Roy Meyer MMA debut and UFC ambitions, Digi Mart USA News: Former judoka Roy Meyer feels completely at home in his new discipline of mixed martial arts (MMA). After a successful debut in September, he steps into the cage again on Sunday for his second bout.
And he wants more: “I want to become world champion.”
For the 35-year-old Meyer from Brabant, the move to MMA means a second life as a top athlete. He ended his judo career in 2025.
Boxing, and later MMA, were initially something temporary for him. “When I got the invitation to box, I thought: hey, I have something sporty to focus on again.
That’s how I got a taste for striking.”
Meyer sees opportunities for himself and has set his sights on the UFC, the largest MMA organization in the world. “It’s very achievable.
Looking at who is around in the UFC, I think with my background and capabilities I can seriously make a dent in that division.”
He believes he has the advantage of having trained at a high level for years. “You see that many people can fight well, but the professionalism of an Olympic athlete is missing.”
“You have to train 365 days a year. Many fighters in this world train six to eight weeks for a fight.
The rest of the time they don’t do much. That’s where I see opportunities for myself.”
Looking back, did he wish he had started MMA sooner? “The person I was then would not have responded well to it.
At a young age I went through a lot of sorrow and difficulties. I was frustrated, and I think if I had done a combat sport like MMA, that aggression would have been channeled in a negative way.”
Judo, he believes, gave him an excellent foundation. “I believe I have something to bring as a heavyweight with a judo specialization.
Don’t underestimate how big that weapon can be.”
The fighter’s mentality he brings from judo can be put to even better use in MMA. “There is something very primal about standing in a cage while someone tries to knock you out, and the other way around.
Death or glory. That’s something I had in judo too, but couldn’t really use well.”
Still, Meyer needed some time to adapt to his new discipline. “In judo, when you end up in ground fighting, you sit on your elbows and knees to defend.
A few seconds and then the referee steps in. But if you do that in MMA, they grab you by the hips and ram your head off.”
That makes it more intense, Meyer admits. “In judo, being thrown on your back in a practice match is annoying for your ego, but in MMA you get a hit on your head.
Then you can lie in bed with headaches for two or three days. You really have to execute your technique well, or you’re finished.”
At his debut, Meyer himself dealt out heavy blows to his Brazilian opponent Tiago Alfonso. The bout lasted less than half a minute.
On Sunday, in his second bout in the Levels Fighting League (LFL) against Igor Henrique, another Brazilian, he hopes to gain more experience in the cage.
“After I won, I thought: oh, is it already over? At one point I walked a lap to show: there’s a new heavyweight in town.
Then I came to my strength coach and he said: this isn’t a judo match, is it? Here you’re allowed to dance, here you’re allowed to let yourself go.”
Meyer did so wholeheartedly. “I went wild.
I don’t know everything that came out. Samba, salsa, bachata, splits.”
Meyer, 1.84 meters tall and around 120 kilograms, also threw in a split and dance moves when he won bronze at the 2021 World Championships. “A few weeks later I got an email warning that I would receive a sanction if I did it again, because it doesn’t belong in judo.
But the crowd went wild, they loved it. Then I felt a bit muzzled.”
“Now that’s gone, now they actually want to see it. The more show, the better.
You can say a lot, but not that I don’t like a bit of showmanship.”
Still, showmanship is certainly not his goal. “I’m not doing this so I can say: I got into the UFC.
I’m doing it to reach the absolute top.”
