Author: By Jordan Newmark

The following is shameless hype about Matt Mitrione. This is an unabashed article hyping up the fastest rising name of the UFC heavyweight division that’s not Junior dos Santos. The hype machine is revving at full throttle as the undefeated prospect is set to do battle in the Octagon for the fifth time at UFC Live on June 26th in Pittsburgh, PA. To a lesser extent, the hype will also include his opponent, the 6’6” and 260 plus pounds Christian Morecraft, arguably Mitrione’s toughest test to date.

And the first person who would ask “why is there all this hype” would be Mitrione.

“I really am quite possibly the most over hyped fighter in the UFC to date,” says Mitrione. “Especially at heavyweight. I have so much attention around me and I don’t know what it’s from. I don’t know if it’s because I’ve won a couple of fights and I’ve improved in each one. Is it The Ultimate Fighter or beating Kimbo Slice? I don’t know what it is.”

The answer is simply: all of the above. While appearing on the tenth season of TUF, the 32 year old former NFL defensive tackle was one of the most memorable fighters in the house for good and bad reasons. Mitrione more or less feigned mental illness, almost came to blows with teammate Jon Madsen, and put on one of the better fights that season in the standup duel with Scott Junk. Since TUF, he has won 3 fights by knockout and scored a unanimous decision victory over Joey Beltran that was awarded “Fight of the Night”.

In short, he has quickly become a UFC star because of three reasons. First, the heavyweight division generally garners more attention than the other weight classes. Second, he has a fan friendly fighting style of trading fists and feet until he gets the knockout. Third, Mitrione comes across as a likable, genuine and funny guy in his interviews and on his active Twitter account. The question is, what does Mitrione do with all this unexpected press?

“It’s motivation,” explains Mitrione. “It’s ‘you have to go out there and earn this attention, boy.’ You have to go out there and earn your money and go out and chase your nickel down. I’m excited to do that. It’s fun to me. I don’t mind hype. As long as I perform to it and live up to it then I deserve it. Today that’s okay. But once you stop performing to that level or the attention of that level then that’s when you start to drown.”

The Purdue University alum’s next challenger to prove himself against is the 7-1 Morecraft. “I think he’s pretty convinced he’s pretty strong and I think he’s pretty convinced he’s pretty good,” said Mitrione, who believes his young opponent may be buying his own hype after the guillotine choke win over Mitrione’s friend and training partner Sean McCorkle in March. “I think the fun part of the fight is when my fists start touching his chin or once my shin starts to touch him and we’ll see how he reacts: if he becomes aggressive or he shells up. If he becomes aggressive then he is going to rush me and try to put his hands on me and that’s cool because he’s going to be headbutting my fist or shin. If he shells up then that means I’m going to tee off on him.”

In preparation for this bout, Mitrione has added a new weapon to his arsenal: catch-wrestling. For the past six weeks, Mitrione has been working at Xtreme Couture in Las Vegas, NV with Randy Couture’s revered coach Neil Melanson. The idea to do this started after a workout with Couture during a visit of his to Mitrione’s hometown of Indianapolis. It was then that “The Natural” made an observation about Mitrione’s ground game that planted the seed for this to come to fruition.

“We worked with each other in Indy one day, he made a point that I wasn’t trying to get back to my feet as he thought I would,” tells Mitrione. “I would go for submissions, but I wasn’t trying to get to my feet enough. It started to resonate with me a little bit. I have never wrestled a day in my life. I train a lot of jiu-jitsu, so if I get taken down I can be in better shape and protect myself. I got too comfortable working jiu-jitsu and wasn’t trying to get back to my feet at all. I went back and watched my fights and the only rounds I’ve lost are ones when I was on my back. Even though I was being offensive off my back going for triangles or armbars or sweeps, I’m still losing. So, I turned my attention towards wrestling and started looking at what Randy does: catch-wrestling.”

