In April 2010, Canadian lightweight prospect Mike Ricci (6-1) was on top of the world.
Then, following one thunderous right hand from Pat Curran, Ricci was lying flat on his back on a Bellator Fighting Championship mat, wondering exactly what happened.
Following a one-year layoff from competition, Ricci now knows exactly what happened: He got cocky. Things came too easy, too fast, as he quickly worked his way from an unknown to the international stage. Lesson learned, Ricci is now ready to start anew.
"I just remember physically being in the best shape I could possibly be in but mentally not really being up to par," Ricci admitted to MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com). "I got a lot of attention when I signed with Bellator, and I went from a guy on the local scene who was hungry and fighting to win to just a guy who thought everything was going to be given to him. When I fought Pat Curran, I was just asleep. I had no drive or no real fire inside because I really didn't feel like I needed any.
"The whole training camp, I was just so caught up in a lot of [expletive] that didn't matter, like what websites I was on, what TV show I was on. I just really lost my drive. I was past confident. I crossed that line, and I became cocky. I just really wasn't ready in that fight, mentally. Obviously, that showed in my performance. If you watch my fights before that, I really set a high pace when I fight. With Curran, I was kind of just laid back and chilling."
Back to the drawing board
Ricci had been labeled the "next big thing" to come from Canada. But in a little more than three minutes, Curran ended the hype. It was more than just a humbling experience for Ricci; it was downright embarrassing.
Following the loss, the youngster took a year away from the sport to consider his options.
"I took some time to reflect," Ricci said. "I didn't fight for a year, but I wasn't out of the gym for a year. But I did spend a good three or four months out of the gym, and I really had to reflect.
"That was the first time I ever got whooped. Being whooped is a real humbling experience. I was undefeated as an amateur. I was undefeated as a pro. I never thought I would lose. I carried my pride and my ego in that ring, which you should never do. That's why the loss, to me, was a lot worse than it should have been. I took some time to reflect.
"At first, I didn't really understand what happened. I didn't know why it happened. I woke up the morning after we fought, and I thought, 'I'm bigger than him. I'm stronger than him. I'm from a better camp than he is.' I was just always pushing a lot of things before I realized it was nobody's fault but mine."
A member of Firas Zahabi's famed Tristar Gym in Montreal, Ricci turned to his coaches and training partners for advice on how to progress. There were technical issues to fix, to be sure, but it was the mental side of the game where he found his biggest opportunity for betterment.
"The biggest change was a mental approach, but obviously what I did was a technical error, as well," Ricci said. "I was always physically capable of doing a lot of things, and I was a little more gifted than others. Standing up as tall as I did and being 6-foot-1, I should stand lower. Circling to his power hand was really something I shouldn't have done, but I always got away with it. Physically, I was just always fast and had good reflexes, but at an international level, these technical mistakes, guys are going to pick up on them. I went back, and I realized I needed to be more 'chin down, hands up' and not so flashy and cocky.
"It was a small technical change but nothing compared to the mental change I needed to make. Mentally, I don't think I ever would have become close to the fighter I am today if I didn't lose that fight in that manner."
Ricci reborn
Ricci took 51 weeks to address the issue before he returned at this past April's "Ringside MMA 10: Cote vs. Starnes" event. When he stepped into the cage against fellow prospect Jesse "The Body Snatcher" Ronson, Ricci admits it was a unique – and potentially career-changing – moment.
"It was a different feeling than I got when I fought in April; I had never had that feeling before," Ricci said. "I always had mixed emotions when I fought. Sometimes I would be really nervous. Sometimes I would be scared. Sometimes I would be confident. It was always a whirlwind of emotions that I never really understood, being a young fighter. This time around, it was a little bit different. I felt something that I never felt before. I think that's the difference between fighters who mature and gradually mature and grow. I think things change for them. I really felt a big change, and I think that time between fights was the difference.
"When I stepped into the cage against Jesse Ronson, I couldn't hear anything. I couldn't see anything outside of that cage. It was all there. My focus was 100 percent there. If I had that same focus that night against Pat Curran, I'm not going to say whether I would have won or lost, but I wouldn't have been hit with that punch. I got hit with that punch because it was the last thing I expected. Against Ronson, I was just so much more focused and so much more on point. I think that was the big difference between the fight with Curran and my last fight."
Ricci once again looked impressive, bouncing back from the frustrating loss to earn a first-round TKO win. The performance was solid enough to earn him a title shot at an October Ringside MMA event, but Ricci isn't taking anything for granted. He made that mistake once before, and after one frustrating, painful, life-changing moment, Ricci vows it will never happen again.
"Before I lost, I was really young and immature," Ricci said. "I always was kind of iffy about what I wanted. But now, things are a little more clear. Now that I came back, I sat down with my coach, Firas Zahabi, and I said, 'You know, coach, I fought and went undefeated. I went 5-0 and got the big contract with Bellator. I did all that in under two years. I did all that, and I wasn't nearly as focused as I am now.' I told him that I wanted to start fighting again, and he said, 'What do you want?' I said, 'Well, if you think I did it big before, watch what's going to happen this time. Let's take it one fight at time.'
"That's the difference between now and then. Then I was always running before I was walking. I was always looking to see what was next. When I got into the tournament and I was fighting Pat Curran, I'm like, 'Oh, Roger Huerta is in the tournament. Let me get at him.' I was always looking past everything. Now, my focus is where it should be.
"I just want one fight at a time. Every time I get a fight, every time I hear my opponent's name, it's him, and that's it. There's nothing else. For now, I'm not going to talk about UFC and this and that. For now, I'm just looking to buzzsaw through a couple people and get a little bit of payback for the bad taste in my mouth."
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