Richie Vaculik ( ; born Richard Vaculik) is a

mixed martial artist Mixed martial arts (MMA) is a full-contact fighting sport based on striking and grappling; incorporating techniques from various combat sports from around the world. In the early 20th century, various inter-stylistic contests took place t ...

and big wave surfer from Maroubra, Australia. Richie competed in the

Ultimate Fighting Championship The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is an American mixed martial arts (MMA) promoter (entertainment), promotion company based in Las Vegas, Nevada. It is owned and operated by TKO Group Holdings, a majority owned subsidiary of Endeavor ( ...

(UFC)

Flyweight Flyweight is a weight class in combat sports. Boxing Flyweight is a class in boxing which includes fighters weighing up to and including 51 kg (112 lb) for a title fight. Professional boxing The flyweight division was the last of boxin ...

division.

Early life

Vaculic was born in Sydney to a Czech immigrant father and an English mother from Manchester

Richie's sporting accomplishments started as a surfer at

Maroubra Beach Maroubra ( ) is a beachside suburb in the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is 10 kilometres south-east of the Sydney central business district in the local government area of the City of Randwick. Maro ...

, Sydney (Australia). Bra Boys including the Abberton brothers (

Sunny Abberton Sunny Abberton (born in Maroubra, New South Wales, Maroubra, Sydney), is a founding member of the Australian surf tribe the Bra Boys. Together with his brothers, Koby Abberton, Koby, Jai Abberton, Jai, and Dakota Abberton, Dakota, Sunny Abberton ...

, Koby Abberton, Jai Abberton and Dakota Abberton), Mark Mathews and Richie grew up surfing the iconic Maroubra Beach breaks and other waves including 'Ours'. In an interview with

Surfing Magazine ''Surfing Magazine'', originally titled ''International Surfing Magazine'', was a magazine that was founded in 1964 by Orange County, California, local Dick Graham and surf photographer LeRoy Grannis. Later the magazine was acquired by Adrian B. ...

Richie stated that as teenagers he and some Bra Boys would fight each other for fun or to resolve disputes. Richie was introduced to Brazilian jiu-jitsu by blackbelt Bruno Panno at the age of 18.

Mixed martial arts career

Early career

In November 2006 Richie made a successful MMA debut at ''Warriors Realm 7'' against Michael Mortimer, winning via first-round knockout.

Cage Fighting Championship

Richie remained undefeated before challenging

Gustavo Falciroli Gustavo Falciroli (born 13 December 1982) is an Australian-Brazilian former mixed martial artist, and Brazilian jiu-jitsu practitioner. Falciroli has formerly competed in Australian Fighting Championship, where he was the inaugural bantamweigh ...

for the Cage Fighting Championship (CFC) inaugural bantamweight title at CFC 12, in March 2010, at the

Hordern Pavilion Hordern Pavilion (known locally as The Hordern) is a building located in Moore Park, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, on the grounds of the old Sydney Showground. Now known as a sports venue, dance party and music concert venue, the Hordern ...

. Falciroli defeated Richie via unanimous 5-round decision.

Proud Warriors Productions, Australian Fighting Championship and Combat8

Since 2011 Richie has exclusively fought international competition. At ''Proud Warriors Productions'' (PWP) 3, September 2011, Richie defeated Hawaiian Justin Wong via first round submission. In February 2012, Richie defeated American Nick Honstein for the inaugural featherweight belt at PWP 4: Vaculik vs Honstein, via first round submission. At

Australian Fighting Championship Australian Fighting Championship (AFC) was an Australian mixed martial arts (MMA) organisation based in Melbourne. In 2013, AFC was described as Australia's leading MMA organisation by MMA Kanvas and was part of Sherdog's list of top 50 global ...

(AFC) 3, April 2012, Richie defeated American MMA veteran Matt Jaggers via first-round knockout. Richie also defeated American Charlie Alaniz, via split decision (5 rounds), to capture the ''Combat8'' bantamweight title in mid 2013 in a modified MMA rules event broadcast live via epicentre.tv and delayed broadcast on

Fox Sports Fox Sports is the brand name for a number of sports channels, broadcast divisions, programming, and other media around the world. The name originates from Fox Broadcasting Company in the United States, which in turn derives its name from Fox Fi ...

