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In just over a month, after the Olympics, Paris will host the UFC. After eight long years, Croatia will finally be represented in the biggest martial arts event.
The media responded that Ivan Erslan is the sixth Croatian in history to have successfully signed this prestigious contract. Our Sanja Jurkovic contacted us from Florida, where she is preparing.
They say business isn’t done in coffee shops, but a cup of optional coffee changed the lives of our mixed martial artists. After eight years, Croatia is representing the UFC again!
“That feeling is really indescribable. I am so happy. After 10 years of passion and hard work, I have achieved what I wanted and what I have always dreamed of. It seemed so far away before, but now, it has happened.”
The news that Ivan Erslan will become the sixth Croatian in history to defend our colors in the world’s most prestigious martial arts organization resonated in the media and the reaction everywhere was the same – no one deserves it more than him.
“To be honest, a lot of people say that if anyone deserves it, it’s me. More people deserve it, and I believe there will be more Croatians in the UFC in the future, especially now that our scene is on the rise, and it certainly won’t stop with me. Maybe the most famous name that resonates in world MMA is Mirko Cro Cop, who contacted me, congratulated me and said that it’s time to get serious and now it all depends on me.”
The fact that he contacted us from Florida and didn’t answer questions about how he was doing in Miami shows how serious he is about this.
“When I told people I was going to Miami to prepare, it sounded all exotic and fun, but it wasn’t fun at all. My day was just training, sleeping, eating, and I slept in the lobby, and the top floor of the lobby was housing fighters from all over the world, so I was literally there from 0 to 24 in the lobby.”
“I miss my family a lot, that’s the only downside to all this. Somehow, all those good times that happened during the day when the kids were younger, I really miss, but we video call every day, several times a day, so I’m familiar with everything, but I miss some things but I hope I won’t miss too much, we’ll definitely make up for everything when I come back.”
He recently became a father for the second time: after his daughter, he had a son.
“In terms of personality, I don’t know who they are, but they’re both very demanding, I jokingly call them terrorists, so that’s enough about their personalities now, but the important thing is that they’re healthy, playful, happy, and we’re going to get rid of them somehow.”
Of course, besides his family, he found his greatest motivation in religion.
“Faith means a lot to me. // I believe in God’s intervention in some situations and I thank Him for everything, the wins, the losses, I learn a lot from everything and I think actually because of this faith I never get down after a loss, too happy after a win, I always stay grounded and realize that the future is uncertain and I actually feel at peace with everything that happens because I know that sometimes when we can’t see where our path is leading, God has a better plan than we can imagine.”
He said he was encountering less and less prejudice, which until yesterday was still virtually an integral part of the sport.
“Everybody is familiar with MMA, everybody knows it’s a very demanding sport that requires very complex skills to handle it, so I think people have started to show some respect for the guys who handle it. It used to be a classic, get over it, nothing, get a normal job, like all the other guys…”
He joked that he watched UFC in Zagreb through binoculars and that soon he would have the chance to step into the world’s most famous octagon.
I was at the beginning of my MMA career when the UFC was held in Zagreb. I was a student at the time so the only cards I could watch were the ones in the top few rows, so I actually spent more time looking at the screen than at the cage itself, which is why I say I actually watched the UFC with binoculars.
He trained since childhood, but not in MMA, but in football. He entered the sport quite by accident, much later than other boxers, and today they say he is the best Croatian light heavyweight.
“I started training MMA when I was 20, when I entered the University of Zagreb and moved there. In fact, I started training after being persuaded by my brother, who has been doing this sport for a long time and loves it more than I do. I never even thought about becoming an MMA fighter, that I would do this for a living, that this would be my job. It all happened to me spontaneously, and I can say that the sport chose me, not me choosing the sport.
Before the fights I used to ask myself if I was good enough, if I had trained well enough, if I deserved the win, but I believe that is all part of maturity, part of growing up and it comes with age. Now I know I don’t have that thought in my head anymore, I know what I am ready to do, now I know it is my job, my life and I need to pay for all the time I spend outside of work, family and country when the time comes.”
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