MMA Recap

Recapping With Mike Ricci - I Really Handle My Nerves Well

by Andrew Gladstone - 02-26-2010

 Mike Ricci (5-0) is a professional mixed martial arts fighter out of Montreal, Quebec, Canada.  He currently trains out of the Tristar Gym under head coach Firas Zahabi. Ricci over the last few years has spent time training with the likes of UFC welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre, Kenny Florian, Nate Marquardt, Rashad Evans and Roger Huerta.

Ricci got his start in mixed martial arts four years ago, after reading mixed martial arts books on techniques.  From there, he found a gym and met future training partner Georges St. Pierre.  Under St. Pierre’s guidance, he found himself a gym and met all the right people to train under.

Back in 2008, Mike Ricci went pro and fought Olympic judoka Stephane Chretien, a fighter he had competed against before when he was an amateur.    In fact, the fight with Chretien is Ricci’s favorite thus far in his short mixed martial arts career.  Ricci with just seconds left in the fight, defeated Chretien by technical knock out.

“The fight I had the most fun in was probably my first pro fight with Stephane Chretien.  It was a three round fight, and actually the ref stopped it with only two seconds left.  We really went out there and we fought for a while.  He was a judo Olympian, a really high level judo guy, very strong, and we really had a good fight.  We had fun, and when it was over I didn’t want it to be over.”

The toughest test in Ricci’s young mixed martial arts career came at the hands of Rory McDonell at XMMA 6.  Despite holding a 4-4 record McDonell has a tremendous wrestling background and solid submission skills.  However, Ricci overcame the tough opposition and finished him with a devastating body kick in the second round.

Before Ricci signed with Bellator he had a much tougher fight than he had anticipated with Jordan Mein at Ringside MMA.  He won every round of the fight, but the battle he lost was with him.  Ricci underestimated his opponent and for the first time in his short career felt tired, and under looked one of the more important disciplines of mixed martial arts in conditioning.

“I was very disappointed in my fight with Jordan Mein. I mean, I won all the rounds, it was a unanimous decision, but I wasn’t satisfied with the shape in my fight.  It was the first time I had ever fought and felt tired.  I know everyone makes mistakes and I was that my career was perfect and I made all the right choices, and one of my bad ones was taking Jordan Mein lightly.”

As for the lesson that Ricci learned from the Jordan Mein fight, Ricci had this to say, “I learned I can’t ride on talent.  I can’t go in there just being better than the other guy and think it’s going to work out, because cardio does play into the fight.  You get tired and you can’t perform the same way, you’re slower, and you don’t act as quickly.”

Now signed with Bellator as one of the eight men participating in the lightweight tournament, it will give the young Ricci a step up in competition.  If Ricci can win, he will secure himself a title shot with Bellator lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez.  Ricci spoke on his thoughts when he was offered the chance to compete in the tournament.

“The first thing that came to my mind, I knew that the level of competition would be higher and on an international stage, more exposure, and a lot more people watching me.  I was definitely up to the challenge.  The only thing I thought about the most was the actual tournament format.  I obviously got nervous, but I really handle my nerves well.”

Ricci also spoke on what he liked most about Bellator’s lightweight tournament and mentioned his unusual ability in recovering from over a 20lb weight cut in a short amount of time.

“I am very young still.  You know I’m only 23 and I’ve taken fights on five days notice.  I’ve had to do some large cuts.  I’m a pretty big lightweight.  I’ve done a 22lb cut and then I fought two weeks later, and I did a 25lb cut only 2 weeks later, and I was ready to fight again after that.  I know I can cut weight and recover really fast.”

As we all know injuries in mixed martial arts unfortunately exist and can be a gigantic problem when arranging a tournament.  Ricci spoke on what he believes will be the biggest hindrance in the Bellator lightweight tournament.

“It’s probably going to be injuries.  I think that you’re not necessarily going to break something or pull a muscle or anything like that.  You can get bumps and bruises that really last.  You could kick someone and hit their hip or their elbow and bruise your foot or your hand.  You could get hit in the ribs and it could effect you in your wrestling and your jiu jitsu.  I think that injuries, not just major injuries, but small injuries are really going to hinder peoples training after the fights.”

With St. Pierre by his side, it’s no wonder that Bellator took notice to this young rising lightweight fighter.  “It’s really brought me far along,” Ricci said on training with St. Pierre.  “I only have like five fights and some guys have ten or twenty and my record doesn’t really speak for how good I am.  With training at guys at such a high level it forces you to get on their level.  They come at you fast and hard, they take you down, they punch you and they kick you.  You’re forced to either put up or get out.”

Preparation for three fights in the course of three months would prove to be an arduous task for any fighter so training will have to be different. “It will differ, it’s not the same preparing for three fights as it is preparing for one,” Ricci said.   “You know for one you push your body to the limit, you physically peak, and after you do something like that you need to rest.  It’s different, you can’t push yourself to the limit as much as you want to because you won’t be able to recover from the first fight.”

The down time of a fighter can be very important when it comes to his mental state and winding down before going into battle.  Also, it can prove to be a hindrance at times to those who are young.   “I go out to movies, I still go out to clubs, and you know party with my friends,” Ricci said.  "I won’t drink, but I’ll be out there hanging out with friends and experiencing life.  Vacationing is fun; going out with my friends and partying is fun.  I like going out to eat and eating at McDonalds, stuff I can’t do two weeks before a fight.”

On his favorite cereal, “I like Raisin Bran, it’s probably my favorite cereal.”

Mike Ricci would like to thank:

“One of my local mma shops over here, MMA Zone (my cousin just bought it.)  It’s a great store, they help me out, they give me equipment, and it’s great that a family member owns it.”

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