“The toughest part, and you listed a lot of them, is the weight cut,” he said. “And sometimes you make it to the fight and you’re beat to s**t trying to get to the fight, just so you can go out there and you have to be on. It’s a lot, but I love it. I’m smiling in the back, warming up. You hit some waves of nerves but overall, I’m smiling. I’m smiling on the walk out, and I can’t believe I get paid to go fight somebody. I would do it way more often if I didn’t have to cut weight.”
He laughs, but he means it. And after just one fight in 2020, he’s hoping that getting his second fight of 2021 in this weekend is a good sign that he’s going to get what he wants, even with the weight cuts and the nerves.
“Sometimes you forget how nerve-wracking it could be,” Simon said. “You get in there three to five times a year, and you feel pretty good, but longer layoffs, the nerves definitely come back a little bit.”
Then the Octagon door shuts, and all is well in the world of Ricky Simon because there’s no place he would rather be.
“I think it’s just because for that three to five rounds, I don’t have to pretend I’m not crazy,” he laughs. “I get to be myself. I love it.”