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Ring girl Arianny Celeste parades around the ring during UFC 122 at the Konig Pilsner Arena on November 13, 2010 in Oberhausen, Germany. (Photo by Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC)

Nick Ring

TRAINING: A typical day of training for me is just like that I think of any other fighter: you wake up tired and sore and wanting to go back to bed instead of train, but somehow you get up and do it anyway...

When and why did you start training for fighting? I have always loved martial arts, but it was when I 15 years old and I watched my very first live kickboxing fights in Calgary that I had made the decision that fighting was what I wanted to do. The sport was so raw and savage (just like me) that I just had to try. That was many years ago, but even to this day I love the feeling of competing and the weeks of preparation leading up to it - it gives my sad little life meaning knowing that I am working towards somebody else’s destruction.

What ranks and titles have you held? I am a black belt Muay Thai under Mike Miles. 1998 - WKA Canadian Golden Gloves Super heavyweight Kickboxing Title. 1997 - WKA Canadian Super middleweight Kickboxing Title. 1998 - WKA Canadian Golden Gloves Super middleweight Kickboxing Title. 1999 - WKA Intercontinental Light heavyweight Muay Thai Title. 1999 - IAMTF World Amateur Muay Thai Championships - Bronze Medal. 2000 - NAMTC North American Light heavyweight MuayThai Title. I am a brown belt in Brazilian Jiu-jitsu under Roy Harris and trained in BJJ by Brian Bird. Bronze medalist at the 2008 Fila world grappling championships, 2 bronze medals at the 2009 Fila world grappling championships.

Do you have any heroes? Don Campbell of the Real Estate Investment Network - he seems like a man with a lot of integrity and I have looked up to him for years. I have heard him speak many times and I don’t know why, but he puts me in a really good mood telling some very bad jokes.

What does it mean for you to fight in the UFC? For me to have the opportunity to fight in the UFC is validation that my years of hard work to get to this point have finally paid off - It has been an uphill battle for me to get here.

Did you go to college and if so what degree did you earn? I did do a few classes at university as an unclassified (part-time) student. I loved being in school and I did some chem/bio/psych classes. I think that after that experience though it is safe to say that I am a better off using my muscles rather than my brains. I’m pretty/not smart.

What was your job before you started fighting? I work at petrocanada pumping gas; they said that if I win this fight they will move me up to manager.