Matheus Nicolau is mourning the demise of UFC and Bellator MMA veteran Guilherme Vasconcelos along with the rest of the MMA community.
Having been born and raised in Belo Horizonte just like Vasconcelos, Nicolau was deeply affected by the death of “Bomba.”
Nicolau takes on upcoming flyweight prospect Asu Almabaev at UFC Vegas 99 at the Apex in Las Vegas on Saturday. The Brazilian plans to get his hand raised and dedicate his victory to Vasconcelos.
“He’s not someone I talked to regularly every day or every week, but I liked him very much,” Nicolau told MMAFighting.com. “He’s a bit older than me and got his [jiu-jitsu] black belt before I did, but we had our roads in MMA at the same time. He was always so nice to me. We have so many friends in common — everybody knows each other in the jiu-jitsu community in Belo Horizonte, and I saw him a month ago at the Worlds Master.
“The news hit me and I was crushed, man. I liked him very much, you know? He was a nice person that helped a lot of people in Belo Horizonte, even unintentionally, just by fighting and being who he is. He’s inspired a lot of people. I’m sure I was not the only one. He will be missed. That news was quite devastating.”
Vasconcelos was still competing in grappling when he passed away at the age of 38. While his family is yet to divulge further information about his death, Nicolau feels it’s important to raise more awareness about men’s mental health.
“This is an alert of how important mental health is,” Nicolau said. “We have to open up with our friends. I even texted a friend of mine, ‘Life is crazy and we don’t talk as much as we’d like but I’m always here, and I love you.’ It’s important that we say that to people we care, just like him. If I had the opportunity to go back and have a word with him I would, you know?
“We can’t neglect that because we all have someone that love us badly, we have someone by our side and someone we can trust, someone we can ask for help. We don’t do that as much, especially men. Sometimes it’s hard for us to open up and ask for help and show our weaknesses. You’re only strong if you can be weak, too. That news was devastating, and it’s an alert for us. And may he rest in peace.”
