Tim Elliott entered the UFC Ultimate Fighter 24 as the Titan Fighting Championships Flyweight Champion, he left the winner of the reality show and with a shot at the UFC Flyweight Title.
Elliott lost that title shot to Demetrious Johnson, but while he hated losing that title shot, he may have hated the reality show even more.
“At the time, I was miserable,” Elliott said on The MMA Circus. “I was hungry the whole time. I left a house where I had a wife and a kid and started living with 16 guys who don’t clean up after themselves, don’t flush the toilet. It was a culture shock. If I would have been a 22-year-old kid fresh out of college, it would’ve been awesome; it would’ve been like a vacation. But I hated it. I hated every second of it. Being away from my kid. I’m a stay-at-home dad; I cook, clean and change diapers. It was the hardest thing that I’ve ever done.”
The TUF 24 champion will be taking on Louis Smolka this coming April at UFC On Fox 24. Dislike of the reality show aside, Elliott was able to find some positives to being a part of the show.
“A lot of positives came from it,” he said. “Even being away from my kid, I would rather go and give it a try, and even if I failed, that’s the kind of stuff I want her to do. If you want something, you gotta go out there and give it a shot, even if you don’t make it. You’ll never know if you don’t try. So that’s something I’ll have forever, and she’ll be able to share that. I met some cool people. The people that work on the show were amazing. All the guys that fought, I thought, were really stand-up guys and really solid guys, so in that sense, it was a really, really positive experience.”
UFC On Fox 24 takes place on Saturday, April 15 from the Sprint Center in Kansas City, Missouri with Rose Namajunas and Michelle Waterson headlining.
