Australian star Duke “The Duke of Canberra” Didier always seemed destined to become an elite athlete.
The towering 6-foot-4 heavyweight is set to face Ben “Vanilla Thunder” Tynan in a huge clash on Prime Video’s “ONE Fight Night 21: Eersel vs. Nicolas,” but his overall His transition to martial arts was relatively slow.
Didier faces Canada on Friday, April 5, at Lumphini Boxing Stadium and has a chance to be named one of the top contenders in the division, but he could have taken a very different trajectory had he gone any other way. be.
Before Didier returns to action in Bangkok, Thailand, take a look at how the 'Duke of Canberra' rose to the top of martial arts after pursuing other dreams in his career.
young people active in sports
Didier was born in 1989 in the Australian capital Canberra, where much of his childhood was devoted to sports.
His father, Geoff, was a local ACT Brumbies legend and decorated rugby union player who represented the Australian national team.
Looking back on his upbringing, Didier said:
“I come from a sporting background and have had a very good life. My father was an elite rugby player, so that's how I got into the sport. I started playing rugby when I was nine years old. started.
“My father played for the Wallabies and Brumbies. He was a professional and very well known, especially here in Canberra.”
His father was his biggest role model and biggest supporter, and he had the genes to match that motivation and achieved great results as a rugby player.
Seeing someone so close to him as a professional athlete convinced Didier that he too had potential, and that became his goal ever since.
He explained:
“My father has always been a huge influence on me. He has never forced me into a particular sport. He has always been a great role model and very supportive of whatever I choose to do. He gave it to me.
“I think that gave me the drive and motivation to make sure I achieved it.” [success] Because I have seen that it is possible and not out of reach. ”
martial arts takeover
Didier's turn to martial arts supplemented his rugby career, but was ultimately replaced by his first love.
He started judo at the age of nine to help with tackles, but had an innate affinity for the sport. He continued to practice martial arts alongside rugby for a long time, but deep down he always preferred martial arts.
The Duke of Canberra recalled:
“I started judo because I was told at school that it would help with tackling in rugby.The school I went to happened to have a judo program, one of the most elite in the country, including several Olympians. So I ended up catching the bug.”
“I gave up on rugby and just stuck to judo for years. I’m just drawn to what I’m good at, so if I was better at rugby, I probably would have loved watching people play rugby. However, I was better at judo.
“I think between the ages of 16 and 17 I knew exactly what path I had chosen and what the best sport was for me. By the time I was 20, I never played rugby again. There was nothing to do.”
Didier achieved incredible things in a “gentle way” over a long career that included multiple national titles, Oceania Championships, medals at the Asian Open and the US Open.
He saw the world, learned what it took to compete at a world-class level, and although he ultimately missed out on his Olympic dreams, he is proud of the role judo played in his life. .
The 34-year-old said:
“Being given the opportunity to do judo at a young age opened that door for me. I was selected for the Australian junior team at the age of 13 and was able to compete in Japan at such a young age. I did.
“And since then, I have traveled more and more abroad. My passport is very full, but I am grateful for judo.
“I've seen the world so many times in corners of the world that I knew I'd never be able to return to. I attribute that to the initial drive I had and the support I had from my mom and dad.”
Disappointment is a catalyst for change
While Didier was still obsessed with his judo career, he discovered mixed martial arts in the late 2000s and there was something about it that drew him to it.
He began cross-training mixed martial arts and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, and competed in the new style alongside judo, but after missing out on the 2016 Olympics, he turned his full attention to fighting. I did.
Didier explained:
“I traveled all over the world for judo, and then I started thinking that I wanted to take my talents elsewhere. That’s what led me to mixed martial arts, but there was a lot of There was a time when we overlapped a little.
“The last time I played judo was in 2016. I quit my job to qualify for the Olympics. I ended up joining the Shadow Squad, [ranked] In order to be selected for the Olympics, you had to be 22 years old in the world, although in the world you are 23 or 24 years old.
“For the previous 20 cycles, I was Oceania Champion, so that would have been enough to qualify for the Olympics. I mean, this is the hardest qualification criterion and I was almost on the verge of qualifying. I did. It was pretty heartbreaking.”
It was a huge blow for Didier to come so close and fall short, but looking back, he believes it was an important catalyst in his success in mixed martial arts. ing.
he added:
“That was probably the biggest setback for me and the saddest. I felt really defeated even though I had worked so hard on something.
“But by 2017, I was main eventing at the AIC Arena for Brace FC and winning the Australian title in mixed martial arts. I definitely bounced back and that's what I always do.
“At the end of the day, it just lit a fire inside me, and if I had achieved that goal, it might not have lit as much as it did.”
Aiming for the top of MMA
Didier, who now has an 8-2 professional record and runs a facility called Progression MMA in Canberra, is thrilled that the code switch has worked out.
But he's still ambitious. Now competing on the world stage, he wants to prove he's the best fighter in the world, and he did that with a win over Ben Tynan at his ONE Fight Night 21 on Prime Video. I intend to make it happen.
The Duke of Canberra said:
“Honestly, I'm really happy and I feel that being given this platform to continue what I'm doing is the culmination of all my efforts and all of my life's work. I'm so happy to be able to do this on an international level and get the kind of mainstream exposure that I feel I deserve.
“[Getting to ONE] This was a goal I set for myself a long time ago. And now my next goal is to definitely claim to be a winner in this promotion.
“I know I have the tools and ability to get it done. So that's all I have to do now.”