Despite the focus on his ground habits, Mitrione has sharpened his striking skills. Throwing hands comes naturally to the 6’3” heavyweight, but he has had several renowned coaches help him in the process. A lot of credit for tailoring Mitrione’s standup style goes to Duke Roufus from the time the two spent together before Mitrione’s first couple UFC fights. Then he keeps his standup crisp with the help of friend and UFC welterweight Chris Lytle when he is at home in Indiana. And recently, Mitrione has been working with Ray “Sugarfoot” Sefo at Xtreme Couture as well as sparring with McCorkle and Miguel Torres‘ prospect Anthony Gomez.

On top of his striking acumen, Mitrione’s greatest attribute while standing is his almost unseemly reach advantage.

“I live off of my reach. I know that my striking range is 4 or 5 inches farther than everyone else’s for the most part. I capitalize on that. I make sure that I can touch your chin, but it’s going to be a real stretch for you to get mine. I make sure even if you do get my chin you’re going to put yourself out of position. There are times when depending on who I’m working with where I’m willing to eat one of yours to drop off two or three of mine. Usually, that has paid off for me.”

On June 26th at the Consol Energy Center in Pittsburgh, Mitrione and Morecraft will collide in the Octagon to see what truth there is to all this hype. “I feel like I know as a professional athlete what it takes to prepare and what it takes to win,” asserts Mitrione, who will look to batter his foe with superior striking speed and power on his way to his fifth “W” in the cage. “I try to live it and I try to make sure it happens. As a result, if I get attention that’s cool, but as long as I win and win the way I want to, then everything is gravy.”

And as long as he keeps winning in the UFC, Mitrione is making the hype the reality, and there is no shame in that.

Everyone loves a comeback. Everyone loves the harrowing come from behind victory with only a few fleeting moments remaining. Historical matches like Louden Swain down by 4 points with only 27 seconds left staring down the seemingly unstoppable Brian Shute in “Vision Quest”. (Spoiler alert) It’s the drama of seeing Swain, with no time on the clock and all the odds against him, get the reversal, the takedown and the pin. And the crowd goes wild.

In Seattle at UFC Fight Night 24, two lightweights came close to matching that exciting finish. Waylon Lowe played the role of the muscular Shute, who was way up on the scorecards. Playing the hero, Swain, and the eventual victor was Nik “The Carny” Lentz. With time expiring and down two rounds, Lentz grabbed a guillotine choke, pulled guard and got the tap out at 2:24 of the third. And then UFC President Dana White tweeted, “Lentz vs. Lowe was a SICK fight!!! Seattle is going crazy.”

“I’m pretty self-aware, I knew that I was losing,” said Lentz when about what he was thinking entering that last round. “It was pretty obvious I lost the first round. In the second round, he had taken me down and didn’t do much, but judges score real heavily on the takedown. I knew that I was behind. Greg Nelson, my coach, is always very truthful with me and said, ‘hey, we need to get it done this round.’ So, I went out there and tried to push the pace. I tried to get him into a brawl and I knew that if I got this into a brawl, I was hurting him and he would shoot and that’s what happened.”

Two things worked in the 26 year old’s favor in those final five minutes: Lowe was getting tired and Lentz’s belief in himself as a finisher. “I knew I was behind, but at the end of the second I got the takedown on him and I felt he kind of sighed.” Lentz knew that he was getting to the bigger Lowe and would look to push him even harder in the next round. “I knew if I could put the pressure on him in the third that I could finish him. I don’t know if this is right or not, but if there are 10 seconds left in a fight I still think I can win it. When I’m in there I always think I can win.”

That type of unflinching confidence the Minnesota Martial Arts Academy prospect has should really come as no surprise. But there is a striking difference between Swain from “Vision Quest” and “The Carny”: Lentz is a proven winner. With an overall record of 23-3-2, Lentz hasn’t tasted defeat in four years, least of all inside the Octagon. In the shark infested waters of the UFC’s 155-pound division, “The Carny” is 5-0-1 and, currently, riding a four fight win streak. Lentz might have more in common with Shute nowadays as the hard working consummate victor.

