You hear the stories of fighters coming out of The Ultimate Fighter house. While some are happy to achieved their goals and glad to have made it out the other side, they miss their family. They miss being able to interact with the world. However, that’s not the case with TUF 33 winner, Daniil Donchenko.
If you ask his what it was like in the house, he would tell you that it is his greatest dream.
“It was one of the best times in my life, you know. I was like happy like a kid,” Donchenko explained. “Every day I wake up, I order free food, I order whatever I want – breakfast – we train with big UFC superstars.”
And it wasn’t just that it was fun for him. He found that he learned some of his most important lessons and plenty of new techniques from coaches and fighters in the house.
“They bring many good fighters to the training for masterclass, for open training. I learned a lot of technique from the guys,” he said. “I learned some technique from Rose Namanunas, they bring in her, from Brandon Moreno, from Yair Rodriguez, you know, and it was just like a dream.”
The time was, in fact, so good for Donchenko, that he hopes someone can help him replicate that in the future when he’s in fight camp.
“I hope someone will lock me in the house for my next whole camp without phone, without nothing,” Donchenko said. “I will be just like in the house, just stay focused for my camp, for my fight and that’s it.”
However, pressed for some things he’d change about the house, he did have a couple of notes for the future.
“Maybe not that much people in the house,” he relented. “Maybe just one, my team, some girlfriend and that’s it.”
You can catch Daniil Donchenko’s first fight off of the show this weekend at UFC Vegas 113. His fight will air on the prelims on Paramount+, which begins at 5pm EST.
