Canadian Randa Markos waited months for her opportunity to tryout for The Ultimate Fighter 20. Now it’s the rest of the world who waits, as the results are set to unfold with the popular reality series debuting Wednesday on Sportnset 360.
Fresh off her stint on the inaugural all-women’s strawweight season, Markos (4-1) has finally returned home.
“It’s great to be back,” Markos told Sportsnet. “TUF 20 was the toughest thing I’ve ever done. I’m so happy to be back and enjoying my life with my family and friends.”
When we spoke with Markos in April, the Windsor, Ont., native was weeks away from flying to Las Vegas for TUF 20 tryouts. She was well prepared, enlisting the help of UFC bantamweight Jessica Eye, whom she trained with leading up to the competition.
“I knew I was one of the top girls going into tryouts, I just had to take the long way there [in that] I wasn’t one of the top eight [initially picked],” Markos explained. “Training with Jessica was awesome and hearing what she thought of me was pretty cool. She told me ‘you’re definitely one of the best.’ Coming from her, that really gave me an ego boost and it made me feel so much better [heading into the competition].”
Watch The Ultimate Fighter 20: Team Pettis vs. Team Melendez every Wednesday at 10 p.m. EST on Sportsnet 360
Clearly her skills were up to par and she believed in herself, but that was only half the battle. Would her generally reserved personality translate well for the cameras?
“I thought I blew the interview part,” Markos said. “I totally walked out of there like, ‘OK if they liked me for my abilities, they’re definitely going to [eliminate me] for my interview.’ I was at home waiting, waiting and waiting. I wasn’t sure what was going to happen.”
Her hard work did pay off and Markos got the phone call of a lifetime. The UFC told her she had made the group of 16 women competing on TUF 20.
“It was amazing,” Markos recalled with excitement “I didn’t have much time to celebrate or anything but I was just so happy. A lot of people like my husband kept saying he knew I was going to make the show, but you never know what [the UFC] is looking for. [I hit] one of my goals making the show. Then felt I needed another goal and that was to do well on the show.”
Competing on the show was a stark contrast to her everyday life in Windsor. Working as a full-time pharmacy technician to pay the bills, Markos was accustomed to training MMA with a limited time frame. On the show, she was able to concentrate fully on training and enjoy some rare downtime.
“That was one of the awesome things about the show. I got to actually put 100 percent into training and just focusing on fighting,” Markos said. “Other than that, we just played cards. I actually got to make some friends in the house. I got to enjoy sunbathing, just the little things that I never got to enjoy at home.”
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As we’ve witnessed in past seasons, the competition itself can be very gruelling for the competitors. Fighting, cutting weight frequently and being away from home can certainly take both a mental and physical toll. However, the 29-year-old revealed the toughest aspect was actually living with the contestants in the TUF house.
“The most challenging part was living with the girls,” Markos said. “[Prior to the show] I never really made too many friends that were girls; I wasn’t really a girly-girl. All my friends were guys at my gym. Honestly I didn’t really [research] any of the girls because I felt like I was one of the best girls there. Being with them, felt like I was supposed to be there.”
Another challenge for some competitors is having cameras follow you around 24 hours a day. On TUF 2, heavyweight Eli Joslin left the show because he couldn’t handle the camera environment in the house. For Markos, it was a gradual process getting comfortable with them.
“At first it was really hard getting used to the cameras, they were constantly in your face. There were cameras in the bathroom, in the bedroom, there were hidden cameras everywhere. It was really tough getting used to that. But after a while you just ignore it. It was hard having conversations and the camera crew would sneak up on you. You get used to it.”
Markos admits it’s been difficult keeping the results of a show a secret, but it she isn’t nervous about seeing herself on TV. While some competitors may feel anxious with the debut episode premiering next week, Markos is the complete opposite.
“I’m more excited than nervous. I was just myself so I can’t take anything back. I’ve just got to sit back and watch. Hopefully everybody likes the way I represented myself and hope people like what’s going to happen on the show.”
With the last season of TUF pulling in poor ratings in the United States and with this season being the first all-women’s competition, there’s no doubt the contestants felt the pressure to perform. Markos believes fans won’t be disappointed.
“People are expecting the best of us because we are the best. We’ve all been around for a long time. I definitely think people are going to be shocked about women’s MMA after they see this show. There is so much talent in that house, you are going to see a lot of amazing fights and some great athletes show their skills. “