In December, 6-foot-8 former UFC fighter Paul Varelans shared on Facebook that he was unwell. His health would quickly deteriorate, and he placed on mechanical ventilation and eventually induced in a medical coma. Sadly it has now been confirmed that he passed away on Saturday night aged just 51.
Paul Varelans made his UFC debut on July 14, 1995, at UFC 6 when the vents were one night tournaments and defeated Cal Worsham by knockout before losing to Tank Abbott in the semi-finals. His nickname was The Polar Bear as he fought out of Fairbanks, Alaska. He’d only fight between 1995 and 1998 but is regarded a pioneer of the MMA and had a 9-9 record. During the prime of his career, he’d wrestle in ECW three times, twice against Jason Helton, a Canadian wrestler that Chris Jericho helped get booked, and once against Taz in what was billed as a shoot fight.
The match took place at Hardcore Heaven in 96 and is famous amongst ECW fans as many believed it would be a shoot. The idea of the match was to build Taz as a legitimate fighter. Varelans agreed to put over his much smaller opponent in exchange for Missy Hyatt performing a sexual favor. They would have a short match with Taz, which ended after outside interference from Perry Saturn and Taz locking in the Tazmission. Fans were not happy with the much-hyped match and changed “U F Shit.” Varelans would also not get to spend time with Hyatt after the match, as according to her autobiography, she reneged, saying she wasn’t interested in jobbers. Following this, Varelans never worked with ECW again and would wrestle one last match in Japan the following year.
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