Paul Varelans

Background

Varelans attended West Valley High School in Fairbanks, Alaska, where he participated in football and wrestling. Varelans was a walk-on athlete at San Jose State University, and he trained in a little bit of taekwondo, judo and boxing before starting his career in no holds barred.

Career

Varelans made his UFC debut on July 14, 1995, at Ultimate Fighting Championship 6: Clash of the Titans, winning by KO over Cal Worsham.

On June 22, 1996, at ECW's Hardcore Heaven event, Varelans faced, and was choked out by, ECW star Taz, in what was promoted as a "shoot fight". Although the event was promoted as a legitimate shoot fight, Varelans agreed beforehand to lose via submission. In her 2001 autobiography Missy Hyatt, First Lady of Wrestling, Missy Hyatt claims that Varelans agreed to lose if she performed fellatio on him afterwards, but Hyatt refused saying that she did not "blow jobbers". Subsequently, Varelans allegedly became irrational and destroyed the locker room. He preceded this with two house show matches, defeating Jason Helton.

On July 29, 1997, he went to Japan for a one night appearance for Kingdom and lost a worked fight to Yoji Anjo by knockout.

Death

In December 2020, news surfaced that Varelans contracted COVID-19 during the COVID-19 pandemic, and as a result, was placed on mechanical ventilation and then put into a medically induced coma. He died in Atlanta, Georgia, on January 16, 2021, aged 51.

Championships and accomplishments

• International Fighting Championship
  • IFC Kombat in Kyiv tournament semifinalist
• Ultimate Fighting Championship
  • UFC 7 tournament finalist
  • UFC 6 tournament semifinalist
  • UFC 8 tournament semifinalist
  • UFC Encyclopedia Awards
    • Fight of the Night (Two times) vs. Marco Ruas and Dan Severn
• World Vale Tudo Championship
  • WVC 5 tournament semifinalist

Mixed martial arts record

|ko-wins=6 |ko-losses=7 |sub-wins=2 |sub-losses=1 |dec-wins=1

| |Amsterdam, Netherlands | |- |Loss | Nick Nutter | TKO (cut)

| |Brazil | |- |Win | Scott Taylor | Submission (forearm choke) | Extreme Challenge 6 | |Battle Creek, Michigan, United States | |- |Loss | Ryushi Yanagisawa | Decision (lost points) | Pancrase: Alive 4 | |Urayasu, Chiba, Japan | |- |Loss | Mark Kerr | TKO (knees and punches) | World Vale Tudo Championship 3 | |São Paulo, Brazil

| |Birmingham, Alabama, United States

| |Japan | |- |Loss | Igor Vovchanchyn | KO (punches)

| |San Juan, Puerto Rico

| |Denver, Colorado, United States

References

References

1. "Paul Varelans Fight News - MMA Fighting".
2. Williams, Scott E.. (2006). "Hardcore History: The Extremely Unauthorized story of ECW". Sports Pub..
3. "Owow".
4. "Paul "The Polar Bear" Varelans - Page 3 - Sherdog Mixed Martial Arts Forums".
5. Pettry, Jay. (December 18, 2020). "UFC Pioneer Paul Varelans Placed on Ventilator Due to COVID-19". sherdog.com.
6. DNA, MMA. (2021-01-17). "UFC pionier Paul "The Polar Bear" Varelans (51) overleden".
7. Doyle, Dave. (January 16, 2021). "UFC pioneer, early fan favorite Paul Varelans dies after battle with COVID-19".
8. Gerbasi, Thomas. (2011-10-17). "UFC Encyclopedia - The Definitive Guide to the Ultimate Fighting Championship". DK.
9. Gerbasi, Thomas. (2011-10-17). "UFC Encyclopedia - The Definitive Guide to the Ultimate Fighting Championship". DK.