MESA, Ariz. -- Mike Ricci was in Montreal, surrounded by family, when the greatest fight of 2015 -- and perhaps ever -- built to a slow and gory crescendo at UFC 189. Like everyone else spellbound by the car crash violence, he couldn't look away. And by the time Tristar teammate Rory MacDonald collapsed in agony in the fifth round of a fight against Robbie Lawler he was winning, clutching his broken face as medical personnel rushed to his aid, the Ricci household was in tears.
"It was hard watching that fight, I won't lie," Ricci told MMA Fighting.