A minute with Josh Rafferty
By John Kiesewetter
Enquirer staff writer
Josh Rafferty
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After five years training in area gyms, the 1999 Harrison High School graduate is getting his big break to become “The Ultimate Fighter” (11 p.m. today, Spike TV).
The 23-year-old Colerain Township resident is one of 16 competing in mixed martial arts (boxing, wrestling, judo, Jiu-Jitsu, kickboxing, karate) in a reality TV series taped last fall at the Ultimate Fighting Championship complex in Las Vegas. In last Monday’s premiere, he threw up four times at the first workout.
I learned to fight: “Doing kickboxing at 14 with my older brother, Shawn, who had trained in the Marine Corps. He’s in Iraq now. My goal as a kid was I wanted to be on the U.S. Olympic judo team.”
I puked on national TV because: “I had eaten too much food, not because I was out of shape. I ate a lot of food the night before, and I had a big breakfast. It was the hardest workout I’d ever had, and I just threw up. So I quit eating before practice. I didn’t throw up again.”
In Vegas, I was homesick for: “Wild Mike’s chicken wings in Bridgetown.”
People want to see: “A guy going for submission, big slams, and kicks and punches. It’s an exciting sport. It’s not fake pro wrestling, or boring boxing. This is a legitimate sport with real athletes that’s kind of an off-shoot of wrestling and boxing.”
In my CD player are: “Velvet Revolver, Stevie Wonder and Motley Crue. I listen to a lot of different music.”
My worst job was: “When I was in high school, I sold peanuts during Cyclones (hockey) games at U.S. Bank Arena. I quit in a couple of weeks. Too much walking for me.”
When I came back from the seven-week TV taping, I told people: “I’ve been out in Las Vegas training. So I didn’t completely lie. I just left out the part about being on a reality TV show.”
I’ve got a secret: “I haven’t told anybody the results. Nobody knows. Shawn doesn’t even know. I’ve got to tape all of (the shows) for him. It’s horrible. He calls me when he can and we e-mail. I know he really wants to be here for me. We’ve kind of been on this journey together.”
Picture of the dude + original article here:
http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050124/LIFE/501240316
Four times? That is pretty impressive.
Somehow I found this short article much more interesting than the first show of Ultimate Fighter I saw. I missed the second but my interest lessens with each post I read about it.