Tag: Ramsey Nijem

Ramsey Nijem Prepares for Finale Clash With Tony Ferguson

Filed under: UFCWith a second-round technical knockout victory over Chris Cope, Ramsey Nijem advanced to the Ultimate Fighter Finale, where he’ll fight Tony Ferguson on Saturday night in Las Vegas, live on Spike TV.

In his weekly interview with MMAFig…

Filed under:

With a second-round technical knockout victory over Chris Cope, Ramsey Nijem advanced to the Ultimate Fighter Finale, where he’ll fight Tony Ferguson on Saturday night in Las Vegas, live on Spike TV.

In his weekly interview with MMAFighting.com, Nijem talked about his fight with Cope, how he views Ferguson as an opponent, and what it would mean to him to be the winner of Season 13 of The Ultimate Fighter.

The interview, which also touches on how Nijem has been training for Ferguson in the time since Ultimate Fighter filming ended, is below.

Michael David Smith: Right after the fight you described beating Chris Cope as “probably the best feeling I’ve had ever.” Now that you’ve had a little more time to reflect on it, do you still feel that way?
Ramsey Nijem: Definitely at that point it was, but now I’m more focused on the Finale and that’s the next step. My goal in the house was to come out and be in the Finale, but now my new goal is to win the show. Once I beat Tony and win the show I think I’ll get the same feeling again.

Your background is in wrestling, but were you glad to show off your striking in the fight with Cope?
It felt good to show off my hands because I think people just think of me as a wrestler. I work hard on the stand-up and the jiu jitsu aspects of my game, and it’s nice to be able to show that off as well.

In the other fight on this week’s episode, Tony Ferguson looked pretty good beating Chuck O’Neil. What do you think of him as an opponent?
Tony looked good I guess, but I felt like he could have finished Chuck earlier. He didn’t really put too many punches together — it was all two-punch combinations at the most. He’s a dangerous opponent but I don’t think he’s going to be able to come after me and do what he did to the guys he’s beaten so far. I’ll always be in the fight.

Tony was a wrestler in college and he demonstrated during his fights on the show that he has knockout power. Where do you think you’re better than him?
His college wrestling wasn’t real college wrestling — it was club wrestling. It’s below junior college. I wouldn’t really consider him a college wrestler or really a wrestler at all. So I think I have an advantage there but my game plan is to exploit his weaknesses everywhere. He doesn’t protect his chin after he jabs, so that’s an area where I can hurt him, and I eventually plan to get his back on the ground and choke him out. I feel like I have decent hands and I definitely am a better wrestler and have jiu jitsu and can control the fight.

What has your preparation for this fight been like for you? Are you doing a lot of things to prepare specifically for Tony as an opponent?
My coaches have been watching tape on him. One of my best friends, Brock Jardine, actually fought Tony, and his one loss is to Tony. I always had this feeling I was going to fight him in the Finale and avenge my buddy’s loss. Brock’s like a brother to me, and I really felt like Brock could have beaten Tony but it was a five-round fight and he gassed in the fourth round and it was more like Brock beating himself than Tony beating him.

Who’s going to be in your corner on Saturday?
John Hackleman, Jason Mertlich, Court McGee and Brock Jardine. Jason is my main coach. I work with him all the time, and then we’ll go out to The Pit and train with Hackleman as well. Jason’s an awesome wrestling and jiu jitsu coach, Hackleman is more stand-up, and they complement each other really well. Court and Brock are good friends and teammates. Our team is doing great, the guys we train with had a total of 20-something wins and only one loss in 2010, so I’m really happy with my team. I’m working on everything: my hands, my jiu jitsu, closing the gaps for takedowns. I’m ready.

What would it mean to you to become the Ultimate Fighter winner on Saturday night?
It would mean my hard work paid off. I’ve dedicated myself to this 100 percent, sacrificed everything to be here, and to have that kind of result would be unreal. It would mean I’ve taken a big step, and then I’d just keep working hard and keep following my dream.

(Editor’s note: Ramsey Nijem joined us each week during Season 13 of The Ultimate Fighter to share his thoughts on that week’s episode. Follow Ramsey on Twitter @RamseyNijem. You can read all his interviews during the season here.)

