He came in undefeated at 6-0 in his mixed martial arts career. But East Meadow native Joe Scarola admits that the world of reality television takes some getting used to.
"I watched it for the first time yesterday -- it just wasn't me in there," Scarola said after watching his fight on the first episode of SpikeTV's The Ultimate Fighter: Team Serra vs. Team Hughes. "Not just in the fight, but the show in general. I didn't have much time to adjust to the reality TV thing."
With the first pick in the show, Matt Serra being loyal to his student and friend, picked Scarola. Matt Hughes in turn, picked Scarola to meet his fighter, Mac Danzig, who carries an impressive resume that already features 20 MMA fights. Late in the first round, Danzig caught the Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt with a triangle choke, which made Scarola tap.
"Not to take anything away from Mac, because he's definitely a tough dude, but it just wasn't me. If you've seen me fight before, usually I'm aggressive and I go for it and this was more being defensive and surviving."
After the fight, Serra, his coach on and off the show, looked noticeably upset over the loss.
"He thought I was looking for a way out of the fight, that definitely wasn't the case," Scarola said of Serra. "Like I said before, I just wasn't in the fight to begin with. Man, I know how to defend a triangle, I'll come back from it....Reality TV is rough...Hopefully [UFC President] Dana [White] will give me another shot."