Wagnney Fabiano Set for WEC Debut, Seeks Seventh Straight Win

By Frank Curreri

The International Fight League may have vanished, but its most dominant fighter had no trouble finding a new home.

Wagnney Fabiano is excited about joining the WEC, and his arrival adds yet another top-flight contender to the organization’s suddenly stacked featherweight division. Fabiano steamrolled and finished all six of his IFL opponents, but he believes the WEC is a step up in competition and will reveal a lot more about him as a fighter.

“I think the toughest fights in my career will without a doubt be in the WEC,” Fabiano, a former IFL champ at 145 pounds, said via e-mail from his native Brazil. “For sure I will have to make adjustments to fighting in the cage. I don’t know how hard it will be to make such adjustments.”

Fabiano (10-1) is scheduled to make his WEC debut on Dec. 3 at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas. His opponent is Akitoshi Tamura of Japan, a Shooto veteran who is 12-6-2.

“I know he’s a tough fighter, one of the top ten in the world,” Fabiano said. “It will be a great challenge to fight him.”

Under normal circumstances, Fabiano would be in Canada – where he had lived for the past nine years and operated his own MMA gym preparing for this fight. Instead, the 33-year-old is back in Rio De Janeiro training with the Nova Uniao fight team with Andre Pederneiras.

“I'm here for the time being because I am still waiting on my Canadian citizenship to come through so I can move back there with my family,” Fabiano said. “My daughter is Canadian, as she was born there. The school I used to have there is now closed, but I intend to open another one. I've lived in Canada for nine years. I love snowboarding, so I like the winters, and the summers are just as hot as in Brazil.

“But being here (in Brazil) at this point in my career worked out well, as I was able to come back to my roots and have first-rate training with the team I have been a part of my whole life. The advantage to training in Brazil is that I get to train with a lot of world-class fighters, which only makes me better. Having the support of my family here is also important.”

When Fabiano competes, he often makes execution and winning look easy. He has a knack for deciding on the right move at exactly the right time, and there is a good reason for this naturalness: He’s been training in the martial arts since he was 3 years old.

“Everyone in my family has a fighting background,” he said. “I have an uncle who is one of the few red-and-black belts in Jiu-Jitsu (Georaldo Flores) in the world, my cousin Wendell Alessander co-founded the Nova União fight team with Andre Pederneiras, and my other aunts, uncles and cousins all grew up doing martial arts. I was raised to be a martial artist and fighting is the foundation of my identity.”

Fabiano first made his mark in Brazilian jiu-jitsu, winning five state titles, three national titles and earning bronze in the Mundials (World Championships). Along the way, he was forced to grow up quickly and jiu-jitsu was more than just a hobby or a sport, it helped him earn a paycheck.

“I come from a poor family,” Fabiano said. “There were many obstacles, and thanks to God and sports I was able to get past them. We were brought up on the streets, so there were always the hardships that accompany that environment: street fights, drug gangs, dangers all around. Also, in 1996, when my father passed away, my brother Leo and I had to support my mother and our youngest brother. So teaching Jiu-Jitsu was our way to make ends meet.”

Fabiano said the best advice he ever received came from his father, who told him, "In everything you do, strive to be your best." A BJJ black belt since the tender age of 21, Fabiano said he applies his dad’s philosophy to all aspects of his life – trying to be the best husband, father, friend and man he can be. His “striving” has certainly molded him into a very explosive and remarkably humble fighter. Fabiano’s lone blemish came at the hands of Jeff “Big Frog” Curran, another WEC fighter. They fought two years ago, with the judges awarding Curran a split decision, though many felt the wrong guy had his hand raised that night.

While a rematch with Curran would be a compelling matchup, and one Fabiano would probably welcome, several other fighters such as Urijah Faber, Leonard Garcia, Jose Aldo, Josh Grispi and WEC featherweight champ Mike Thomas Brown would also be great measuring sticks. Yet first he has to get past Akitoshi. Fans will witness in Fabiano a smooth jiu-jitsu operator who regularly trained with the Canadian Olympic Wrestling Team and showed ever-improving hands by knocking his last opponent out cold in just 37 seconds.

“I was aware of the holes in my game and have worked on them a lot,” Fabiano said. “I think my striking has improved a lot. I think people totally underestimated my punching skills.”