 

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Ramsey Nijem Feeling Confident Heading Into Fight With Chris Cope

Filed under: UFCWith the pairings set for the final four of this season on The Ultimate Fighter, Ramsey Nijem has been matched up with Chris Cope for a semifinal fight with a berth in the Ultimate Fighter Finale on the line.

In his weekly interview wi…

Filed under:

With the pairings set for the final four of this season on The Ultimate Fighter, Ramsey Nijem has been matched up with Chris Cope for a semifinal fight with a berth in the Ultimate Fighter Finale on the line.

In his weekly interview with MMAFighting.com, Nijem said he thought he matched up well with Cope, and was feeling confident when the fight was announced that he’d earn a spot in the finale.

Nijem also talked about the two fights on this week’s episode — and the third fight that nearly broke out in the house. The full interview is below.

Michael David Smith: Let’s start near the end, when we found out you’d be fighting Chris Cope in the semifinals. How did you feel about Chris as an opponent?
Ramsey Nijem: I felt like it was a good fight for me. Chris doesn’t throw with the most power, and the only thing I was worried about was that he has good takedown defense. So going into the fight I knew it was going to be hard to take him down, and that when I do shoot I’d have to set him up real well because I wouldn’t want to waste my energy.

Dana White said that both coaches thought you and Tony Ferguson were the two best fighters on the show. Did you feel that way?
I have high expectations for myself. I felt like I was one of the better fighters in the house and had the tools to win it all. I knew Tony was a tough kid but technique wise I didn’t think Tony was the best fighter. He’d go in there and throw down but I didn’t think his technique was all that great.

It’s interesting that you say that because Tony had two quick knockouts — on this week’s show Tony knocked out Ryan McGillivray and he also knocked out Justin Edwards with an upkick in his previous fight — but neither of those knockouts really showed great striking technique.
I really felt like at this point Tony had kind of gotten lucky. I really thought Justin was the toughest fighter there, honestly, and I felt like Tony was fortunate to get past him. And as for Tony beating Ryan, to be honest I didn’t think Ryan was really recovered from his fight with Len earlier on the show and I didn’t think he was 100 percent going into that.

I’m surprised they cleared Ryan to fight again if he wasn’t fully recovered from his previous fight.
I was surprised, too.

Back to Tony for a second, he and Charlie Rader nearly got into a fight in the house. Did Tony cross the line with some of the things he was saying about Charlie’s kid?
I never really got a good vibe from Tony. I thought he had some personal demons. That was actually an edited version of what happened. Tony was making fun of everybody. At one point he said something about me, like “What do you want me to do, get naked so you can beat me?” He thought I was going to get mad about that but I just fell on the floor laughing. That whole night he was talking crap to everybody.

Chuck O’Neil beat Zach Davis by unanimous decision. What did you think of Chuck’s performance?
He turned it on and fought smart. He stopped Zach’s takedowns, forced it to be a stand-up fight and looked good. It was hard to watch Zach get beat up like that because he’s a good friend.

Zach’s eyes looked pretty nasty and he said he had injured both retinas and he wouldn’t be able to fight anymore. Does seeing something like that happen to a fellow fighter scare you at all?
I don’t really get scared but I do feel thankful and blessed that I haven’t experienced anything like that, and my body has held up. It’s a tough thing to hear. I can only imagine what it felt like for Zach. It just makes me appreciate that I can fight and I’m healthy. It’s a sad thing, too, because Zach really loves to fight.

You were the only guy left from Junior’s team who advanced to the semifinals. Was that disappointing because your teammates lost, or a good thing because you wouldn’t have to fight a teammate?
It was disappointing. It would have been nice for us to at least be two and two. I was lucky that Justin Edwards was willing to work out with me because otherwise I would have had no training partners. At the end, as you could see, everybody was partying and not really working hard anymore and it would have been nice to have another teammate working hard with me.

(Editor’s note: Ramsey Nijem will join us each week during Season 13 of The Ultimate Fighter to share his thoughts on that week’s episode. Follow Ramsey on Twitter @RamseyNijem.)

 

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

‘TUF 13? Episode 8 Recap: Screwin’ the Pooch


(“New episode of ‘Coal’? YEAH, BABY! GET SOME!” / Gif via IronForgesIron.com)

The quarterfinal round kicked off in last night’s episode of The Ultimate Fighter: Team Bellyache vs. Team Stare Directly at the Camera While Being Interviewed by Megan Olivi, and Shamar Bailey’s not feeling a personal best. The gray-team standout tweaked his back, and direct pressure ain’t comfortable. As he discusses it with Justin Edwards, Chris Cope lurks by, as if on cue, and screams “Woo!”

