The Ultimate Fighter season 13 finalist Ramsey Nijem has gained notoriety for his flippant behavior on the hit reality show.
“Stripper Ramsey” earned his moniker for a spur of the moment striptease while in the house.
“You know sometimes you got to pay the bills I guess,” Nijem joked when asked about the impromptu show during Thursday’s media conference call.
But what viewers may not know, Nijem is definitely a serious mixed martial artist.
Training with John Hackleman at the Pit in California as well as the Pit Elevated gym in Utah, Nijem knows when it’s time to stop playing games.
“After my first fight I think that people realized that I’m a serious fighter and I turn it on when I fight”, he told the media.
Nijem used his time on the show to showcase his skills, submitting his first two opponents via rear naked choke. Clay Harvison, his quarterfinals foe, tapped to his vicious choke in less than a minute into the first round.
But his most impressive victory came over the sly Chris Cope, a 2nd round TKO win that won Nijem a spot at the finale.
Training with Court McGee and Jonathan Brookins, Nijem and his team knew how to keep his finale appearance a secret.
“We all went through it with Court (McGee) when he was in the finals, you know everyone in the gym kind of understands, ‘don’t ask’ and it wasn’t that bad because I wasn’t the first one and Brookins trains with us now, so people understood the importance of keeping it under wraps.”
Facing Tony Ferguson in the finals, Nijem and his coaches have been studying Ferguson’s tapes very carefully especially since his last professional match was against teammate Brock Jardine.
“I definitely paid close attention to his latest and newest fights.”
Commenting on his time on the show, Nijem did not plan on being portrayed as a “goofball”, saying that the show’s producers edited him that way.
Despite that, Nijem said, “It was more just being myself and doing what I do normally, being comfortable and relaxed.”
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