Exclusive: Ricky Simón Talks Cracking Bantamweight Elite

Fresh off his dominant victory at UFC 234, Washington State’s Ricky Simón shares his thoughts on his performance and who he wants next.

Simón made the most of his pay-per-view debut at UFC 234 as he thoroughly dominated Rani Yahya with a clear unanimous decision nod.

Immediately after his fight, however, Simón was none too pleased by his performance. That’s because he is a notoriously hard critic of himself. However, now that he has had a couple of days to take it all in, has Simón changed his tune?

“I always feel like I’m my biggest critic,” Simón told LowkickMMA in a recent interview. “For some reason right after the fight, I could only think of everything I did wrong. One of my coaches, Ian Loveland, wasn’t able to make the trip out, but I could still hear him yelling at me during the fight anytime I would make a mistake.”

“But you know honestly I think I followed the gameplan to a tee. You know, I beat the No. 15 guy in the world so I can’t be too hard on myself,” Simón said.

Cracking the bantamweight elite should be a foregone conclusion for Simón. But as the 26-year-old points out the rankings are fairly unpredictable.

“I never know how the rankings work,” explained Simón. “I feel like Rani should have been ranked high himself. And I definitely want that number next to my name because once you get that a lot of things can change. Not just in the fight game either. As far as getting matched up, getting new contracts, more money, and more sponsorship.”

“I am excited to see the ranking come out and I should definitely have a number next to my name,” Simon concluded.

Shortly after speaking with Simón the UFC released their new updated rankings. Simón will be happy to know that he now has the number 14 next to his name. So now that he has cracked the bantamweight rankings what’s next for Simón?

He has a certain someone in mind.

“Someone I have my sights set on is Rob Font,” Simón told LowkickMMA. “I’m always looking at the rankings and I’m always trying to see the next step and who has what match ups. I feel like that is a great, great fight.”

He continued, “It would be an entertaining fight and it would push me into the top 10. I wanted to break that top ten in 2019 and I’m already on the right track.”

As for what’s in the immediate future for Simón, a wedding. The bantamweight contender is planning a wedding in June, but keeping true to form, Simón would like to get one more fight in before the big day.