UFC 262: Josh Culibao talks about fighting Idris Elba
Josh Culibao isn’t the type of megafan to settle for selfies. When it comes to brushes with fame, he’d rather have them in the ring.
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Josh Culibao never grabbed a selfie with Hollywood superstar Idris Elba.
Sure, he wanted to.
All six times they secretly sparred together, throughout January and February, inside his Bondi Junction gym.
“Because I’m a massive Marvel fan,” the rising UFC featherweight admits.
But Culibao, he’s also a professional.
“And Idris,” he says, “had come in to work”.
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Among Australia’s most exciting young fighters, Culibao can also now lay claim to being a training partner for Elba, that renowned British actor whose resume includes not only the famed Thor and Avengers films, but also American Gangster, Prometheus, Beasts of No Nation and US crime drama, The Wire.
Earlier this year, the Golden Globe winner also spent several months Down Under filming a new George Lucas flick, Three Thousand Years of Longing.
During that time, the actor once listed among the world’s most 100 influential people spent his downtime hanging with the likes of Chris Hemsworth, Matt Damon, Rita Ora … and Culibao.
Not that anyone knew.
No, despite the best efforts of Sydney paparazzi, Elba trained in secret for roughly a month at Bondi Junction’s Igor MMA.
Organised by gym owner Igor Breakenback, who doubles as an Aussie stunt man, the sessions saw Culibao training and sparring with Elba who is no stranger to throwing down.
Back in 2017, the Brit even released a documentary series on his journey towards a pro kickboxing fight which — spoiler alert — he won.
“So while Idris was out here filming, he met up with my coach who works in the industry,” Culibao explained.
“They spoke for a while and he decided to come and do some training.
“A few years ago, he did that documentary where he trained to do a striking fight. So he wanted to learn some grappling, a little wrestling, it was really cool.
“But because of who he was, my coach wasn’t comfortable with him training against just anyone. So he asked me to train with him.
“It was for about the month and we sparred six times.”
So as for how Elba went?
“He definitely had some knowledge,” Culibao continues. “Moved quite well for a guy his size and felt strong, too.
“He’s a big guy.
“Had close to 25kg on me.”
But no dramas?
“Nah, I’m level headed,” Culibao says, grinning. “And I always knew that if something did go wrong, it was going to be on my coach because he was the one who matched us up together.
“And Idris was such a good guy.
“Really chilled.
“He would come in and shake coach’s hand, shake my hand and then do his workout. Afterwards, he’d also stay for a while chatting with us.”
But no selfie?
“No,” he laments.
“But at the time, we were really trying to keep the sparring sessions under wraps because we didn’t want random people coming into the gym to watch.
“And given how often he would get asked for that stuff, I didn’t want him to get annoyed.
“So even though I’m a Marvel fan, yeah, I got nothing.”
INSIDE AUSSIE UFC CHAMP’S LAVISH LAS VEGAS PAD
Alexander Volkanovski is now ranked the third best UFC fighter anywhere on planet earth.
Or put another way, higher than even Israel Adesanya.
Which surely gives the Australian all bragging rights over that great mate and training partner who doubles as UFC middleweight king, right?
“Ah, no, no, no, not at all,” Volkanovski laughs.
“Although when it comes to those rankings, it is cool to see. And great to think I’m now getting the recognition for the people I’ve beaten.
“So I guess if it does happen to come up in conversation anytime soon, yeah, I might have to say something to him”.
A Wollongong concreter not so long ago, Volkanovski is right now bunkered down in a sprawling Las Vegas home as filming gets underway for the next instalment of US reality TV series, The Ultimate Fighter.
Apart from staying in a house paid for by UFC president Dana White, or sitting behind only Jon Jones and Kamaru Usman on the P4P list, Australia’s featherweight champ is also readying to go mainstream in the States as TUF guest coach.
The new gig continues a huge rise for the father-of-two who, after dethroning legendary Hawaiian Max Holloway — widely considered the division’s greatest ever — then went and won a rematch to continue that run of successes which also includes American Chad Mendes and Brazilian great Jose Aldo.
Yet after contracting COVID only days before he was set to fight Brian Ortega at UFC 260 in March, the former Warilla Gorilla prop is now staying on in the world’s fight capital to headline TUF as a rival coach to Ortega.
Apart from the Las Vegas pad housing both himself and head coach Joe Lopez, Volkanovski has also comprised a team of assistants including the likes of famed Tiger Muay Thai wrestling coach Frank Hickman and Craig Jones, an Adelaide boy who double as one of the greatest Brazilian jiu jitsu grapplers of his generation.
“And having Craig on the show will be a nice surprise for people,” the champ said.
Elsewhere, Volkanovski also hopes to chat with UFC executives about creating a blockbuster fight card in September or October involving himself, Adesanya and Australia’s first UFC champion Robert Whittaker.
At UFC 263 in June, Adesanya defends his middleweight crown against Marvin Vettori.
Should he win, the New Zealander will then be pitched into a rematch with the Sydneysider dubbed Bobby Knuckles, whose gold belt he took in 2019.
“And to have both title fights on the same card would be incredible,” Volkanovski said. “I know the timeline would work and it’s something I’m definitely keen for.
“So we’ll see.
“At the end of the day, it’s all up to Dana White and the matchmakers.”
While now clear of the COVID drama that, at one point, had him coughing up blood, Volkanovski says he is still taking it easy in training and having his health constantly monitored by a team that not only includes his doctors back in Australia, but also trainers, nutritionists and medical staff at the UFC Performance Institute.
“Right now, I feel fine,” the champ says.
“But obviously when you get an infection like I did in the lungs, you can’t go back into hard training immediately.
“They talk about there being a danger of getting scar tissue in the lungs, so we don’t want to overdo it.
“I’ve heard of some guys who come back, train too hard too early, and have ongoing problems.
“And when I was coughing up blood, these were things I was thinking about.
“But I got checked out, saw the infection was getting worse and got it sorted. I just need to take my time.”
Elsewhere, the Aussie is also enjoying his digs in the world’s fight capital, finetuning his game at the UFC PI and will also be tuning in this weekend to UFC 262, where Michael Chandler and Charles Oliveira challenge for the vacant lightweight title.
So as for Volkanovski’s biggest issue?
“This is the longest I’ve ever been away from my family,” he says, referencing wife Emma and his two daughters. ”Which is really tough.
“But it’s a big opportunity and one I have to take.
“I’m just lucky to have such a supportive wife. When I first told here about TUF she said, ‘absolutely, you have to do this’.”
All of which continues the rise and rise of a fighter who sits No. 3 of all fighters in the UFC?
“But still, I want to be number one,” he says. “Same as I want to be the GOAT in my division, then become a ‘champ champ’ too.”
“Really, there is no end point to the goals I want to achieve.”
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