Rico Farrington is a mixed martial artist who most recently competed on Taura MMA 11 picking up a uninimous decision victory. The Bahamas native previously competed on the Ultimate Fighter and with his recent victory holds a 8-3 record including three victories.
Transcript
Rico Farrington: Boom, we are back with the 106th edition of the quarantine cast, i’m very excited for this one um. I have rico ferrington, who just had a big win this past weekend in florida um he trains at mma masters in florida and that’s where he’s fought for the majority of his career. I think he’s had one fight outside of that and that was in vegas for the dana white contender series uh he’s from the bahamas, so i’m really really excited for this one. Without further ado, i’m going to bring him in hey man, how you doing doing good doing good. So first things. First man: how are you doing out there with the uh the pandemic? And it just seems like the the entire united states – is in chaos right now. So how are you, how are you holding up i’m holding up pretty good um me and my fiance and my little two kids like we’re just huddled up inside the house, but for the most part, uh just started back working slowly, so it’s going good so far. How is the um how’s the pandemic and everything going on down there in florida, how’s the lock up and and how has it affected you and your training going into this fight um before like when it actually started? It was a little bit rough um like as of now, everything is like kind of open up now, like restaurants, are open close to like 75 to 100 capacity, and we’re allowed to go to mostly a lot of stuff, but still got warrior mass. So i got to be careful, so everything is open up for the most part, um training, wise uh. It was actually a little bit better because, usually like when we train like in the monica’s mornings, pro classes, sometimes there’s a lot of newcomers that wants to test the class or try it out. So the mats be packed so like we don’t have a lot of space to train and we don’t have a lot of like quality time with the coaches so like, since the pandemic happened, like everything was closed down, with only like a select few that had to Train so it was more time to train. You could train hard as you can and stay as long as you want and then go back home yeah. It’S probably good uh florida is one of the. I guess the the more slack states in terms of training, so it was probably good. You were probably able to get a full training camp, i’m up in canada and uh. They say we’re in the safest place in those in uh in the world, but at the same time the second there’s a case. The gym shutdown, closed yeah, so there’s pros and cons. But it’s it’s good to see that you got back in there. You got a big win um, so how did it feel to get your hand raised? I mean it’s been a long time that you’ve uh, since you got your hand, raised uh with that with the pandemic, and then you have the draw on the boxing fight. So it’s it’s probably felt good to get your hand raised yeah, it’s been a long time like you know, when you’re so used to like how i had like the six fight win streak you’re just used to just like you know it’s gon na happen, and since The contender series um, i made no excuses. I had like a little injury and it wasn’t like the injury part that affected me. It was more mental so, and that’s like my biggest thing that i had to like overcome and like have to work back on, because my i overthink a lot about certain things. So i had to work really hard like on mental stuff and before i had like an mma fight, i just wanted to see how my hands was in boxing. It was a short notice fight, so my coaches asked me about it just like before you got into mma, you want to do a little boxing fight before we find you a fight. I was like hell yeah, i don’t care so getting the boxing and me thinking boxing, i’m going to start off like with a life debuter boxing as well too came up with a guy who’s foreign over four knockouts. So it was a challenge as well too, but boston is just it’s big, it’s it’s the same, but it’s a different aspect as mma, so i liked it, but it was just out of my comfort zone, it’s funny when i, when i was watching like the conor Mcgregor and floyd mayweather fight – i was like man just kick him just kick him was there was a point in the fight where you’re like man i just want. I just want to throw a head. Kick not even not necessarily head kicks. It’S just a certain moves that that that he does like they go so low like to your knees and like it’s such a reaction like if your head pass you your ways, i’m gon na knee you or or some or if you get too close, i’m gon Na clench you and try to take you down so like it was some point like when we were fighting and every time you get close, i clench him and like in my head, i want to clench so and i heard them talk. I watched the fight over and i heard him talking so he’s clenching a lot, but as the fight go on, it was to my advantage, because i know he’s probably good inside the inside, so i’ll just get my little couple pieces off and then clench him and Back away and then use my stand up, so it was good. It’S just a different type of cardio, like you know how you have wrestler cardio and you have jiu jitsu cardio, it’s just it’s a different type of cardio, but i felt