Wednesday, February 3, 2010

By Isaac Kuhlman

(This is a transcribed interview with WEC's former featherweight champion, Mike Brown, talking about the signing of his next fight with Manny Gamburyan.)

Q: Hey Mike. It was just announced that you signed to fight Manny Gamburyan.

Brown: Yeah. They announced it today.

Q: So, what are your thoughts on your opponent?

Brown: He's tough. You know? He's a good grappler. He's been around...a good veteran. It's a big fight. He's top 10 in the world, and that's what I wanted. I need a contender.

Q: He was runner up in the lightweight version of The Ultimate Fighter a couple of years back. He lost to Nate Diaz who's gone on to do well for himself. Manny Gamburyan did take a few steps back at that point with injuries. Do you see any lasting effects from injuries or anything to exploit?

Brown: I haven't really noticed, because I have followed him real closely, but I saw that he lost to Thiago Tavares and got knocked out by Rob Emerson. Those were the 2 fights I saw. But, you know, now he's 2-0 in the WEC, so he's on the comeback trail.

Q: Since your loss to Jose Aldo, you've obviously won (against Anthony Morrison). What do you think your keys to success in this fight and the next couple of fights are for you?

Brown: I'm a taller fighter. So, my plan is to fight tall, and to drop the bone hammer on him.

Q: He's definitely one of the shorter fighters out there.....

Brown: Yeah, but he's actually fought at 170, so he's used to fighting taller guys.

Q: Yeah, he's definitely strong for his size too. So, it's your plan to keep it on the feet?

Brown: Keep it on the feet and drop the bone hammer. That's my game plan.

Q: And this is going to be on the WEC pay-per-view debut, correct?

Brown: Yep. The headliner is going to be (Urijah) Faber and (Jose) Aldo, also got (Benson) Henderson and Cowboy (Donald Cerrone), and me and Manny is going to be the card.

Q: What are your thoughts about WEC moving to pay-per-view? Is it progress?

Brown: It makes sense. We're all exciting fighters. It's definitely worth the money (for the consumer). I'm excited about it. We're the best in the world at our weight. So, we're no worse than the other great fighters that are getting paid very well in the UFC and stuff like that. We're just smaller. I think a lot of the times we're more entertaining.

Q: Absolutely. A lot of the smartest fighters are in the smaller weight classes too as far as strategy and technique go. Obviously, the UFC doesn't have a featherweight division. Does that help propel the WEC? As in, when you and Jose Aldo and Urijah Faber go out there, is that something you look to try to showcase that other promotions just don't have right now?

Brown: I don't know in those words necessarily, but, yeah, we're the best in the world at our weight class. We're paving the way for the little guys.

(at this point the interview was briefly interrupted so Mr. Brown and Mr. Dennis Kang could place their order at a fast-food drive thru)

Brown: Sorry about that. We're actually at McDonald's right now. I'm actually with Dennis Kang right now, and we're ordering some junk food.

Q: Is he down there training at American Top Team with you?

Brown: Yeah, Kang's down here at American Top Team. We need some calories. We trained hard today.

(back to the matters at hand)

Q: Do you see the featherweight division being pushed into the UFC or kept separate?

Brown: I don't care. As long as we start getting the recognition we deserve...so, we're not like 2nd rate or anything like that, then whether it's the UFC, WEC, whatever they want to call it, we're just mixed-martial artists, and we're the best in the world at what we do.