MMAWeekly.com has an interview with “The Athlete” as he readies himself to take on Yushin Okami at UFC 77.

On the UFC middleweight division:

“The way the middleweight division stands right now, there just aren’t a lot of contenders. I definitely consider myself one of the contenders. I do have a loss to Rich Franklin back in March and I learned a lot from that loss. I came back with a win over [Rory] Singer. I’m looking to get in there and get another big win over Okami and put myself back in a position where I maybe get a shot at the title sometime this year.”

On his loss to Franklin:

“I was very disappointed in my performance against Rich and I’m definitely looking to come back to Ohio and break the curse and put on a great show for the fans of Ohio.”

On his fight with Okami:

“I’m not sure that he can fight at the pace that I’m going to push in these first two rounds … at least I’m hoping that he’s not going to be able to fight at that pace. If he is, then we’ve got a fight on our hands, but if he can’t then I see me just wearing him out and taking him to the deep end and then making him make a mistake … and then I’ll be ready to capitalize on it.”

The full interview can be read here.

Thanks to MMAWeekly.com