“I feel like I’m going in the right way in the division. You just have to keep winning and beating the people they put in front of you. Truthfully, everyone in the 155-pound division in the UFC is insanely talented and insanely good. The fact that I’ve been able to win all my fights is good. I’m very proud of it and I’m very happy. As far as when I get to fight the bigger names doesn’t matter to me because in the long run of things whether it is six months or a year or even two years, if I’m fighting for a title by then, then that’s good for me. I would be very happy with that.”

The next challenger for “The Carny” is Brazil’s Charles Oliveira at UFC Live on June 26th in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. “He’s aggressive, he’s talented and he’s so young that to have made it this far is impressive,” says Lentz of the 21 year old Oliveira, who was an undefeated 14-0 until his loss to Jim Miller in December. “His jiu-jitsu is really good, there’s no doubt about it. But at the same time, I don’t think he’s better than me at anything. As far as his talent goes, I don’t think he’s better on the ground than me, I don’t think he’s better standing than me, and I don’t think he’s better off his back than me.”

Oliveira gained a name for himself quickly in the UFC with back-to-back “Submission of the Night” wins over Darren Elkins and TUF winner Efrain Escudero. “I think he’s done a lot and he should be commended for doing so well and being so young, but when he fights me I’m going to expose him,” asserts Lentz, who knows how dangerous Oliveira can be, but isn’t worried because he’s faced tough competition before. “Overall, I think I have a lot more experience, I have fought a lot tougher people and I have been in more wars than he has. That’s going to be one of the reasons I will win the fight.”

Another key to “The Carny” staying unbeaten in the Octagon is using Oliveira’s greatest strength against him: his jiu-jitsu. “He can be aggressive because he is fearless of the takedown.” Lentz explains that Oliveira’s over-confidence about his own ground game was his undoing when Miller took him down and kneebarred him at UFC 124. “That attitude backfired in his fight against Jim Miller. That’s how Jim Miller beat him. He’s so aggressive that he gets taken down and he doesn’t care, but these aren’t the days where you can just fight off your back anymore – people are too good.”

On June 26th, Lentz will look to continue his march through the UFC’s toughest division against rising star Oliveira. “Anytime I can make the fight into a very gritty and hard type fight I’m going to be the one who comes out on top.” And he isn’t looking for another pretty comeback victory, but is looking to give Oliveira his first real war in the Octagon. “I’m tough and I’m always in excellent condition. I take my training very seriously and I diet perfectly. I do all the stuff that is needed, so when it comes down to the conditioning battle or the ‘who is tougher’ battle – you can’t win that against me. It isn’t possible.”

And the crowd goes wild.

Ed. Note – Following the withdrawal of TJ Grant and then Nate Marquardt, Brenneman will now face Rick Story at UFC Live on Sunday.

Fear the hair. The most famous follicles in the UFC may belong to the whirling, early Metallica-esque locks of lightweight Clay Guida. But there is a 13-2 mane at welterweight that is making headlines after its dominating unanimous decision win over Brazil’s Amilcar Alves in January. The man who commands that head of hair is Pennsylvania’s own Charlie “The Spaniard” Brenneman.

Sadly, “The War of the Wool” between Guida and Brenneman will most likely not take place because they are in separate weight classes. That will not save fellow 170 pounder TJ Grant from Brenneman’s curls or his takedowns as the two will clash at UFC Live in Pittsburgh, on June 26th.

The pride of Hollidaysburg, put on a wrestling clinic in his last Octagon outing at UFC Fight for the Troops 2 against submission specialist Alves. “It pretty much went exactly how I had planned for it to go,” says Brenneman, who scored takedowns almost at will for all three rounds and limited most of Alves’ offense to elbows from the bottom. “I was able to dominate him with my wrestling and positioning. With that being said, I would have liked to have opened up more. I respected his ground game a good bit and that kept me a little more cautious than I would have preferred, but at the end of the day I was happy with the performance.”

The former Lock Haven University wrestler kept relentless pressure on his opponent and even escalated his attack as the fight drew on. “I definitely did push the pace at the end, as I could feel him getting tired,” he explains, and he dealt most of his damage in the final minutes of the third round, clearly showing that he was the fresher fighter. “I know that those last three minutes of the fight I’m going to be just as strong as the first. That was part of the gameplan, and part of my personal mission. Had I pushed the pace earlier maybe I could have gotten the finish, but I really didn’t start to feel him fade until late in the third round.”

