The honeymoon phase is officially over for Ateba Gautier.
The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Middleweight top prospect has quickly become one of the promotion’s most exciting young fighters, earning plenty of attention for his aggressive style, finishing ability (like this), and the potential many believe he possesses.
Gautier will look to silence some of those doubters when he takes the biggest test of his young UFC career against Roman Kopylov on the UFC 332 main card this weekend (Sat., Oct. 3, 2026) inside Delta Center in Salt Lake City, Utah.
The matchup represents a major step up for Gautier, who has drawn criticism from some fans for the level of competition he faced early in his UFC run. After making a name for himself by running through opponents, Gautier was forced to answer some questions earlier this year when he went the distance for the first time in his UFC career against Andrey Pulyaev at UFC 324.
For the first time, the undefeated prospect found himself on the receiving end of some backlash.
But Gautier isn’t interested in chasing approval.
“I don’t hope for anything — no matter what you do in life, you do good, there is haters; you do bad, there is haters,” Gautier told UFC.com this week. “So, no matter what they say, if it’s ‘Oh, good’ — it’s no problem. I’m just trying to do my job. I just did my job, that’s it.”
The 24-year-old believes criticism is simply part of reaching the next level of the sport. In his mind, trying to win over everyone is an impossible task.
“You can’t conquer people’s opinion, no matter what you do,” Gautier continued. “And if everyone is on your side, that’s not good as well. So you need haters. You need them.”
Rather than ignore criticism completely, Gautier says he uses it as motivation — even when the comments are harsh.
“You look at the comment and if what they say is true, then just fix it,” Gautier explained. “But even if what they say is wrong or they try and insult me — it’s fine. As a man, I just try and take the good with the bad. I work on this and try to come back better.”
Now, Gautier will have the perfect opportunity to prove he belongs among the division’s elite.
Kopylov is a significant jump in difficulty compared to Gautier’s previous UFC opponents. The Russian veteran is a former top 15-ranked middleweight who has shared the Octagon with some of the best fighters in the division, making him the type of opponent who can quickly reveal where a prospect truly stands.
A dominant performance would likely quiet many of Gautier’s critics.
But as Gautier already understands, the haters probably aren’t going anywhere — and he’s perfectly fine with that.
