning to channel all of that energy and use it to my advantage.”

Last time we spoke you said there were plans to travel to the States to fight. Are those plans still in the pipework’s?
“This year I’ve been lucky to get on board with RVCA who are based out of the States. It’s been great signing with them because I’ve been able to visit their gym and train with some of the best. I’m still working on getting signed to fight over there but I’m looking forward to getting back over and training with them. With the year not working out how I planned, it took me a while to get fit and healthy and those plans took a bit of a back seat.”

Are you stoked to be aligned with BJ Penn (legendary Hawaiian UFC fighter) as well?
“Yeah it’s great to be on the same team as BJ. I was actually going over to train with him before this upcoming fight but I ran out of time. To have the opportunity to train with that caliber of fighter is insane though and I’m really looking forward to getting over there.”

Is it hard devoting the hours to the gym instead of the ocean?
“Yeah it is, especially when the waves are pumping. I’m finding that I’m starting to prioritise a lot more now. If I’ve got a little bit of time away from fighting I know that I’ve gotta do as much surfing as I can because once a fight’s locked in, it takes over. I actually picked up a couple of tiny injuries from surfing a few weeks back, so at the moment I’m staying out of the water. It’s been pretty hard over the last couple of weeks with the recent swells and the boys going mental at Ours. I didn’t want to risk hurting myself again so I kept myself landlocked (laughs).”

If you want more details about Richie’s upcoming fight, check out Proud Warrior Productions here.