The person the least bit surprised in his ability to manhandle a judo black belt like Alves for 15 minutes is Brenneman himself. “One of the things I will proclaim, and pretty boldly, is that I think I have some of the best wrestling for MMA out of anybody,” asserts “The Spaniard”, which is a big claim considering how many fantastic wrestlers there are in the UFC. “Whether they were a national champ or whether they’re weren’t. Straight wrestling is one thing, but wrestling for fighting is a completely different thing. Fortunately for me, one, I have been naturally pretty good at it, and two, I have worked really hard on putting the punches, kicks and takedowns all together.”

Brenneman believes his success lies in his ability to combine facets from his old sport, wrestling, into his new one: MMA. “The important thing is to have the attributes of wrestling and transfer them over to fighting like scrambling,” he said, clarifying that some of these attributes are unteachable and come from a fighter’s heart. “Having good hips helps with scrambling. But one of the biggest things from wrestling is endurance. Being able to push the pace is something wrestlers are ingrained with from the time when we’re six, seven, eight years old, and it’s just a mindset and we can carry that mindset over.”

The 30 year old is now 2-1 in the UFC and running high on confidence as he aims to put his skills to the test against the Canadian Grant. With an overall record of 16-5, Grant has seesawed back and forth with wins and losses during his two years in the UFC. Generally, Grant is seen as a submission ace, with 12 of his 16 wins by sub, but the highlight of Grant’s time in the Octagon is a late first round “Knockout of the Night” over Kevin Burns at UFC 107.

“It’s an extremely tough fight,” he says. “If you asked me where I think he is best at, I would say off his back. He’s got a very slick submission game. He has plenty of submissions on his resume, but that being said he’s also very dangerous in his standup. If you watch him in the Johny Hendricks fight, he is on point and looks great. He presents a danger in every area, but I truly feel that if I’m able to work my game then I don’t think he’s going to have an answer for it.”

Besides Brenneman’s usual level of excitement prior to a fight, he should be treated to a local hero’s welcome from the UFC faithful. “I’m the only guy from Pennsylvania on the card, so I’m hoping by default I’ll be their favorite fighter,” remarks Brenneman, who wasn’t originally scheduled to be on the card. Instead, he is stepping in for the injured Matt Riddle. “I was hoping every day to get onto this Pittsburgh card. Actually, the day I found out that I was on this card was the lowest day I’ve had mentally because I finally accepted that I would not be on that card. My manager called and said he thought he could get me on the card and I said ‘yes’ and afterward I was like ‘who am I fighting?’”

Even though the fight is on short notice, Brenneman trains full-time with the renowned AMA Fight Club of Whippany, NJ. “I take a day or two off a week, but I train like it’s my full-time job,” explains Brenneman, who was preparing himself with the UFC’s Miller brothers under the watchful eye of coach Mike Constantino as if he already had a bout scheduled. “I always keep myself ready like I’m 2-3 weeks out from competition. For a lot of people they look at this fight and say six weeks is short notice, but to me it’s perfect. I was definitely getting ready and honing my skills, getting bigger, faster, stronger.”

On June 26th at UFC Live in front of the black and yellow wearing Pittsburgh fans, “The Spaniard” will look to use his superior wrestling to wear Grant out with constant pressure and his unfettered endurance. “I want the people in the crowd to leave there thinking win, lose, or draw that I’m one tough SOB,” affirms Brenneman, who is champing at the bit to put it all on the line for his homestate fans and hoping to make new ones in the process. “That’s what I strive for, that’s what I train for, that’s what I fight for. I want people to respect me for what I do.”

In the end, don’t let the hair fool you, as there’s a fighter under there. You’ve been warned, Grant. Fear the hair.

Welcome to the year of “The Diamond”.