“I’mma choke that voice box out,” Shamar says.

But before he gets a chance to do that, Ramsey Nijem and Clay Harvison will square off. Dos Santos feels Ramsey is the best wrestler on his team. Ramsey says that his Palestinian heritage helps him be the fighter he is. He’s seen the road-stops, the walls, the guns; he feels grateful to be fighting in a controlled environment, and not for his life.

Dana White brings UFC middleweight contender and war hero Brian Stann to the gym. Stann tells the guys about being a Marine Corps captain, the lifestyle of discipline, how success breeds success…wait a minute. Is this just an ad for the Marines? This is like those segments on The Biggest Loser where they teach the contestants how to cook with Jennie-O-brand turkey. Come on, you know what I’m talking about. I can’t stand that crap. Anyway, Brock tells some of these long-haired punks to fill out an application.


(“New episode of ‘Coal’? YEAH, BABY! GET SOME!” / Gif via IronForgesIron.com)

The quarterfinal round kicked off in last night’s episode of The Ultimate Fighter: Team Bellyache vs. Team Stare Directly at the Camera While Being Interviewed by Megan Olivi, and Shamar Bailey’s not feeling a personal best. The gray-team standout tweaked his back, and direct pressure ain’t comfortable. As he discusses it with Justin Edwards, Chris Cope lurks by, as if on cue, and screams “Woo!”

“I’mma choke that voice box out,” Shamar says.

But before he gets a chance to do that, Ramsey Nijem and Clay Harvison will square off. Dos Santos feels Ramsey is the best wrestler on his team. Ramsey says that his Palestinian heritage helps him be the fighter he is. He’s seen the road-stops, the walls, the guns; he feels grateful to be fighting in a controlled environment, and not for his life.

Dana White brings UFC middleweight contender and war hero Brian Stann to the gym. Stann tells the guys about being a Marine Corps captain, the lifestyle of discipline, how success breeds success…wait a minute. Is this just an ad for the Marines? This is like those segments on The Biggest Loser where they teach the contestants how to cook with Jennie-O-brand turkey. Come on, you know what I’m talking about. I can’t stand that crap. Anyway, Brock tells some of these long-haired punks to fill out an application.

Clay still can’t bend his dislocated finger completely, but he’s gonna throw down anyway. Brock works with Clay and Chris on their wrestling — which they’ll need, since their opponents both specialize in it — and shows them the whizzer defense that Shane Carwin pulled on him in the beginning of their fight last year.

Ramsey shows up to weigh-ins in classic Palestinian style, with some jacked-ass hip briefs. He gets in Clay’s face in a very loving way, then bends over to complete the Nick Ring impression. Unfortunately, Ramsey feels sick before the fight, and he’s not one of those dudes who normally get sick before fights. Could be an issue, but there’s no time to worry about it…

Round 1: Brock screams for the whizzer before Ramsey even tries his first takedown. Ramsey fires an overhand right. Clay launches forward with a 1-2. Ramsey grabs him coming in and takes him down easily. Clay tries to get up and Ramsey takes his back. Clay nearly rolls out, but Ramsey stays in control. Ramsey flattens Clay out on the mat and sinks the rear-naked choke. Clay taps. God damn, that didn’t last long. Ramsey Nijem is TUF 13′s first semi-finalist.

DW: “That was the fastest and most decisive finish of the season…Junior might be right, this kid might be the kid to beat.”

Dos Santos: “That’s how you fight when you get sick? WOOOOW!”

Clay is pissed at himself, obviously. “Stripper Ramsey, what the fuck. That’s how you screw the pooch, ladies and gentlemen.”

Brock: “Clay just got outclassed in wrestling. Giving up your back like that to a wrestler is just self-destruction.”

Moving on. Shamar wants to make Chris Cope pay for the constant screaming thing. His plan is to meet Chris in the middle of the Octagon, make him move backwards, beat him up on the feet, and take him down when he feels like it.