good. I just it’s. Not my cup of tea i’ll fight again, but it’s just like not my cup of tea. It was a good tune-up though, because you look, you look really sharp in a big win. Um rebounding from your loss a year ago on the contender series so describe the emotion of getting your hand raised after such a long period of time in in the sport of mma, it was just a big relief um i mean i came a lot of ups And downs through that past year that i’ve went through a lot of injuries that i went to like. I got injured and i felt better and then the next week i got injured again. So i had a long delay, and so i just started focusing a lot on like strength and conditioning and strengthening my legs and strengthening everything else like for this whole training camp, usually uh, my stand-up coach master caesar, i’m always with him like we just work on Strategic hand, hand, hand stuff and this whole camp. I didn’t, i probably did like one pad session with him and everything else was wrestling wrestling: defense, jiu, jitsu and conditioning and they’re okay with it. It was, and but i wanted to do it for myself – just to get more con like be more comfortable with myself and be more comfortable with my head, because i had like a knee injury and it affected me a lot. So i just wanted to focus on that. Make sure my knees are good. Make sure my back is good, make sure my hands are good and core and it helped out a lot. Was it nice getting a win over a ufc veteran? Is it does it feel nicer? Knowing like okay, i can beat a guy who fought in the ufc. Of course it feels nice. I mean he was one of these uh. I guess the runner-up for the uh, the tough brazil um it was. It was a good, it was a good win um. I i had all heightened sense on with this fight like i was nervous because he was a high caliber and i know he’s very famous in brazil and i already know coming to this fight. I was an underdog, so it had. It was less pressure on me, but it was still more pressure because i needed to get back into that grain column. So it just put me in overdrive. I was looking at your your record and where you fought – and the one thing that stands out to me is your entire career was in florida, with the exception of your only loss is the secret fighting in florida. I guess, though, i’m not sure if i um i’ll have to fight outside of the state again and see if it’s it’s just a florida thing, but no going to big organizations they’re going to be traveling a lot. So i i don’t mind fighting outside of state. I think it’s just more mental for me, i think if it wasn’t for, like my men, like sometimes i defeat myself mentally before i even get into the cage, so that was like the main thing i had to work on for myself and i think if it Wasn’T for my head, i would have been undefeated still right now. I want to talk um. I want to talk a little bit about daniel rodriguez. I mean looking back now, knowing what he’s doing in the ufc. You know that loss doesn’t look that bad. You know it was a decision. Loss and daniel rodriguez has been steamrolling guys. Is it a little bittersweet seeing him having that success? Um i mean i’m, i’m not mad at him. I mean it’s a it’s a gentleman sport. He did what he had to do to win. Um he’s. I i’ve watched him a couple times too after he went into the ufc, but i just know for myself physically like if i was, i mean you’re, not always going to be injured, free in a fight, but the the injuries that i had going into that fight. If i was a little bit more healthier with that, i think i could have won that. Did you have the opportunity to speak to the ufc brass when you competed on the contender series like dana white uh? No, he was like he was all over the place. Like he doesn’t like his keeps, though he’ll say they’ll say hi what’s up and then he’s going onto something else. I want to talk about uh, you being from the bahamas. Um i mean i’m sure you’re super proud being one of the few bahama bahamian. Is it bahamian, i don’t know bohemian uh mma fighters? How does it feel to to represent and be able to wear that flag uh when you walk out, i mean it’s a good. It’S it’s really good. I mean a lot of. I think i think it was just one fighter in the ufc that was a bahamian and besides myself, and i know, even though we it’s a lot of different islands in the bahamas, like we still try to make sure we get known if it’s in box north And something else, so it’s probably it’s it’s good. To put our name try to put our name on the map, because you know you have a lot of jamaicans a lot of haitians, that’s already in the ufc so like to add another island culture inside of the usc or bellator or whatever big organization. It’S good as long as we’re on the map and just knowing that we’re representing them we’re doing good things, because certain places over there, it’s really tough, really really tough. How much would it mean to you to be able to bring an event, uh or even maybe not headline but appear on an event for the ufc or bellator in the caribbean? That would be a dream come true and i’m sure that place will be stacked. I’M positive, like that’s one thing about the island, is like they: they rally up with their people, so that would be. That would be awesome. If i’m not mistaken, you weren’t uh into mma, necessarily when you were in the bahamas, you were