The MMA community mourned the death of UFC and Bellator veteran Guilherme “Bomba” Vasconcelos on Tuesday, and UFC flyweight Matheus Nicolau wants to honor him at this weekend’s UFC Vegas 99 in Las Vegas, when he faces Asu Almabayev.
Nicolau was born and raised in Belo Horizonte, just like Vasconcelos, and hearing the news of his “devastating” passing while checking in at the host hotel in Las Vegas was a crushing blow.
“He’s not someone I talked to regularly every day or every week, but I liked him very much,” Nicolau said in an interview with MMA Fighting. “He’s a bit older than me and got his [jiu-jitsu] black belt before I did, but we had our roads in MMA at the same time. He was always so nice to me. We have so many friends in common — everybody knows each other in the jiu-jitsu community in Belo Horizonte, and I saw him a month ago at the Worlds Master.
“The news hit me and I was crushed, man. I liked him very much, you know? He was a nice person that helped a lot of people in Belo Horizonte, even unintentionally, just by fighting and being who he is. He’s inspired a lot of people. I’m sure I was not the only one. He will be missed. That news was quite devastating.”
The cause of death has not yet been revealed, but Nicolau felt it was important to highlight the debating around mental health — especially among men.
“This is an alert of how important mental health is,” Nicolau said. “We have to open up with our friends. I even texted a friend of mine, ‘Life is crazy and we don’t talk as much as we’d like but I’m always here, and I love you.’ It’s important that we say that to people we care, just like him. If I had the opportunity to go back and have a word with him I would, you know?
“We can’t neglect that because we all have someone that love us badly, we have someone by our side and someone we can trust, someone we can ask for help. We don’t do that as much, especially men. Sometimes it’s hard for us to open up and ask for help and show our weaknesses. You’re only strong if you can be weak, too. That news was devastating, and it’s an alert for us. And may he rest in peace.”
Nicolau promised to “do my best to honor his work and the friendship we had” by defeating Almabayev at UFC Vegas 99. Nicolau said the match was originally offered for Aug. 24, but ultimately signed for Oct. 19, which gave him plenty of time to adapt to a new life in the United States, training at Team Oyama in Irvine, Calif.
“I don’t like to say I left a comfort zone, because it sounds like I was in a comfort zone before and wasn’t training that hard, but I think it put me in difficulties in every aspect,” Nicolau said. “There’s always a risk in change, and I feel like I’m getting the best out of myself here. I’m taking everything I have to this fight.”
Nicolau was approaching the top of the division after collecting four wins in a row under the UFC banner, including a decision over Manel Kape and a second-round stoppage over Matt Schnell. However, losing back-to-back fights to Brandon Royval and Alex Perez slowed his championship aspirations.
Almabayev, on the other hand, is 3-0 under the UFC banner and 20-2 overall in the sport.
“I’ll beat Asu the way I have to beat him,” Nicolau said. “By submission, by knockout, by points. Grappling him, standing and trading with him, kicking and kneeing him. No matter how, I’ll go after this win at all times — and I’m ready for this. I know I gave my best day after day, and I’m very confident.”
