Australia’s strongest man, Alex Simon, is being scouted by the UFC

Australia’s strongest man can bench press 260kg, squat 435kg, deadlift 400kg and with a UFC contract beckoning he may well be the new force in the heavyweight division. WATCH THE BIG MAN’S HIGHLIGHTS.

Three months before earning the title of Australia's Strongest Man, Alex Simon started to believe he would die.

At 180kg, he could no longer sleep.

Or not when laid down, anyway.

The Sydney powerlifter so jacked about his shoulders, back, even neck, he could only sleep when sat up in an armchair, his head tilted on a stack of pillows so the air could find a passageway to his lungs.

"But still, I'd freak out," Simon recalls. "I'd got myself so big that, when I laid down, it was like the air stopped going into my body.

"Couldn't find a way in.

"So every evening when it got dark, I'd start getting this incredible fear that I would stop breathing in my sleep.

"For three months I'd be sat there thinking 'this is the night you'll die'."

Simon is the strongest man in Australia.

Twice, the big unit was hospitalised with anxiety.

Countless more times, privately battling mental demons in his head.

Which is a problem, right?

"Oh, I couldn't function as a human being," he shrugs. "But still, I was strong as f …"

A truth proved in October, 2017 when, at the Big Dogs powerlifting tournament, this athlete dubbed 'Godly Strong' went and shifted more weight than any Australian in history.

Bench press: 260kg

Deadlift: 400kg.

Squat: 435kg.

All up, a record now carrying right across the world to UFC headquarters in Las Vegas.

Less than two years after becoming Australia's strongest man, The Saturday Telegraph can reveal Simon, still only 26, is now on the radar of UFC matchmakers.

With good reason, too.

Despite boasting only five fights in MMA and kickboxing, this now 140kg heavyweight has never gone past the first round.

Simon may well be the strongest man to compete in the Octagon.

Nor competed beyond 30 seconds.

Some feat considering those numbers, they also include the referee's '10 Count'.

"So I'm ready for a UFC contract right now," the undefeated slugger says. "Obviously I'd like more experience but here in Australia, I can't get anybody to fight me.

"Opponents keep pulling out.

"We've even tried bringing international guys in, but it's the same thing. I'm guessing they Google my name and think 'stuff that'."

Originally a rugby league player, Simon joined Asquith Magpies aged six and played right through to the North Sydney Bears junior representative teams.

However after badly injury his knee, the young prop started powerlifting as part of a strenuous rehab campaign and "immediately fell in love with the sport".

Which meant, within a tick over three years, Simon found himself making breakfasts of dozen eggs and six slices of toast, while also consuming a large pizza on the way home from training before eating whatever wife Mary, due with the couple's second child in August, cooked for dinner.

"Just wanted to be as strong as possible," he grins. "And while life wasn't great — I couldn't walk 100m without a break — I set my goal and achieved it."

Same deal now with the UFC.

While currently recovering from a torn bicep suffered in training, Simon hopes to be fighting inside the Octagon by early 2020.

"And I know I can become heavyweight champ," he says.

"Because I said I'd become Australia's strongest man, and I did. Got there within three years, too.

"Even while thinking it would kill me."