‘Not talked about enough’ - Josh Culibao opens up on how a simple chat got him back to his best

It wasn’t just the pain of losing that hit him.

The former Sydney electrician, who welcomed the birth of his first daughter Marley in August, had originally planned on taking some time away from the sport.

But in those months, he felt cut adrift.

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“I was actually going to have some more time away, but just being out of the gym, not really focusing on fighting and not having a goal put me in a really bad way,” he tells this masthead ahead of his comeback against Danny Silva in Las Vegas this weekend. “Going to the gym and training was a comfort.

“I felt very lost.”

If that sounds familiar, it’s because Alex Volkanovski was going through something similar at roughly the same time.

The then-featherweight champ was celebrating his third daughter, but wasn’t in the gym as much as he should have been, was drinking too much and felt listless.

It wasn’t until they had a proper sit down chat that Culibao realised his great mate was going through the same thing.

“I was over at his place and we had a chat about it,” Culibao says. “I was really happy that he bought it up, because I don’t think it’s talked about enough.

“We don’t get to fight every weekend, like a footballer or basketball player. We have our one moment to shine, and you have these rollercoasters of emotions, and I feel like constantly being in the gym just keeps you level-headed.

“I think I was on a very similar route to what Volk was on.”

Fatherhood, his talks with Volk and his time away helped Culibao re-evaluate why he’s in the sport.

“I was always just grateful to be able to do what I do,” he says. “Coming up in the sport, I was an electrician – an apprentice – and I trained and sacrificed and was always just grateful that I was able to fight.

“Then I felt like training and fighting became my job – and it is – but it took away the ‘grateful’ part of it.

“That time away gave me a new perspective on fighting. And becoming a dad also gave me that perspective too, and how lucky I am to get to do this.

“It made me appreciate it more.”

Which is why, despite his plans on taking an extended break, Culibao jumped at the chance to fight this weekend.

“They offered it to me and I was just like, ‘Man, I don’t want to wait any more’,” he said. “I feel like I’m the best version of myself again.

“And the best version of me is when I’m getting ready for a fight, when I’m in the gym and when I’m constantly working towards a goal.”

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In the short term, that goal is getting back in the winner’s column this weekend.

In the long term, it’s becoming a world champion.

“The goal is still the belt,” he says. “I’m not in this sport to be second best. I’m a very competitive person and I always wanna be the best.”