"The Ultimate Fighter 13" competitor Ramsey Nijem said his fight with fellow finalist Tony Ferguson isn't going to be personal. But Nijem (4-1 MMA, 0-0 UFC) surely will enjoy punching Ferguson (10-2 MMA, 0-0 UFC) more than his average opponent. Why? He just doesn't like him.
"El Cucuy" gave him plenty of reasons to feel that way during the show, but one incident in particular sticks out to him (and, for that matter, to many 'TUF' viewers).
"He made an idiot of himself," Nijem said. "He went out there, and he said some very inappropriate things about someone's family that's always a line you shouldn't cross."
Nijem meets Ferguson Saturday at The Ultimate Fighter 13 Finale, which takes place at The Pearl at the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas. The night's main card airs on Spike TV (9 p.m. ET/PT).
During a booze-filled night at the "TUF" house late in the reality-show season, Ferguson attacked Charlie Rader, who previously had revealed that he hadn't seen his son in more than a year due to missed child-support payments.
The scrap was broken up by housemates, but most of the cast agreed that Ferguson had gone too far.
Nijem could hardly say Ferguson had the market cornered on idiocy. He made housemates squirm with his insistence on dancing around like a stripper while cameras were running, a behavior he said goes back to growing up in an apparently liberal household. But the difference, he might say, is that no one got hurt by watching him writhe around – just embarrassed. Ferguson's behavior was meant to inflict emotional damage.
Nijem said the incident confirmed initial feelings that Ferguson was a bad guy.
"I've sensed that in the beginning," he said. "I was always kind of wary about him. His true colors eventually came out."
So Nijem could in part be defending Rader's honor by administering a beatdown on Saturday night. That's a nice idea, of course, but he said his personal feelings are not ultimately going to play a huge part in the fight. Nothing good could come of getting too emotional about his opponent.
"I'm not going to go in there and say, 'I hate Tony, and I'm going to kill him, and F him,' and stuff like this," Nijem said. "Tony's an opponent, and he's in the way of my dream, and that's it.
"It doesn't matter who's across from me. I always fight the same way and with the same attitude."
Although relatively inexperienced on the pro circuit, Nijem hopes to build on a three-fight win streak in regional competition with a win over Ferguson, who also boasts a trio of recent wins.
Nijem put away Rader (by submission), Clay Harvision (submission) and Chris Cope (TKO) to earn his spot in the reality-show finale.
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