Gatineau's Julien Leblanc on getting back into the Octagon

Julien Leblanc has been a mixed martial arts fighter since he was 16. Now in his early 30s, the Gatineau-born athlete's MMA dreams are finally coming true.

Leblanc made his Ultimate Fighting Championships debut earlier this year, though it didn't go as planned: he was forced into a first-round submission after blowing out his knee against Swiss opponent Robert Valentin.

But he didn't let the setback get to him. On Saturday night, Leblanc steps back into the Octagon for the UFC Championship Fight Night in Edmonton.

CBC Ottawa's Giacomo Panico caught up with him earlier this week while he was training at Patenaude gym in Gatineau. Here's part of their conversation:

The following interview has been edited for length and clarity.

What goes through your mind when you're in a match like that? There are so many things you must be thinking about?

So there's a lot of things you think about, but I mean, you think about them before. When you enter the cage, you must not think. You must execute. If you think, you'll mostly be behind. You have really got to rely on your instinct in that cage.

How would you describe your style?

I would describe my style as a striker. I've been doing MMA for 18 years, so I know how to grapple. I know how to wrestle. I believe I'm a complete fighter. But if you ask me what I love more ... it's striking.

It's a fighter who loves to fight on their feet — so, [using] his hands, his feet, his elbows, his knees.

MMA means mixed martial arts. So we combine everything, every martial arts together. There's some rules, but there's not a lot of rules. We're allowed to use hands, we're allowed to use elbows, we're allowed to kick, use our feet, we're allowed to use our knees. We're allowed to go on the ground ... and it doesn't stop there. We're allowed to punch on the ground. We're allowed to elbow on the ground. [There's] no kicking on the ground, no knees on the ground, but we're allowed to also submit. Submission is to ... choke [your opponent] out or break his arm, break his leg.

When I started martial arts, I was 16 years old. I had no experience at all. But I was a goaltender in hockey since I was young. So I think the fact that I was a goaltender ... I was able to kick really high right from the start, with no training at all.

I got a lot of knockouts in the beginning with my kicks, because I was really flexible, really fast.

LISTEN | Julien Leblanc on his second chance in the Octagon:

You said you've been doing this for 18 years, but that's a little bit later in life compared to some other people you're fighting.

Yeah, some guys, they've been doing it since they're four or five years old. Like, my coach has been doing it since he was five.

But you know, it's a sport where there's a lot of opportunities, and it's not like hockey or football [where] you have to start at a really young age. It's a sport where, I believe, if you're in shape, if you're athletic, if you learn fast, you can compete with the the best of the best.

You've got a lot of fans cheering for you, including a very wee one just three months old. Congratulations!

Thank you very much. I appreciate it. Yeah, Archer, my little boy. I've got also a six-year-old, William. So they're both cheering for me. I'm going to make this win for them, to help change my family's life.

What does it mean for you that you're originally from Gatineau and you're still training here in this gym with all these people around — and now you've got young fighters looking up to you too?

You know, we've been training so hard with my coaches since forever. I've traveled a lot to get some good training partners. But I believe we have the best coach here and we have some good training partners too. And if I can be an inspiration for the younger kids, well, I think that's very cool.

And you know, at the end of the day, it's about helping others get confidence in themselves. Martial arts changed [my] life.

At 16 years old ... I couldn't do a pushup. I had zero confidence in myself. If you talk to someone who knew me at high school — like, if they didn't see me here today and they don't know what happened with Julien Leblanc and you tell them he's in the UFC, they'll laugh at you! Martial arts can change your life for the better.