"I've been getting some of the best training that I've ever had and I'm excited. I'm really looking forward to this fight and getting my hands on this dude. I'm taking it one step at a time, but I'm really just looking forward to going at it. Most of the time, these people are my friends that I'm fighting or acquaintances and he's not. He's just another person and I'm going to be cool and respectful to him, but I'm going to take it to him," stated UFC lightweight Joe Stevenson as he talked about his upcoming clash this weekend with Spencer Fisher at UFC 104. Check it out!
PC: How have you been Joe?
JS: I've been all good. I've just been up here training in Albuquerque.
PC: What prompted the change in camps for you to go train over at Jackson's?
JS: I still train in Victorville when I'm home, but honestly, I think it's the simple fact that you feel a little stagnant sometimes and you gotta change it up; especially in this game. Everything is so evolving in mixed martial arts and for me to not go somewhere else and look at how I can improve myself or see what I can add to my training or my training partners, there would be a disservice not to do that. A lot of people get comfortable at home and feel like, "You know what? I'm going to take that here." And you can take what you learned back home, but every so often, you have to go back out and learn more things to keep evolving. You can't say I'm going to take that back home and that's all. Just say in a year, I'm back home and then everything is working; well, after a year or so, I'm going to have to go back out and learn what else is working out there and what's evolving and how I can stay on top of my game. All of these younger guys are just trying to get one up on us.
PC: How has this camp been and have you been getting some good southpaw sparring?
JS: I have been having some great southpaw sparring; Yoshida, who is on the card and is a really good Judo guy who is hard to take down, he's actually here with us. And my boy Aaron Riley is a southpaw and I've also been getting in good sparring with "Cowboy" Cerrone, who has been fighting southpaw for me. It's awesome. And Greg himself is a southpaw. I've been getting some of the best training that I've ever had and I'm excited. I'm really looking forward to this fight and getting my hands on this dude. I'm taking it one step at a time, but I'm really just looking forward to going at it. Most of the time, these people are my friends that I'm fighting or acquaintances and he's not. He's just another person and I'm going to be cool and respectful to him, but I'm going to take it to him.
PC: Before we go further into that fight, I want to ask you, how important was the win over Nate Diaz being that a lot of people were ready to count you out?
JS: Every fight that's in front of you is the most important fight. That win was a very important win because I was not about to lose 3 fights in a row. A lot of people, they don't care as long as they're losing to top ranked guys. People are going to have to get used to in our sport that there are different variables to win or lose and you can tell by who is actually still around. Anyone that is still around is a threat in my eyes.
PC: Even when I spoke to Spencer, he was talking about the caliber of guys you lost to, but what you're saying is you're not in the sport for moral victories.
JS: Yeah, exactly!
PC: I'll be honest with you, I was a little nervous for you because I spoke to you right after the Penn loss and I remember thinking, "I don't know if Joe could bounce back from that loss" because you were so emotionally into that fight and you risked a lot. How did you get through that mentally?
JS: Honestly, it was so important to me, I think it played a big role in me starting new. It allowed me to reinvent myself and not allow me to depend on my emotionalÂ…I think emotions in a fight can be some of the best things out there. They could help push you to limits that no one could imagine. However, once you tap into that and it doesn't work, a lot of times you can just eat yourself away. So by me coming out here and working harder, harder and harder, I was able to get past that, but still have that emotional boost when I need it instead of it being gone and me being stagnant and upset with the world.
PC: Going back to your fight at 104, Spencer is a tough guy and a very good striker. What type of fight are you expecting from him? Do you have a set gameplan that you want to implement or will you fight him on instincts as the fight plays out?
JS: I got a gameplan that I'm going to stick to and it's going to get me the win for sure. There is no doubt about it. I know where his strong points are, it's no secret, and he knows where my strong points are. I've been putting every bit of energy into my gameplan and drilling things competitively over and over. There won't come a point in time during that fight where I will veer from my gameplan. It's going to be a deciding factor.
PC: You took some criticism for not using your wrestling against Diego Sanchez, but I personally thought it was good because you mix it up to where people don't know what to expect. Even in my conversation with Spencer, he told me he didn't know if he was going to get the Joe Stevenson that boxed with Diego or the smothering Joe Stevenson that fought Nate Diaz. Do you think it was important to give those different looks so people won't be so prepared for what you wanted to do?
JS: I don't want people thinking that I'm not a 3-dimensional fighter. I want them to wonder. I want themÂ…for sure and that's actually one of the smartest questions I have ever heard man. I want them to know my ground and pound is awesome, but I don't want them to know when that's going to happen. I don't want them to know how it's going to happen and if it even goes there. I want it to be a mystery.
PC: Yeah, you could catch Nate guessing a couple of times and as soon as he got comfortable striking, back to the ground the fight went.
JS: And that's one of the big things Greg has taught me. He pretty much said that I'm so good at certain things individually that it's right there in front of them and I had to start getting them to guess what I was going to do. I had Irvin Bounds and he is a good friend, but I wasn't learning anything new and I needed to change. I think that was one of the deciding factors for me to go.
PC: How do you not let fighting in California be a distraction to you?
JS: To tell you the truth, I am so excited about fighting in So Cal. I was born in Torrance. I grew up in Lennox. I remember they were filming Lethal Weapon 3 and they were shooting it at the Forum and I snuck off from school to go watch that. You look at all of the great boxing matches and fights that have been there and I always wanted to fight in the Forum and now Staples Center is the modern Forum now. It's a nostalgic feeling to get to fight in literally your place of birth and hometown from when I was a kid. I run past spots I used to remember.
PC: So you're not looking at it as a distraction as much as a dream come true?
JS: Yeah man. Definitely not a distraction because now I live in the Empire, but I'm in So Cal still, but away, so I'm not going to see stuff that brings up other things other than the fight. If it was in your home home town, then you may drive past stuff where you have other memories that can distract you. Everything is looking good right now.
PC: Fisher says that everyone says they're going to bang with him until he hits them and then they go diving for his shoelaces. Are you willing to trade with him?
JS: He said everyone says they're going to stand with them until he hits them? "I'm going to probably stand with him until he hits me (sarcasm)!" Honestly, I'll stand with him until he hits me and then I will stand with him some more and then he's going to be like, "What's happening?" And then I'm going to take him down. Then I will keep putting him on the ground and he's going to try to get up and then I'm going to take him back down and I'm going to hit him. He's not going to know where I'm coming from and he's not going to know what happened. And then he's going to know the fights over.
PC: What would be the most gratifying way for you to beat Fisher?
JS: I have a preference that I really want to do in my heart that I'm going to do and I can't say it, but it's going to be bad.
PC: I will be looking forward to it. It's good to catch up with you my man. Good luck Saturday night. Is there anything you want to say in closing?
JS: I just would like to give a shout out to So Cal and everyone back home and everyone here in Albuquerque. I want to give a shout out to my buddy "Doc" at C3 Fights in Oklahoma. Other than that, I'm good; I'm chilling.
[ Follow Percy Crawford on Twitter @MrLouis1ana ]