Kaan Ofli’s dominant victory over Nathan Fletcher on last night’s episode of The Ultimate Fighter was so much more than just a win in the cage.
In many ways, his victory was the culmination of years of struggle, from dropping out of school in Australia due to family issues all the way to the infamous TUF house. And he faced a formidable opponent in Fletcher, who many felt was above even competing on the reality show.
Ofli, representing Team Alexa Grasso against Fletcher’s Team Valentina Shevchenko, landed a number of takedowns and was never in doubt against the Cage Warriors standout. He has since progressed to the tournament semi-finals, which will be shown at a later date.
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Kaan Ofli opened up about living in the family car during last night’s episode of TUF
During a segment with housemate Paddy McCrory, Ofli opened up about how he was forced to drop out of school as a youngster due to being unable to afford to attend. The Australian ended up living out of his family car before becoming a fighter, and is now pursuing his UFC dreams.
“I left school at 15,” he told his housemates in an emotional chat. “I just, in my personal life, we were homeless at the time. Me and my mum and my sister were on the streets. She was trying to take us to school but we couldn’t afford school clothes.
“I remember one time we went to a school and we had to wear lost property clothes… I had a good upbringing until about 10-years-old when my parents split. When I was young, I went through abuse, family abuse and I had no power as a child to do anything.
“From living in our car to living in a church and government housing, public housing. We struggled to go to school because we couldn’t afford to go to school.” When McCrory noted that the 31-year-old’s ‘best days are ahead of him’, he replied “Yeah, they are, I’m looking forward to them”.
Kaan Ofli wants to leave tough upbringing in the past and inspire those currently struggling
Speaking with Bloody Elbow in an exclusive chat after his win over Fletcher was broadcast last night on ESPN2, Ofli noted that while he doesn’t want to hide his past, he plans to move on from talking about it. He instead wants to inspire people who can now see him competing at the top level worldwide.
“It is my life and it is my story,” he explained. “If I don’t tell my story then I’m going to be telling everyone a fake narrative. But I’ve now expressed that and I don’t feel like I need to talk about it any more because the story is that I’ve overcome this.
“It’s more so something for people to look at and be like ‘wow, someone that’s gone through so many difficulties in life can still achieve something’. You can still do something amazing with your life and not end up on the wrong path.
“So I wanted to talk about because I want to inspire people. But I don’t need to keep talking about it because I want to start talking about the cool s*** I’m doing.”
Kaan Ofli opens up about beating Nathan Fletcher in The Ultimate Fighter upset
Those who knew Kaan Ofli from his days as a Hex Fight Series champion would have expected big things when he was announced for The Ultimate Fighter’s newest season. But when the draw placed him against standout Nathan Fletcher, there was real intrigue to see how he would compete.
Many felt that Fletcher, who has been setting the heather alight in Cage Warriors as a bantamweight, deserved an immediate spot in the UFC. And he was given more than double the time to prepare that Ofli was before entering the house.
But that didn’t matter as the Australian took him down quickly and dominated proceedings for the two round affair. “His gym has been popping off and getting a lot of eyes on them,” Ofli noted, particularly noticing the success of Paddy Pimblett and Molly McCann.
“But I’m happy that it all turned out this way because it shows what type of level I’m on and if you watch the fight I’m literally levels above him. My mentality going into the first fight was to not take any damage and fight smart, but still entertain.
“I wanted to show my dominance, so now going into the second fight I’m healthy, confident and I’ve just taken out arguably the toughest guy in the competition. So I’m ready to do five rounds, fight ten rounds, because I’m almost into the finale so I just have to get through one more fight.
“This time, I don’t care where the fight goes, I don’t care how much damage we take, if it’s war? Cool. But I couldn’t have that happening in the first fight. So I’m going to go out there second fight and show the same stuff.”