Mike Ricci: “The Ultimate Fighter var en mardröm”

Mike Ricci och Colton Smith håller båda finalmatchen i The Ultimate Fighter 16 nu på lördag tillsammans. De båda kommer att slåss om en glaspokal, och rätten att kalla sig den ultimata fightern, men för Ricci har upplevelsen som ledde upp till finalen varit allt annat än en dans på rosor.

“It was an absolute nightmare, I wanted to sue for psychological damage, I wasn’t the same person,” säger Ricci på The MMA Hour. “I actually thought I had a case, ‘I’m not the same person, I can do this and win.’ But, I felt like don’t get me wrong, I knew what I was getting into I knew how I was going to react. Even some of the producers in the house toward the end were like, ‘Geez, you’re the most institutionalized fighter we’ve ever seen, we’ve done 11 seasons and we’ve never seen anyone like you, you’re like a robot now.”

“I was taken away from my family and from my friends and from life, you literally, you vanish, you’re gone, there’s no sign of you whatsoever,” fortsätter Ricci. “Its almost like to everyone in the outside world you’re dead and you’re gone. There’s no sign of you whatsoever. And, things like for instance I didn’t know what was happening with my people on the outside, it was upsetting, people had gotten new jobs or changed their hairstyle or experienced different things I missed out on, it iust upset me. It still upsets me to this day.”

Men den delen är över. Inspelningarna tog slut redan i slutet av sommaren, och det är nu slutspurten är. Nu får han däremot spendera tid på sitt eget gym, med sina egna instruktörer, och på lördag natt får vi reda på vem som kommer att få möjligheten att sträcka glaspokalen över huvudet.