On New Year’s Day at UFC 125, the newly christened UFC featherweight championship belt was to be defended for the very first time by title holder Jose Aldo against challenger Josh Grispi. But Aldo was forced to withdraw due to injury, only to be replaced by a UFC newcomer whose debut performance sparkled so brightly that one could have mistaken him for the champion. That featherweight is Dustin “The Diamond” Poirier and, so far, 2011 is his year to shine.

At UFC 131 in Vancouver, Canada, Poirier will be looking to make the second half of this year just as memorable as the first with a win over Jason “Shotgun” Young. In what many, including Poirier, expect to be a savage strikers’ duel, he wants to finish the British kickboxer standing in dazzling fashion. It would be a perfect cap to what has already been a life altering six months.

Poirier, 22, made his UFC presence known with the utmost authority by dominating the former number one contender, Grispi, in a three round unanimous decision victory at UFC 125. Not only was it his UFC debut, but it was also Poirier’s first time fighting at 145 pounds. Only on a month’s notice, he jumped at the chance, knowing what a big win like this would mean for his career.

“It was an opportunity of a lifetime when I got the call,” he said. “When I first got the fight, all that stuff went through my head, but as it got closer to the fight, about two weeks out, I pushed all that stuff out of my head. I can’t let myself get overwhelmed with those thoughts that this guy is one of the best guys in the division. But really he is just another guy, just another fighter with a skillset that I have. He’s just another opponent. I don’t let myself get overwhelmed by his rank or who he is. I just train hard and take every fight seriously.”

Prior to the Grispi fight, Poirier scored a lightning fast 53 second TKO of Zack Micklewright last November, elevating his record to 1-1 in the WEC’s lightweight division. “The weight cut was tough, especially on a month’s notice, but I kind of planned on going to featherweight anyway and this was a real reason to do it,” explains Poirier of why he decided to drop the 10 pounds after fighting his entire pro career at 155. “I fought some really good wrestlers and big 155ers in other leagues, but in the UFC these 155ers are so strong and so good I really just thought that for me, 145 is the place to be. I felt a lot better at 145.”

The switch in weight classes appeared to be a flawless gamble for the native of Lafayette, Louisiana, but Poirier sees some discoloration in his diamond of a performance. “I was getting super excited in there, so my technique was getting sloppy and I’m a better fighter than that,” admits Poirier, declaring that his emotions got the best of him when his shots started landing, which prevented him from getting the finish. “I thought I hurt him and I tried to finish him. If I had stayed technical, thrown punches down the middle, turned my hips and used my power that I have, I probably could have finished the fight. If he had thrown a few crisp counter punches he could have caught me because my hands were down.”

The win over Grispi propelled “The Diamond” into the limelight of the UFC. Meanwhile, Poirier’s stardom was only just beginning. In February, the trailer for a documentary entitled “Fightville” stormed the internet as the movie was accepted into the prestigious South by Southwest Film Festival. The film is about the local MMA fight scene in Louisiana, and focuses on a particular gym, the Gladiators Academy, which Poirier trains at and is owned / operated by UFC middleweight Tim Credeur.

“It’s about the fight scene in Louisiana, it’s about Tim, it’s about my rise, it’s about Tim’s gym. It shows people the hard work it takes to do this. This isn’t a hobby. This is a tough lifestyle to make it in. It educates people on mixed martial arts and shows who we are. We’re normal people with families and we’re not just crazy guys drinking beers and slugging fights on the weekends. We’re guys who take a spiritual approach on this and it’s very tedious and takes a lot more training than people would think.”

The key relationship in the movie is that of coach and friend, Credeur, and the gym’s star pupil, Poirier. Imagine Credeur as Obi Wan Kenobi and Poirier as Luke Skywalker, only Cajun. As Poirier trained for his June 11th fight versus Young, Credeur was training for his June 4th fight with Ed Herman. With the added incentive of back-to-back fights, the now famed rough, blue collar fighters of Gladiators Academy were working overtime at a fevered pitch in this unique circumstance.

