"What I hear is we're the featured fight for the Spike card! I was pretty disappointed when it was announced that I was on the undercard at first, but then, when they said it was going to be televised, you know, that's what it is all about…Efrain's a huge step up from Junie. It didn't matter if Junie had all of the skills in the world, he's a mental weakling. Mentally, he was subpar, but Efrain makes up for that in his mentality. His strongest suit is his mentality," stated UFC lightweight Cole Miller as he talked about his upcoming clash with Efrain Escudero at UFC 103. Check it out!

PC: How is everything going man?

CM: Everything is going smooth. We're a little less than 2 weeks out and I'm feeling pretty good mentally and physically. I had a good training camp and I'm pretty happy with how it went.

PC: Micah picked up a nice submission win last weekend. Does that spark you in any way when you see your little brother winning like that?

CM: Yeah, it's good, you know? Since I've last fought, he's fought 3 times already. I've seen some things that are working for his game and I have been able to implement a couple of things into mine. He's matured into adulthood as a fighter. It's good to see him find his style as a fighter and to be able to see him grow. I have been able to take a few things from his game that I like and put it into mine. It was good. He's had 3 fights over the summer and won all 3, so it does give me a spark to make sure I go in there and do the same thing.

PC: For your last fight with Junie Browning, you were emotionally wrapped into that fight. Efrain is not a big talker, so are you mentally into this fight like you were for the Browning fight?

CM: No, not at all. I'm definitely not mentally into it like I was for that fight. Well…I'm mentally into it, but not in the same way. Obviously I had a lot of malice and content for Junie Browning, but that was probably only the second fight of my career where I just had pure disdain for my opponent. I don't have any problem or hate for Efrain. Personally, I would rather respect my opponent rather than not respect them. I'm preparing for this fight a lot harder than I prepared for that fight, both physically and mentally. It's two different types of fighters, you know?

PC: Efrain showed a ton of heart in winning the show. He hasn't been able to fight since then due to injury. What do you think of him as a fighter and what do you feel are his biggest strengths?

CM: I think his biggest strength is probably his mind. I think that he's a pretty smart fighter and he's pretty resilient. He's undefeated for a reason. He's been on point mentally. I don't really think…I don't want to say he doesn't have a lot of skills, but his main skill is wrestling; he knows how to use that to make up for his lack of striking and things like that. I don't expect to see the same Efrain that I saw fight in December. I think he's getting better all of the time, so I'm preparing for the best Efrain Escudero so far.

PC: You made it clear after your fight with Junie that you wanted the winner of the Uno-Fisher fight. Fisher won a decision at UFC 99. Not to take anything away from Escudero, but were you a little disappointed when the name Efrain was brought to you?

CM: I was a little disappointed. I just want to be fighting the guys that are winning. I guess it was kind of a letdown because even if I didn't get to fight one of those two, I wanted to fight more of a veteran fighter. It worked out because I get Efrain and he won The Ultimate Fighter and there is a lot of hype around these guys. It's a big opportunity to fight the guy that's coming off of winning the show, but I would have preferred to fight a more veteran fighter; it's not a lot I could do. After I found out I was fighting Efrain, alls I could think about was Efrain.

PC: The UFC is doing something different for 103. They will air some fights free on Spike TV that will lead into the PPV. How pumped are you for that opportunity?

CM: It's great because what I hear is we're the featured fight for the Spike card! I was pretty disappointed when it was announced that I was on the undercard at first, but then, when they said it was going to be televised, you know, that's what it is all about. I want people to see my work. I want people to see what I'm doing and that I believe in what I'm doing. I want to reach out to certain fans out there and represent my style as a fighter. The best way to do that is to obviously have viewers and now I will have more viewers than I would if I were on the PPV, so that's great. It obviously helps out with sponsors too. The more people that see my fight, the more money I'm going to get from sponsorship and things like that and I can start putting some money away so I don't have to live in this fucking apartment forever.

PC: You felt like Junie Browning was not on your level. Do you feel as though Efrain is a step up from Junie?

CM: Yeah, Efrain's a huge step up from Junie. It didn't matter if Junie had all of the skills in the world, he's a mental weakling. Mentally, he was subpar, but Efrain makes up for that in his mentality. His strongest suit is his mentality. If Efrain had no skills, he would be a way different fight than someone that had skills, but who wasn't mentally tough. So he's going to be a much tougher fight than Junie. I think of him as all of my fights have been though. I don't think he will be on my level standing. I think technically, he's not up to my level, but I think come fight night, he's one of these guys that performs above his skill set.

PC: You knew you had to weather Junie's early storm and then felt your experience would take over. Do you think you're in the same scenario with this fight?

CM: I think it will be backwards in this fight because of his style of fighting. I think the technical skill will be less as the fight goes on. Once the sweat and things like that take over, I think the technical side will go out of the window just because of his style. He's more of a wrestler, so I think it's going to be a fast-paced fight. With a guy like Junie, I knew it wouldn't matter because his style wasn't predominantly wrestling, but with Efrain, I think the beginning will be the time to watch the technical aspect. I think as the fight goes on, the two combatants are enduring the things that happened in the fight and that's when the heart and the mind and the experience takes over.

PC: What Cole Miller can the fans in Dallas expect to see show up?

CM: For this fight, I kind of worked on everything. For certain fights in the past, I've worked on certain things moreso than the others. This was really the first fight where I trained every aspect of the fight. I trained my wrestling, my Jiu Jitsu, my boxing, my Muay Thai and my strength and conditioning. For this fight…I tell people all the time, I try not to train for my opponents too much. They need to be training for me. I'm not concerned about these fights in the short run. I'm progressing more as a martial artist for the long haul. I'm not in this for a sprint. I could care less what my opponents are doing. I just want them to be training for me. Like I said, I'm in this for the long haul and these little fights and these little 8-week camps, I'm really training more for myself than for them. This was the first fight where I was ale to incorporate every aspect of the fight game.

PC: Your standup is a much improved aspect of your game. How has Howard Davis and your Muay Thai coach helped prepare you for this fight?

CM: Yeah, Howard is my main striking coach. I work with him more than anybody else. Me and my brother both do. Douglas Villefort is my Muay Thai coach and the two of them bring a pretty interesting mix. Douglas, being my Muay Thai coach, if he tells me to throw a combination or something that doesn't fit my style, he will tell me not to listen to him, just listen to Howard on that. They mesh together well. My Muay Thai coach helps to compliment my knees and my kicks and my forward pressure and then Howard compliments my hands and the sweet science of boxing. I think they really compliment each other well. If I had two coaches doing opposite things and they weren't really agreeing with each other, I might be getting good at both styles, but ultimately, I wouldn't have a style of fighting. I think my Muay Thai coach and my boxing coach work very well together to help create my style of having smooth hands and creating more brutal kicks.

PC: I look forward to finally meeting you in Dallas my man. Good luck as always. Is there anything you want to say in closing?

CM: It will be real exciting to be back in Dallas. I will be fighting for those fans for the third time. I fought in American Airlines Center before and it will be good to be back there. Everybody is real cool and real friendly and nice out there. I want to thank my sponsors: TapouT, Champion Nutrition, my team at American Top Team and my strength and conditioning over at IHP!