into baseball and other sports. What was it that drew you to the sport of mma um? Like you said, um i was into baseball, so um i had a tryouts um. I was trying to get a tryout for the money, leaks, uh, boston, red sox and they were down here and i had like a pitching. I guess a pitching thing to sugar man. I tore my rotators cup and i got injured so they didn’t choose me. I was depressed, but uh rehabbing. I went to a low gym called club ko and pramba pines um, so i started rehabbing over there and i just saw like two little kids just doing little. Jiu jitsu, i didn’t know what jiu jitsu was at the time, but now it’s jujitsu and it just it caught my attention so me being hard as hard-headed as i am. I was like oh i’ll, try it out, and these little kids were probably like 12 and 13, and i was like hey. Can i try with y’all and i went rolling with them and i kid you not. In less than 30 seconds, i got hit with an arm bar and that got me like hold up. This is a little kid i’m way stronger than him, so i went again try to use strength. I’M like okay, i’m gon na use, strength now and got worse because they had so many technique and then i got tapped out again. So i went home and i soaked for a little bit and that grasped my attention because, like if there’s something that i can’t do good in i’m going to go back and try to do it because i want. I want to be good. If it’s golf, i want to be good at golf. It’S bowling. I want to be kind of bullying, so it draw my attention to go back and since i went back, i talked to the the coach over there and ever since he started training me. I just got addicted and i just couldn’t stop from there so you’re now at mma masters, which is, in my opinion, the most underrated gym in florida. Uh you’ve got guys like danny chavez who trains there, and you know i guess i guess more, notably colby covington. What’S it like training at mma masters and what have they done for your career um? They made a big leap for michael on my career. Before i went to mma masters, i mean i still was at club ko i mean there was not any like known coaches. There to help me get to the next level. So when i was at that gym, i thought i was just the top stuff, because i was still kickboxing, undefeated and kickboxing. I just won a belt for um like three times uh uh, um kgb kickboxing, and i think one of my teammates his name was michael lilly um. I was supposed to fight for fight time promotions for the 170 belt for their amateur and i’ve saw i i noticed. Lily fought a couple of times and for that show, but he was so huge. I was like there’s no way he could make 170 like they have to be lying and they called our gems saying. I have to fight him for the belt and ever since then they told me that i declined it and then the next week i hit him off. I was like hey. Can i train at your gym, so he was just like oh come there they’re very welcoming, but knowing that i went to that gym, i saw how much i had to learn how a real training gym is because i got whoops day in and day out, and I thought like what have i learned since i before coming here and the coaches they’re very strict, but they push you to your limits. Just do you want to quit leave if not you just got to go through this, so it helped me a lot and it grew me into the person i am now like. I wouldn’t change it. I have elegance try to make me, go to their gym or try to look, look at it or test it out, but i don’t stir. I love that yeah. I think that’s that’s the key. I mean you hear it so many times i mean a lot of people like the big gym, feel a lot of people like the smaller gyms, but the key is just finding one that fits you and seems to be the the key to success. For so many guys um i want to talk a little bit about colby. I mean he most recently went there. What’S it like working with him, i mean, in my opinion, he’s the best welterweight in the world. I thought he was beating camaro uzman up until he uh his jaw got broke. So, what’s it like, when a guy like that comes into your gym, is it humbling knowing like okay, this guy is really good but at the same time he’s the best in the world. So if i can even last a minute or two with him, it’s i’m good like. So what was it like when you walked in the gym? Um i mean at first i just i was a little standoffish. I mean like, as a fighter like he’s a very, very, very great fighter, and it’s just some of the antics i just didn’t like when um when he does interviews and stuff. So, for me personally, like i was a little standoffish but like at the gym, he’s a totally different person he’s like he was really he’s mad, humble mad, humble um. He talks to everybody. It’S not like you know some people. They think that they’re, the big shot and they’ll just say hi or whatever and just do what they have to do. But, like he talks to everybody, he he’s a tr he’s a gem freak. He loves once he’s in the gym. He he trains and trains and trains and trains, but i talked to him a couple of times. I haven’t really had like a training session with him kind of sort of, because when he came in, i still had a fight coming up, so i had to focus on what i had to do too as well too, but he still, he still talks to me. Um he talked to me before this fight as well too talking about um the mental things just make sure like if you’re going to this