Player Spotlight: MMA fighter Olivier Aubin-Mercier
Members of the Axie nation come from all over the globe and from all professions. We even have an MMA fighter in our ranks!
We sat down with Olivier Aubin-Mercier, an MMA fighter from Québec about his eye-opening Axie experience.
1. Tell us a bit about yourself and how you got started with Axie.
Hey, my name is Olivier Aubin-Mercier. I’m an MMA fighter and was a UFC fighter for 7 years. Last year I signed with a PFL, a promotion who does a "mortal Kombat" style tournament ( without the killing... thank god ) every year.
The winner of this tournament will win 1 million dollars. PFL decided to take a pause during the pandemic. So this put me in a situation where I didn’t fight for more than 2 years.
Recently PFL announced that they will do an event on April 23. I was super exited but I had 2 problems.
In Québec, it was illegal to train, even for pro athletes.
I had no more liquidity to visit a foreign country to train.
I decided to borrow money from our friend, the bank, and bought a ticket for Puerto Ricco to train with the Danaher Dead Squad. In Puerto Ricco, a good friend of mine who is a crypto enthusiast introduced me to Axie. My friend told me he could lend me his Axies to try the game, so I could decide if I liked the game or not and to make a little extra money. Thats is how I learned about Axie.
2. What are you most excited about for Axie's future?
I think that if the idea of play to earn works, the gaming industry will change forever. Axie could be the first solid project to make it work. Of course i’m exited about Ronin and the free to play mode. Oh and when the is land play happening, Jiho ? Yea I’m excited about that as well.
3. Has play to earn helped you in the real world?
So like I said previously, I borrowed for my training camp and during a training camp it is impossible, if you are serious, to have a side job. So Axie will help me pay for that training camp. The money I earn from farming SLP will be a welcome addition and it’s super flexible, I can play during my free moments while I’m recovering. For example, if i’m in the ice bath recovering, how is it possible for me to earn during that time other than by playing Axie?
4. What makes Axie and the Axie community special, in your eyes?
Simply put, I feel the community believes in the project and understand that they are part of something bigger. They want it to work.
The Discord community helped me a lot when I was getting started, the beginning of the journey can be a bit complex so I think that’s been a hugely important part of the experience.
5. What did you know about Blockchain prior to Axie?
I’ve been primarily a Bitcoin enthusiast. I had some ETH but wasn’t too interested in it.
However I got introduced to NFTs and Axie ( Vitalik should thank you ) so now I’m using Ethereum. During the pandemic, 2 things got my attention:
Crypto.
The lack of physical sport and the rise of Esports. Now put them together and man, we have something explosive on our hands.
Questions?