Coach Brock realizes that Cope is a big underdog here: “The first 30 seconds of this, you’re just gonna have to weather the storm,” he says. He calls the fight a classic matchup of “wrestler vs…Chris.” Once again, they drill the whizzer, hoping it might actually work this time. Brock points at the ad in the middle of the cage. “Do whatever you need to do to own Burger King. This is your house right here, Burger King.”

In the face-off, Chris smiles and nods while Shamar mean-mugs and shakes his head. Could they be any different?

The night before the fight, Cope tries to get some tips from Nordin Asrih, who previously lost to Shamar by decision. “His game plan is easy,” Nordin says. “To put you down and hold you down. He doesn’t want to fuck with you.” Nordin gives Chris some angry notes on his guillotine setup, which seems to leave him open for punches. “There’s no time bro,” Nordin says. “I’m fighting tomorrow, don’t be an asshole,” Chris says.

Shamar is mad intense before the fight: “He made a mistake, he woke up a beast.”

Says Chris: “Shamar, the ‘woo’ that you get so angry about? Win, lose, or draw, I’m still gonna do it.” And then he does.

Round 1: Shamar starts out as the aggressor, pushing forward, chasing Chris around the cage. He lands a left straight. Chris throws some punches but doesn’t land anything worthwhile. Shamar shoots from too far away, Chris defends it and slugs him in the head while pressed against the fence. Chris turns him around. Shamar puts Chris’s back against fence. Chris escapes. Shamar comes in with punches and a clinch. They trade knees to the legs. Cope escapes again. Left straight and a clinch from Shamar. Knee to the ribs from Chris, and some dirty boxing exchanged between the fighters. Another knee from Chris, and he escapes. Shamar with a left overhand/right low grab/clinch, which will become his trademark for the rest of the fight. Chris grabs a headlock and uses it to escape. Shamar does his hi/lo/clinch trick again, and works hard to drag Cope to the mat but he can’t pull it off.

“Let your fuckin’ hands go kid,” Dana shouts at Chris. Brock tells his fighter the same thing.

Round 2: Shamar stalks forward and lands a jab. Chris brushes him back with counter-punches. He’s throwing more now. Shamar fires to the body. Chris jacks a short hook. He lands the jab while Shamar is coming in. Shamar with that hi/lo/clinch. Chris gets out after some dirty boxing. He lands a couple on the feet, and seems to be gaining some momentum. No big shots, but he’s making Shamar respect him. Shamar shoots, settles for the clinch, and lands an uppercut on the exit. Shamar comes in to engage and they clash heads. Chris jabs. Shamar lands a clean punch combo. Both guys throwing now. Shamar shoots, Chris puts him against the fence. Shamar reverses the position. Chris escapes. They slug it out. Shamar shoots and puts Chris’s back against the fence. Chris fires some punches to his head. Chris turns Shamar around and escapes as the horn sounds.

The way I saw it, Shamar won the first round with his takedown attempts and pressure, and Chris out-boxed Shamar by a slight margin in the second. Chris’s takedown defense was really the story of the fight, but he was a little hesitant to throw in the first frame. This one should go to sudden victory. But it doesn’t. All three judges score it 20-18 for…Chris Cope? Damn. The fact that all three judges scored the first round for Chris is kind of absurd. Junior shouts “what?” Brock says that Chris wowed him and — you guessed it — made chicken salad out of chicken shit.

Shamar talks to Dana afterwards, and says he wanted to show that he could do more than wrestle. DW is like, “well, it looks like you tried to take him down.” (Burn!) Shamar tells Dana he sprained his back. And now Shamar is going to be haunted by that Woo! for the rest of his life.

On the next episode: Tony Ferguson goes apeshit into a glass coffee table, two more quarterfinal fights, and the semi-final announcements. We’re moving along nicely, here.

Ramsey Nijem on Being The Ultimate Fighter’s ‘Kid to Beat’

Filed under: UFCAfter Ramsey Nijem needed less than a minute to finish Clay Harvison in their fight on Episode 8 of The Ultimate Fighter, UFC President Dana White offered some high praise.

White called Nijem’s rear-naked choke, “the fastest and most d…

Filed under:

After Ramsey Nijem needed less than a minute to finish Clay Harvison in their fight on Episode 8 of The Ultimate Fighter, UFC President Dana White offered some high praise.

White called Nijem’s rear-naked choke, “the fastest and most decisive finish of the season so far,” and said of Nijem, “This kid is the kid to beat.”