fight, it’s like giving it your all um he’s he’s really cool um, there’s nothing bad. I could say about him besides. Just like the stick, my head at first, but it changed it changed when he came to the gym. It’S just i like it. Looking ahead, i mean, obviously you just fought what sort of timeline are you looking at for a return? I see. There’S uh there’s something there on the uh on the hand but uh. What’S the timeline for a return, uh worst case scenario, probably like in november um how bad it is, i can still move it, but it’s really swollen. So after i get this checked out and everything is all good i’ll try to go for december, what’s the ultimate goal i mean you mentioned, you know bringing an event to bahamas whether it’s for bellator ufc. But what is the dream? You had the chance on the contender series. Is that still the road you want to take? Maybe a ufc? What is the goal, and then the goal is still in to make it into the ufc um if they have to have to get back in the container series, i’ll talk to my manager and my coaches and see if they can work that from me, i don’t Know if they need me to help one more fight, but that’s my goal to get into the ufc and just make a name for myself. One of the things i really like about one of the things i noticed right away was how tall you are. I was like how does this guy make 170 so why 170 is 185 like? Why not go 185 you’re you’re massive? What are you six foot? Five uh six, four, six, four favorites um! I don’t mind fighting on 185. My coaches talk to me about it too. I fought at 185 before um. I just got ta, do a lot of strength and condition to get to a certain weight and hit like that 200 mark, because my weight now i could make 170 easy so and i felt comfortable at it. So i’ve never had a problem like cutting weight and i could still eat as much as i want. So i just felt comfortable at 170, so i didn’t want to change. Do you feel like uh, that length in size makes a huge difference there at 170 um? It’S good and it’s bad um got ta know who you are like with your height because, like you said, you have wrestlers like they love to all people, it’s easy for them yeah, but overall, i think height is like a good advantage for me, because i mean I’M not i’m a weird one tall person. I could i’m very fast for my height and i could move very good for my height and i got really good takedown defense. My jiu jitsu is pretty good. I just haven’t used it in the fight, but i think overall, i think it’s really good for that weight class. All right i’ll, ask you a couple more questions and then i’ll uh and then i’ll. Let you go one of the one of the things that really um where i built my platform was making predictions for upcoming fights. So i don’t know how in tune you are for the ufc and if you watch all the fights but there’s a big flyweight fight. Coming up with davis and figuero, who looks unbelievable against alex perez, who do you think wins that fight? I still think figueroa was going to win, that i mean um. Otherwise i forgot his name. He sees he’s. I watched him fight, he’s a top dog and he’s climbing up in the ranks, but i think figure out he’s like he found he found himself like he’s he’s honed in and i don’t think he want to give that belt up anytime soon. So i’m gon na watch it, but i, i think, he’s still gon na walk away with that fight and then last question i’ve gotten people’s opinions from all over the world on who they think the greatest of all time is khabib. Just retired he’s got to be in the conversation there’s henry cejudo, george, st pierre anderson silva, who just fought as well from your perspective, who do you think, is the greatest fighter of all time greatest fighter of all time i mean from when i first started watching Up to now me personally, i still think it’s jordan p he’s just unbelievable. I think the the strides he’s made inside the ufc and the the impact he’s done in the ufc, i think he’s one of the best fighters for me as a canadian. I agree. 100. All right all right, perfect for people who haven’t seen you fight before what is uh. How would you describe your fight style um? I think my fighting style, it’s more of like a box and slash karate type. That’S that’s my style. I liked i, like my my wide stance, um quick, punches like in and out quick, punches, so more or less like um, uh wonderboy and in a sense like i like his style and like when i saw him fight. I was like oh that’s kind of like me, so i like it’s more of like a karate karate boxing style, all right, perfect man. I appreciate you taking the time. I was really impressed this past weekend. I thought you look great on the contender series as well, especially now seeing the success daniel rodriguez is having it just shows how great you are and uh. We can expect great things from you in the future, so all the best man stay safe over there in florida and uh wish you all the best. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you appreciate it all right there you have it uh episode, 106, with rico ferrington. I’Ve been a fan of his for a while. We can expect great things from him if you uh, if you haven’t yet donate to my movember cause, the link is in the description below. If i have to wear this all month, the least you can do is like comment and subscribe i’ll see you guys later