“It’s a great opportunity to have my coach training for a fight as I’m training for a fight. It’s almost like we’re going into battle together. He’s a great coach. He knows so much. He’s been in the game for a long time. He’s traveled a lot. He’s trained with and fought great mixed martial artists in his career. He’s a great friend. He’s the reason why I can stay in Lafayette, Louisiana and not have to move somewhere else. He built a camp where we have great guys, great wrestlers, great kickboxers, great boxers. I have all that I need. He definitely helped me get to where I am in fighting.”

Now, Poirier sets his sights on a probable standup shootout with the 8-3 “Shotgun”.

“To fight a guy who is going to walk forward and throw punches and want to have a fight the way I want to have a fight is great,” says Poirier, whose excitement is palpable for the looming exchange of fists and feet with a striker from across the pond. “I’m fighting a guy from across the world. I’m from Louisiana and I’m not just fighting guys from Texas and Mississippi. From now on, I’m going to be beating up the best guys from all over the world with different disciplines from different training academies and different schools.”

On June 11th in Vancouver, Canada at UFC 131, he wants to solidify his place in the UFC’s featherweight division with a highlight reel victory over the debuting Young. “I don’t go in there and try to point punch the rounds or outwrestle you for points to win rounds – I go in there to fight,” asserts Poirier who has finishes, standing and on the ground, in all but one of his nine wins. “I’m walking forward from bell to bell trying to finish you. In this next fight, don’t blink. I don’t expect this is going to go to a decision; this fight is going to get finished.”

And with a win over Young this weekend, “The Diamond’s” future in the UFC is a bright one.

Anytime, anyplace, and, most importantly, the “Cowboy” will fight anyone. Whether it is a champion, a former winner of The Ultimate Fighter or a promotional newcomer, it doesn’t make a difference to Donald Cerrone. All challengers will be welcomed with the same in cage fury from the man sporting the black ten gallon hat. It’s this attitude that has made him a fan favorite and what will propel him into his showdown with Vagner Rocha at UFC 131.

On the long list of WEC fighters who transferred to the UFC because of last year’s merger, only a select few names topped Cerrone’s in anticipation of an Octagon debut. Cerrone was a perennial top contender in the WEC’s lightweight division, as well as, arguably, its most exciting fighter, with five “Fight of the Night” awards to prove it. That first trip to the UFC cage came quicker than anticipated though, as Cerrone was called to replace an injured Sam Stout less than a month out from his last WEC fight.

“My grandpa was real sick in the hospital. I was just sitting in the hospital with him and they called and asked me if I would take the fight. It didn’t matter who I was going to fight. They asked me if I wanted to fight and I said ‘hell yeah’. It didn’t matter who.”

A month later, he made his debut at UFC 126 against hard-hitting Brit Paul Kelly. “I really didn’t know who Paul Kelly was, but I was just excited to get in there to fight,” admits the 28 year old, who found out the name of his opponent after agreeing to the bout. Once he found out what Kelly’s fighting style was like, the news elicited another patented Cerrone response. “I found out he was a striker and I was like ‘hell yeah.’”

The fight itself was classic action from the “Cowboy.” The first round was high excitement with sharp stand-up from both competitors and some solid ground work by Cerrone. At the end of the round, Cerrone scored a second takedown and scored with effective ground and pound, including elbows that opened a cut by Kelly’s right eye.

The second round started with more crowd pleasing striking until Kelly made the mistake of dropping to the ground for a guillotine choke. From there, Cerrone took over until he secured the fight-ending rear naked choke, earning “Fight of the Night” in the process.

“It felt good coming out there and submitting the guy. That’s what I train everyday for, to be good at that. If the opportunity to finish a guy is there I’m going to take it. He’s a good striker, he’s a veteran in there, so of course the first round is going to be tough. But I felt good in there. I was happy with the win and I’m ready to go in there and do it again.”

The now 14-3, 1 NC Cerrone was booked again only a handful of weeks later for his second Octagon battle. The time and place were and still are June 11th at UFC 131 in Vancouver, BC, Canada. But the opponent has changed from TUF season 6 winner Mac Danzig to the debuting Brazilian Rocha. Before pulling out of the fight due to a training injury, Danzig did start a war of words that Cerrone has no intention of letting die down.

