The main event of tonight’s Valor Fights 31 event in Hixson, Tennessee will be headlined by a title fight as middleweight champion Sid Wheeler looks to remain undefeated in his young career as he is challenged by Justin Fisher in the fight card coming from the Chattanooga Sports Complex.
Prior to making his pro debut in mixed martial arts, Wheeler (3-0) had success in wrestling, kickboxing and boxing. He was a three-time high school wrestling champion in Georgia, made to to the bronze medal stage of the 2015 Olympic Boxing Trials and was a world champion amateur kickboxing champion.
With his extensive background in various aspects of this sport, he decided to bypass taking any amateur mixed martial arts fights and made his pro debut last year. In his pro debut, he defeated Jesse Grun by decision and followed up that victory by defeating Matthew Baccus at Valor Fights 26.
He became the Valor Fights middleweight champion on Halloween night last year as he won a decision victory over Julio Gallegos and while he is not looking past his opponent tonight, he has his sights set on being in the UFC by the time he is 21 years-old.
“I see myself in the UFC by the time I am 21,” Wheeler told The MMA Report. “That is what I figured I would do. When I started, I had a good look at all of the competition and none of it really impressed me. There is nothing real steep until you get to the UFC. The technique is horrible. It’s just either very athletic fighters or it’s decent karate guys that don’t hit hard. There is no guys with any good boxing.”
“No guys with any good standup,” he continued. “There are a couple of good ground guys but all fights starting standing up so they are not going to last with me. I see myself in the UFC by the time I am 21. There is nobody around that I think can beat me. I would like to fight CM Punk, I think that would be a wonderful fight for me. For him, it would be a devastating fight. But I think it would rocket launch my career into the UFC.”