Ultimate Fighting Championship

In June 2012, Richie was cast on The Ultimate Fighter: The Smashes (TUF Smashes). Richie fought twice at lightweight, he was outsized and defeated by

Norman Parke Norman Parke (born 22 December 1986) is a mixed martial artist from Northern Ireland. A professional MMA competitor since 2006, Parke has fought for the Ultimate Fighting Championship, UFC, Absolute Championship Berkut, Konfrontacja Sztuk Walki ...

via unanimous decision (2 rounds) and Colin Fletcher via second round submission. In December 2013, Richie made his UFC and flyweight debut on the undercard at UFC Fight Night: Hunt vs. Bigfoot against

Justin Scoggins Justin Craig Scoggins (born May 2, 1992) is an American mixed martial artist and former full-contact kickboxer currently competing in the Rizin Fighting Federation. A professional mixed martial artist since 2010, Scoggins has previously competed ...

and was defeated via first-round TKO. In an interview with MMA Kanvas Richie stated he was surprised by Scoggin's wrestling based game plan. Vaculik was set to face Jon delos Reyes on the undercard at UFC Fight Night: Te Huna vs. Marquardt on 8 June 2014. Reyes was replaced by Philippines' Roldan Sangcha'an. Vaculik he defeated Sangcha-an via unanimous decision. Vaculik was expected to face

Ray Borg Ray Borg (born August 4, 1993), is an American former professional mixed martial artist who competed in the Flyweight and Bantamweight divisions. A professional MMA competitor until 2023, Borg is best known for his 12–fight tenure in the Ultima ...

on 8 November 2014 at

UFC Fight Night 55 ''UFC Fight Night: Rockhold vs. Bisping'' (also known as ''UFC Fight Night 55'', or ''UFC Fight Night Sydney'') was a mixed martial arts event held at the Allphones Arena in Sydney, Australia on November 8, 2014. Background This event was the fou ...

. However, Borg was unavailable and

Neil Seery Neil Seery (born 30 August 1979) is a retired Irish professional mixed martial artist, who most recently competed in the Flyweight (MMA), flyweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, UFC. Beginning his career in 2005, Seery also co ...

was officially announced as Richie's opponent. Subsequently, Seery pulled out of that bout as well and was replaced by

Louis Smolka Louis Smolka (born July 16, 1991) is an American mixed martial arts, mixed martial artist who competes in the Bantamweight (MMA), bantamweight division. A professional competitor since 2010, he has previously fought for the Ultimate Fighting Champ ...

. Despite winning the first and second rounds, Vaculik lost the fight via TKO in the third round. Vaculik faced

Danny Martinez Daniel Eugene Martinez (born June 14, 1985) is an American Mixed martial arts, mixed martial artist who competes in the Flyweight (MMA), flyweight division of Taura MMA. A professional mixed martial artist since 2006, Martinez has also competed i ...

on 15 November 2015 at

UFC 193 ''UFC 193: Rousey vs. Holm'' was a mixed martial arts event held on November 14, 2015, at Etihad Stadium in Melbourne, Australia. It was the most attended UFC event in the history of the company at the time, with 56,214 people filling the stadiu ...

. He lost the fight via unanimous decision and was subsequently cut from the UFC in 2016.

Film and television

Richie features in Bra Boys: Blood is Thicker than Water.

Macario De Souza Marcario De Souza (born 14 June 1983), sometimes known artistically as Kid Mac, is an Australian rapper, singer and filmmaker. Early life Macario is the youngest of the three children of Macario Snr and Maria de Souza, who immigrated from Mina ...

directed friends Mark Matthews and Richie in the follow-up documentary Fighting Fear. On The Ultimate Fighter: The Smashes, Richie represented Australia for the first time inside the UFC octagon. The Crew is a successful television series that follows on from Fighting Fear documenting Richie's career in MMA and surfing on

Fuel TV Fox Sports 2 (branded on-air as FS2) is an American sports-oriented pay television channel owned by the Fox Sports Media Group, a unit of Fox Corporation. The channel is based at the Fox Sports division's headquarters on the Fox Studio Lot in ...

. The three friends Richie, De Souza and Mathews were the subject of an

Australian Story ''Australian Story'' is a national weekly current affairs and documentary style television series which is broadcast on ABC Television (Australian TV network), ABC Television. It is produced specifically by the ABC News and Current Affairs, AB ...

episode ''Scared Straight'' (2011) where Sue Masters looks into their maturation as professionals in their respective careers and some of the trails and tribulations of getting there. According to

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was found ...

Vas is set to co-anchor a UFC Tonight style show for

on Australian pay television network

Foxtel NXE Australia Pty Ltd, trading as the Foxtel Group, is an Australian pay television company that operates cable television, direct-broadcast satellite, direct broadcast satellite television, and IPTV streaming services. It was formed in April ...

alongside Tara Rushton called UFC Fight Week that premiered on Thursday, 16 April 2015.