“I wasn’t surprised he faked the injury and pulled out of the fight because that is what happens when you talk [expletive] and can’t back it up. I was very motivated for that fight. I was getting ready to go in there and show Mac why I belong in the UFC. But just because Mac pulled out doesn’t mean I’m not coming for him. He’s still going to get his ass kicked. If he wants to talk [expletive] then he’s going to get his ass kicked. That fight will happen. If he wants to make fun of me because I wear a cowboy hat then he can go do that. I will kick his ass with or without the hat. The hat don’t matter.”

The new opponent for UFC 131 is the Pablo Popovitch BJJ black belt Rocha. At 6-1, Rocha will be making the leap from small shows to the big stage of a UFC Pay-Per-View card against a revered competitor in Cerrone. It’s a transition Cerrone made easily because of the extended time he spent near the top of the mountain in the WEC. “I’m glad that I went into the WEC and I wish they kept it because that transition is necessary. I don’t think a guy can go from ‘Backyard Bob’s Fight Series 10’ right into the UFC.”

Regardless, Cerrone will not make Rocha’s transition any easier because he’s simply looking for a fight. “I haven’t watched any video on him and I haven’t watched any tape on him – I don’t care,” asserts Cerrone, who is clearly not too affected by the change in opponent or a loss of a gameplan. “I’m going in there to fight him like I’m going in there to fight anyone else. It’s just a name for an opponent to me. I’m just going in there and doing what I do.”

To prepare for this bout, Cerrone trained with the usual cavalcade of renowned fighters at Jackson’s MMA in Albuquerque, New Mexico. On top of that, “The Cowboy” also trains at his 10 acre ranch called “TapOut Ranch,” where young fighters can stay for a period of time to see what it is like to train with world class fighters. The young fighters also get the chance to hang out with Cerrone and pick his brain.

“I figured now that I’ve made it, why not open up my own facility? Let people come to me, ask questions and let me be the frontrunner to show them the way and teach them what I do and what I’ve gone through to get it. I’m taking out all the BS. These are a great group of guys and we’re all training for the same thing and we’re all looking to go to the same places. They can come down here and I’ll answer all their questions about management or any question they have about the sport. Hopefully, I can answer it or I can help you through it.”

Another fighter involved in this side project of training and helping up-and-coming fighters is UFC featherweight Leonard Garcia. “As a friend, he’s like my brother, we do everything together,” declares Cerrone of his Team Jackson teammate.

On June 11th at UFC 131, “The Cowboy” wants to deliver another full-tilt fist fight for the crowd to scream at no matter who the opponent is. “I hope he doesn’t come wanting to make this a jiu-jitsu match,” grumbles Cerrone, who desperately wants Rocha to be ready for an all-out war with knuckles, feet and blood. “Don’t come and try to pull guard. I don’t want to have a boring fight and disappoint anybody. So come ready to throw down.”

Yves Edwards isn’t scared of Sam Stout. Actually, Edwards isn’t afraid of any 155-pound fighter the UFC has on their ultra competitive roster. He’s a seasoned veteran with almost 60 professional MMA fights under his belt, and has stood toe-to-toe in combat with competitors from nearly every inch of this planet and not batted an eye. Edwards isn’t frightened or startled or intimidated by any lightweight opponent the UFC throws into the Octagon with him.

Unless that opponent is on fire or a zombie.

The 34 year old native of the Bahamas fully admits he is spooked by two things: fire and zombies. “I really believe zombies are a realistic possibility,” states Edwards, who has a surprisingly rational origin story for zombies and an outbreak of it in our lifetime. “Patient zero will start out of someone’s gym. A guy has their dog in the gym, the dog gets a staph infection, the dog gets bit with rabies, some type of cross breeding with the staph and rabies happens and then the dog bites the person because the dog goes crazy. The person goes to the hospital and this crazy strain of staph/rabies turns them into a zombie and it all started right there in somebody’s gym.”

