The Ultimate Fighter season nine winner talks about the show, his recent victory over Aaron Riley and training at the Rough House

The chance of representing your country in one of the most talked about reality series in MMA history is something that every young fighter dreams of. For eight guys from the UK, the chance became a reality as four of the country’s top lightweights and welterweights squared up to eight of America’s finest in one of the fiercely contested series of the show.

To win the show would have been a dream come true. For Ross Pearson, he did more than dream.

After defeating good friend Andre Winner by unanimous decision, the Sunderland lad earned himself a contract with the UFC and a six figure contract.

“To win it was amazing,” says Pearson. “Obviously, it’s done a lot for my career and everything.

“I’m still just a young fighter, I’m still learning the game but how many young fighters get this chance to do it, let alone go on and win it? It was an amazing feeling to get out to Vegas to fight, but obviously I was disappointed for Andre because he’s a team mate of mine and we had to fight each other.

“At the end of the day, we both agreed that it was one of those things that we had to do.”

Pearson remains modest in victory. Despite recognising his dream, he kept one of his best friends in mind and the two continue to train at the Rough House gym in Nottingham with fellow UFC standouts Paul Daley, Dan Hardy and Nick Osipczak.
The Rough House team remain one of the most popular gyms in Europe and the amount of fighters coming through their ranks is a testament to the hard work that all the guys put in during their sessions.

“The training at the Rough house is awesome,” says Pearson. “It’s unbelievable. They’ve got some quality fighters there. It’s like a big family, not only do we all train well, we’re like a big family.

“Everyone looks out for each other, everyone helps each other when they’ve got a fight coming up and the best thing about this fight against Aaron Riley at 105 – there was seven of us who had all been training, all getting ready for a fight, roughly around the same time.

“There were four of us. There was me, Dan Hardy, Andre Winner and Nick Osipczak fighting on 105. Jimmy (Wallhead) fought two weeks before. Dean (Amasinger) fought two weeks before, and Paul (Daley) fought three weeks before, so everyone was really fit and the training was just unbelievable.”

Seven top fights out the way, and even more remarkably for some, seven wins for the team. For Pearson, it was his most impressive performance to date. Picking apart Riley with knees, elbows and slick punches, many commented on the 25-year-old’s Muay Thai and the vast improvement in his stand-up. Two private Muay Thai sessions a week helped the youngster, and it was the techniques during his training that helped him pick apart his American counterpart.

“I was super nervous before this fight,” he explained. “It was the most nervous I’d been before a fight ever. I started warming up at six o’clock, and I didn’t start fighting until about quarter past, twenty past, eight.

“Before the fight I had to do something, I had to start stretching and I had to get in the zone, but when I came out in front of the crowd, my nerves just went and I didn’t have any nerves whatsoever.”

Pearson admits that he struggled to hear the electric atmosphere during the show as he was so focused and eager to impress on his first UFC fight after the Ultimate Fighter.

The win moves him further up the stacked 155lb division and a step closer to a fight against one of the division’s top fighters.

“That’s really my first UFC bout on paper,” he said of the win. “To be honest with you, it’s getting my name out there and people are recognising who I am now.

“They’re recognising that I am a dangerous fighter, so it’s going to take a couple more wins, but I feel I’m up there. I’ve moved up a couple of notches, but I’ve got a lot of work to go.”

With less than one month to go before the perfect year for Pearson comes to an end, the lightweight is keen to keep on top of his work in the gym and finish the year in style. Aiming to maintain the similar sort of consistency that took him to the UFC lightweight division, he aims to spend the New Year over in Las Vegas, more than likely with his friend Paul Daley, who fights Carlos Condit at UFC 108.

“I’ll still be at the gym, but I’m just going to bring down the intensity to the training,” he added. “I think I’m going to Vegas on January 1st to train out in Vegas for three weeks, so I’ll be looking forward to doing that if that’s definitely going ahead.”

It’s been one hell of a year for Pearson. Ultimate Fighter winner and UFC lightweight contender. It’s quite a turnaround from life as a brick layer in the North East.

“I was just a normal guy from the North East of England, just fighting on different shows here and there, and then one minute, I got asked to do the Ultimate Fighter and I’m all over every magazine everywhere.

“It totally changed my life upside down really.”

A great fighter with a bright future, we’re sure Pearson will be just as successful in 2010.

Martin Smith
martin@ifight365.com