The fighter from Lanzarote of mixed martial arts (MMA) Hecher Sosa, known as El Guanche Warrior, achieved the most important victory of his career early this Wednesday morning after defeating the Brazilian Mackson Lee in the octagon.
The athlete won unanimously in the Dana White's Contender Series and managed to sign a contract to enter the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), the most important mixed martial arts league in the world. Hecher's fight was charged with emotion, not only because it was a unique opportunity for his career, but also because he stepped into the ring just two days after the death of his father.
"The truth is that it has been a very difficult week," the Lanzarote native began during his intervention before the microphones of a sports radio station. "It has been a roller coaster of emotions because before coming here [to Las Vegas] I knew that I probably wouldn't speak to my father again and before coming I said goodbye to him. I had many things left to say to him, but today I represented him in the best way, as he taught me," he emphasized emotionally.
"He always told me always strong, always together and that's what I did," he indicated. "Strong together with him, who I always have here in the necklace and especially in my heart," confessed the martial arts fighter. Sosa indicated that everything started when he received a call from his brother, telling him that his father had died.
"That's where my psychological war [sic] began. In the end, negative thoughts come, positive thoughts come, and I am a person who always says to my coach friends, to my team, to problems, solutions, there is no more," he indicated.
During the press conference, Sosa indicated that "if you have a problem and look for problems, you will have more problems. If you have a problem and look for solutions, you will have more solutions." In his case, the solution was to think that his father died to accompany him more closely during the fight.
"He left his body to be with me and he is going to give me strength. He told me that, let's go, we started this together and we will finish it together. Just one day before I fight, he leaves his body to come to Las Vegas to travel in the fastest way and be with me in body and soul," indicated the athlete.
"So that's what I clung to, during the weight cut, that's what I clung to before going out to fight, I said it's two against one, I'm not going to lose and that's how it was," he concluded.