Man, I swear — some days just slap you in the face with the kind of news that makes you question everything. So, there I was scrolling through my phone, expecting the usual mundane stuff, when BAM! — out of nowhere comes the shock that Marvin Vettori’s little brother, Patrick, is gone. And honestly, I kind of froze for a second. I mean, 30 is way too young. It makes you think about… well, all sorts of things.
The whole mixed martial arts world, usually all about punches and adrenaline, suddenly felt like it hit pause. I mean, Marvin Vettori, the guy who fought in those intense UFC title battles, is now in the ring with something none of us want to face. He went online and let his heart do the talking, and I swear I could feel the raw pain through his words—it was like he poured his soul into that post.
“You were and always will be number 1, my little brother!” he wrote. Seriously, that one line hit like a train. It’s like he’s saying, “I’m screaming at the universe, at everything.” And then he hits us with, “You left a void that cannot be filled, I will love you until my last breath.” Gotta wonder, how do people find words in times like these? I don’t know if it’s just me, but it’s always the little things that you remember—those quirks and laughs that no one else saw.
Marvin talked about how Patrick was the brainier of the two—“the smartest and smarted” (I double-read that, thinking, “Did I mess up? Nope, pretty sure it’s just weird wordplay. Or maybe auto-correct had a meltdown). And it’s just gut-wrenching to think that the future Patrick was building is now this big gaping absence.
Ever hear that saying about how “Jesus takes the best of us early”? It was something Marvin mentioned—clinging, I guess, to the hope that Patrick’s in a better place, watching over… I don’t know. It’s what people have to do, right? Cling to something, anything, to make sense of the senseless. Personally, I’ve never understood loss. Then again, who really does?
And Marvin wrapped it up with this thought—’bout knowing he’ll rest alongside Patrick someday. It’s haunting and comforting all at the same time—if that makes sense. But, wrapping all that grief into thoughts of the future—it’s just… heavy.
Oh, and Marvin’s not been in the UFC spotlight much lately. Just one fight in nearly two years. With all this personal turmoil on top of everything else—who knows where his head’s at. Like, what’s next? Does he fight through it, or? I find myself wondering if he’ll channel all this into the octagon or if it’ll steer him elsewhere. Grief’s a weird companion, always plotting its own path alongside you.
But anyway, life’s odd that way. Nothing prepares you, really.
And now I’m just rambling. Life throws you curveballs like this, and honestly, it makes all that fighting in the octagon seem small and far away.