Big wave surfing

Richie has surfed some of the world's most dangerous breaks including ''The Right'' and Shipsterns Bluff (Australia), Hawaii and Teahupo'o (Tahiti). Surfing since the age of 10, he credits the older surfers who pushed him to ride waves out of his comfort zone from an early age. Bra Boys pioneered standup surfing at a local Sydney break called Cape Fear, on the southern side of the

Botany Bay Botany Bay (Dharawal language, Dharawal: ''Kamay'') is an open oceanic embayment, located in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, south of the Sydney central business district. Its source is the confluence of the Georges River at Taren Point a ...

at Cape Solander. Known locally as 'Ours', it became the site of a

Red Bull Red Bull is a brand of energy drinks created and owned by the Austrian company Red Bull GmbH. With a market share of 43%, it is the most popular energy drink brand as of 2020, and the third most valuable soft drink brand, behind Coca-Cola and ...

big wave surfing Big wave surfing is a discipline within surfing in which surfers paddle into, or are towed into, waves that are at least 20 feet (6.2 m) high, on surf boards known as "guns" or towboards. The size of the board needed to successfully surf these w ...

competition in August 2014 called Red Bull Cape Fear. Richie competed against fellow local Evan Faulks.

Championships and accomplishments

*Cage Fighting Championship **CFC Bantamweight title *Combat8 **Combat8 Bantamweight title *Proud Warriors Productions **PWP Featherweight title

Mixed martial arts record

- , Loss , align=center, 10–5 , Nobuki Fujii , Submission (rear-naked choke) ,

Pancrase is a Japanese mixed martial arts (MMA) promoter (entertainment), promotion company based in Tokyo. It was founded in 1993 by professional wrestlers Masakatsu Funaki and Minoru Suzuki. The name was based on pankration, a fighting sport in the An ...

289 , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 3:42 ,

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

, Japan , , - , Loss , align=center, 10–4 ,

, Decision (unanimous) ,

, , align=center, 3 , align=center, 5:00 ,

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

, Australia , , - , Loss , align=center, 10–3 ,

, KO (side kick and punches) , UFC Fight Night: Rockhold vs. Bisping , , align=center, 3 , align=center, 0:18 , Sydney , , - , Win , align=center, 10–2 , Roldan Sangcha-an , Decision (unanimous) , UFC Fight Night: Te-Huna vs. Marquardt , , align=center, 3 , align=center, 5:00 ,

Auckland Auckland ( ; ) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. It has an urban population of about It is located in the greater Auckland Region, the area governed by Auckland Council, which includes outlying rural areas and ...

, New Zealand , , - , Loss , align=center, 9–2 ,

, TKO (punches) , UFC Fight Night: Hunt vs. Bigfoot , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 4:43 ,

Brisbane Brisbane ( ; ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the States and territories of Australia, state of Queensland and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia, with a ...

, Australia , , - , Win , align=center, 9–1 , Matt Jaggers , TKO (punches) , AFC 3 – Australian Fighting Championship 3 , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 0:41 ,

, Australia , , - , Win , align=center, 8–1 , Nick Honstein , Submission (triangle armbar) , PWP 4 – Vaculik vs. Honstein , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 0:59 , Sydney , , - , Win , align=center, 7–1 , Justin Wong , Submission (rear-naked choke) , PWP 3 – Proud Warrior Productions 3 , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 5:00 , Sydney , , - , Win , align=center, 6–1 , Glenn Taylor-Smith , Submission (rear-naked choke) , Impact FC 2 – The Uprising: Sydney , , align=center, 2 , align=center, 2:43 , Sydney , , - , Win , align=center, 5–1 , Evan Byrne , Submission (rear-naked choke) , CFC – Cage Fighting Championships 14 , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 5:00 , Sydney , , - , Loss , align=center, 4–1 ,

, Decision (unanimous) , CFC 12 – Lombard vs. Santore , , align=center, 5 , align=center, 5:00 , Sydney , , - , Win , align=center, 4–0 , Michael Mortimer , Submission (rear-naked choke) , CFC 9 – Fighters Paradise , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 4:35 , Gold Coast, Australia , , - , Win , align=center, 3–0 , Ross MacLeod , KO (punch) , CFC 7 – Battle at the Big Top , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 1:59 , Sydney , , - , Win , align=center, 2–0 , Alexandre Shevtsov , Submission (rear-naked choke) , Warriors Realm 8 , , align=center, 2 , align=center, 2:24 , Sydney , , - , Win , align=center, 1–0 , Michael Mortimer , KO (punch) , Warriors Realm 7 , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 1:36 , Sydney ,

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Vaculik, Richie Vas 1983 births Living people Australian male mixed martial artists Australian people of Czech descent Lightweight mixed martial artists Mixed martial artists utilizing Greco-Roman wrestling Mixed martial artists utilizing Brazilian jiu-jitsu Australian practitioners of Brazilian jiu-jitsu Bantamweight mixed martial artists Australian surfers Sportsmen from New South Wales Flyweight mixed martial artists Martial artists from Sydney Ultimate Fighting Championship male fighters 21st-century Australian sportsmen