This is clearly a disconcerting theory for the American Top Team lightweight, considering he is a professional athlete who trains in several fight gyms all around the nation. Edwards is currently knee deep into his 14th year in MMA and has secured back-to-back wins since his return to the UFC last September. Even with all of this fight experience including a distinguished 40-16-1 overall record, Edwards knows his patented brand of “thugjitsu” is no match for the walking dead.

“You can’t armbar a zombie. You try to armbar a zombie and it will bite you on the leg. You can’t do jiu-jitsu with a zombie. Kickboxing might help a bit. At the same time, I’m a ‘germaphobe’. I’m afraid I’ll get scratched and infected. I could kick the zombie in the head and his head explodes and I’ll get zombie juice on me and I get infected because I have a scrape somewhere. It’s kind of scary.”

Luckily for Edwards, at UFC 131 in Vancouver, Canada he will not be squaring off against a brain hungry zombie. Instead, Edwards will face the equally menacing “Hands of Stone” Stout. With his 17-6-1 record, the kickboxer turned MMA fighter has been a fixture of the UFC’s ever expanding lightweight division for the past five years. The most impressive stat of Stout’s Octagon career is him receiving four “Fight of the Night” awards.

“That tells me he is always in it. It tells me there is never a second where he is not prepared to fight, not ready to fight and not trying to win. Look at the guys he’s fought. Spencer Fisher, Jeremy Stephens, Matt Wiman, Joe Lauzon, Rich Clementi are all tough guys who go in there and are ready to throw down. Then you watch the fights and every minute he is in it to win it. Even the fights he is obviously down on the scorecards, he’s still fighting his ass off come the third round. He fights the third round like he fights the first round. He’s always there, he’s always dangerous.”

Stout’s main weapon is his standup, which has been honed by famed striking coach Shawn Tompkins. But the two attributes that keep Stout alive and well in these cage wars lie elsewhere. “The kid has a great chin and he’s got great conditioning,” Edwards explains, noting that Stout’s head and gas tank could be made of stone as well as his hands. “But with a guy like Sam Stout who can always push the pace, the most important thing to train is conditioning. His skills are solid, his kickboxing is solid and I’m sure he hits hard, but he’s got a great chin, he doesn’t get discouraged and he has great conditioning.”

For the past year, Edwards has been sharpening his thugjitsu skills and working on his gas tank in sunny Southern California. “I’ve been doing a lot of work on my conditioning at the Body Shop in LA with Antonio McKee and the guys down there,” says Edwards, who jokes that some of the younger fighters have said they used to watch him fight when they were in high school. After all these years, Edwards believes he is still developing as a better fighter. “There was a spot where I think my game didn’t evolve much, but in the past year or two years it has evolved again and I’m starting to get back to shooting for the front of that curve.”

It isn’t a wholly new Edwards, just a better version of him and on that is even more confident. Edwards made his Octagon return in front of a hometown crowd at UFC Fight Night 22 in Austin, Texas where he scored a solid unanimous decision victory over John Gunderson. Edwards followed this up with a second round rear naked choke win against TUF alum Cody McKenzie, which earned Edwards both a “Submission of the Night” and a “Fight of the Night” bonus. For the third time in less than a year, Edwards will be entering the cage and this time it is against a challenger who is always a potential “Fight of the Night”.

“It definitely gets you more pumped. You do this because you love the competition. I love to get paid and the money is great, and the fame I could do without because that means nothing to me. But to fight a guy like that is exciting. It kind of makes your mouth water. I seriously have been watching his tapes and watching his fights and I start giggling to myself that this is going to be so much fun. I’m really excited about it. It’s going to be one of those things. I know he is going to bring all his toys to the sandbox and he’s going to be looking to play with them and I’m bringing all my toys too, so it is going to be a good time.”

On June 11th at Rogers Arena, Edwards’ thugjitsu will clash with Stout’s “Hands of Stone”. Almost a decade and a half in MMA, Edwards is more psyched than ever about fighting tooth and nail with best competition the world has to offer in arguably the toughest division. “The way the game is right now it is freaking fantastic, and being a part of it is like living in a movie.”

As long as it isn’t a zombie movie, Edwards should be ok.