In our weekly interview, Nijem told MMAFighting.com that he felt just as confident in himself as White did in him. Nijem also talked about the other fight on this week’s episode, and about his coach, Junior dos Santos, getting a new opponent for UFC 131, with Shane Carwin filling in for the sick Brock Lesnar.

The full interview is below.

Michael David Smith: You took Harvison down, took his back and got him to tap to the rear-naked choke in less than a minute. You must have been pretty pleased.
Ramsey Nijem: It was a good win, and it felt good to get in there. I wasn’t feeling good before the fight, but I was feeling very good after I won.

We saw that you were sick beforehand. What happened?
I don’t know, I just started throwing up. It might have been nerves or something but I’ve never hard nerves like that. I have a pretty bad stomach so I’ll get sick to my stomach pretty easily. Something didn’t sit right.

It seemed like Junior was giving you a lot of individual instruction. What did you learn from him?
He just wanted me to do what I’m good at, which is wrestling, and so when he was teaching me stand-up he was teaching me about closing the distance to allow me to take advantage of my wrestling. A big thing Junior showed me is getting angles so I could go for the takedown and not get knocked out.

After you won, Dana White said you were “the kid to beat.” Is that how you felt as well?
Oh, I felt like that going in. I had high expectations for myself going into the house and felt I was good enough to win the show, so every fight I expected to win. I’m definitely glad my performance backed up what I thought.

The other fight was Chris Cope beating Shamar Bailey by unanimous decision. What did you think of that one?
I actually didn’t even see that fight because I was in the back, but I know Shamar felt like he deserved to win. He left it in the hands of the judges, though, so that’s what happens.

It’s now been announced that Brock is sick and he won’t be fighting Junior. Did you ever get any inkling on the show that Brock was sick?
No, I had no idea. That came as a total surprise to me. It was hard to see because we really wanted to see Junior fight him. It must have been recently that he got sick because he looked OK. I hope he gets better. I wanted to see the fight because I think it would be a great win for Junior, but seeing Junior against Shane Carwin will be a great fight, too. That’s going to be fun seeing two huge heavyweights throwing bombs. That fight might even be more fun for the fans.

(Editor’s note: Ramsey Nijem will join us each week during Season 13 of The Ultimate Fighter to share his thoughts on that week’s episode. Follow Ramsey on Twitter @RamseyNijem.)

 

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Ramsey Nijem on Game Planning for Next Fight With Clay Harvison

Filed under: UFCWith the first round of fights all out of the way on this season of The Ultimate Fighter, Ramsey Nijem has advanced to the quarterfinals and learned on this week’s episode that he’ll be taking on Clay Harvison next. In his weekly interv…

Filed under:

With the first round of fights all out of the way on this season of The Ultimate Fighter, Ramsey Nijem has advanced to the quarterfinals and learned on this week’s episode that he’ll be taking on Clay Harvison next. In his weekly interview with MMAFighting.com, Nijem said that was a matchup he liked — but not the matchup he requested.

Nijem talked about his game plan for Harvison, which member of Brock Lesnar‘s team he would have preferred to fight, and how he felt about the wild card fight between Chuck O’Neil and Javier Torres.

Nijem also weighed in on the annual coaches’ challenge, which this year meant Lesnar and Junior dos Santos going through an obstacle course on Fertitta Field at Bishop Gorman High School in Las Vegas.

The full interview is below.

Ramsey Nijem Calls Lew Polley an ‘Arrogant Jerk,’ Criticizes GSP

Filed under: UFC, NewsThe first five episodes of Season 13 of The Ultimate Fighter featured fights that were generally not very compelling. Episode 6 changed things. With two exciting fights that both ended in the first round, Episode 6 provided the be…

Filed under: ,

The first five episodes of Season 13 of The Ultimate Fighter featured fights that were generally not very compelling. Episode 6 changed things. With two exciting fights that both ended in the first round, Episode 6 provided the best fights of the season so far.

In this week’s interview with Ultimate Fighter cast member Ramsey Nijem, we got his thoughts on being in the gym to see the two fights live. We also got Nijem’s opinion of his coach, Junior dos Santos, kicking Lew Polley off the team, and on the UFC 129 main event, which saw Nijem’s training partner Jake Shields lose to Georges St. Pierre.

The full interview is below.