A few weeks ago, FiveOuncesOfPain.com reported that brothers Jim Miller and Dan Miller had signed exclusive four-fight contracts with the UFC.

Jim Miller currently trains at the AMA Fight Club and possesses an impressive mixed martial arts record of 11-1-0. Miller holds victories over Nuri Shakir, Chris Liguori, and Bart Palaszewski. His sole loss came to UFC lightweight contender Frankie Edgar.

Miller joins Matt Horwich, Andre Gusmao, Mike Massenzio, Brad Blackburn, Rory Markham, and Reese Andy as IFL fighters to join the UFC ranks in recent weeks.

David Baron, a native of Bois Collombe, France, possesses a mixed martial arts record of 16-2-0. In August 2006, Baron squared off against PRIDE lightweight champion Takanori Gomi losing by submission late in the first round. Since leaving the now defunct Japanese promotion, Baron has gone 5-0 scoring victories over Jason Ball, Johnny Frachey, Abdul Mohamed, Niek Tromp, and Hayato Sakurai.

UFC 89 is scheduled for Saturday, October 18, 2008 in Birmingham, England and will feature a main event of Michael “The Count” Bisping and Chris “The Crippler” Leben.

CLICK HERE for more UFC 86-related content from 5 Oz of Pain!

The UFC has not officially announced the bout and the camps for Stevenson and Tibau have yet to formally comment.

Stevenson last competed at UFC 80 this past January, where he lost a match for the UFC vacant lightweight title to B.J. Penn via a second round submission. Prior to the loss, Stevenson had won four consecutive fights in the UFC with wins over Yves Edwards, Dokonjonosuke Mishima, Melvin Guillard, and Kurt Pellegrino.

Stevenson entered the UFC after winning the welterweight division for the second season of “The Ultimate Fighter” reality television show on Spike TV.

Tibau, 15-5, is a product of the highly-touted American Top Team camp in Florida. He had been on a four fight winning streak in the UFC until losing a unanimous decision to Tyson Griffin at UFC 81 in February.

UFC 86 is scheduled to be headlined by a light heavyweight title defense by champion Quinton “Rampage” Jackson against Forrest Griffin.

What sport would Joe’s parents NOT let him play (even though they said ‘yes’ to fighting MMA)?

Find the answer on www.joestevenson.com then HURRY back HERE to be the first person to post ALL SEVEN correct answers to the “Get to Know Joe” questions we’ve been asking all week.

Click here for all seven trivia questions and try to win the Joe Stevenson t-shirt bundle.

Who gave Joe Daddy the only KO loss of his career?

Find the answer on www.joestevenson.com

The final “Get to Know Joe” trivia question will be revealed tomorrow midday. Be the first to post all seven correct answers to win a 4 pack of Joe Stevenson signature series t-shirts.

Click here for the first five trivia questions and full “Get to Know Joe” contest details.

What are the name’s of Joe’s 3 sons?

Find the answer on www.joestevenson.com

Click here for the first four trivia questions and full “Get to Know Joe” contest details.

What meal service, also used by Bon Jovi, cooked up special meals for Joe in preparation for his trip to England?

Find the answer on www.joestevenson.com

Click here for the first three trivia questions and full contest details.

Joe snapped a pic of which UFC fighter playing Guitar Hero?

Find the answer on www.joestevenson.com

Click here for the first two trivia questions and full contest details.

Click here to win free Joe Stevenson gear from FiveOuncesOfPian.com!

Each day, 5 Oz of Pain will reveal the question of the day; the answers can all be found at www.joestevenson.com. Keep track of your answers and after the final question is revealed on Sat 1/19, be the first person to post all seven correct answers.

What will you win for all your hard work? The Joe Daddy himself has provided Five Ounces of Pain with your prize – win a t-shirt bundle from Stevenson’s new line.

To Enter: Check this post each day for the “Get to Know Joe” question of the day. On Sat. 1/19, we’ll reveal the seventh and final question.
How to Win: Be the FIRST PERSON to post all seven correct answers in the Comment String of THIS CONTEST POST.
Timing: Contest ends Saturday Jan 19th, immediately after the seventh “Get to Know Joe” question is revealed.
Judging: 5 Oz of Pain will announce winner on Monday 1/21/08

Question 1: Of his 30 wins since age 16, how many victories have been tapouts?
Question 2: Who does Joe consider one of the “best grappling instructors in the world”?
Question 3: Joe snapped a pic of which UFC fighter playing Guitar Hero?
Question 4: What meal service, also used by Bon Jovi, cooked up special meals for Joe in preparation for his trip to England?
Question 5: What are the name’s of Joe’s 3 sons?
Question 6: Who gave Joe Daddy the only KO loss of his career?
Question 7: What sport would Joe’s parents NOT let him play (even though they said ‘yes’ to fighting MMA)?

For Stevenson, this is an incredibly busy time, as in addition to training, he has been making himself available to the media for interviews. In fact, Stevenson revealed the other day on his website, Joe Stevenson.com, that he did five interviews in one day on top of his regular training schedule. So it was little surprise when he agreed to speak with FiveOuncesOfPain.com that he would need to do the interview 6 a.m. PT, which wasn’t a problem for us, considering we’re on the east coast.

Here’s a transcript of our early morning conversation with Stevenson.

Sam Caplan: You’re in the process of wrapping up your training right now. When do you leave for the UK?

Joe Stevenson: I plan to leave when the UFC and all the other guys are going, and I think everyone is leaving Sunday or Monday.

Sam Caplan: It’s been said you started competing in pro MMA fights at the age of 16, is that true?

Joe Stevenson: That is completely true.

Sam Caplan: What age did you start training?

Joe Stevenson: I started wrestling when I was eleven and I started jiu-jitsu when I was 13.

Sam Caplan: The story I’ve heard is that you received your parents consent and fought on reservations. Is that correct?

Joe Stevenson: That is correct.

Sam Caplan: When you asked your parents if you could fight, what was their initial reaction?

Joe Stevenson: Oddly, it was “yeah.” It was weird too because they wouldn’t let us play football.

Sam Caplan: But when you asked them if you could fight at such a young age, how did the whole conversation go down? Did it take a lot of convincing?

Joe Stevenson: Well, we trusted my coach at the time and we felt that we wouldn’t get too mis-matched. And I was pretty good at jiu-jitsu and they said “Go ahead and do it. Give it your all.”

Sam Caplan: Looking back do you feel they made the right decision to allow you to fight?

Joe Stevenson: I think I should have focused a little more on my wrestling.

Sam Caplan: When asked by an interview from RawVegas.tv whether you had any plans for your son to follow in your footsteps, you pretty much ruled it out and said he was going to take a different career path than you. What is about MMA as a profession that makes you not want your children to pursue it?

Joe Stevenson: It’s a difficult life. You’re away from your family a lot. It takes away from your family time and to me, that’s the most precious thing you can have.

Sam Caplan: You’re only 24 but you already have 35 pro fights to your credit and have been in the game for awhile. You mentioned in the RawVegas.tv interview that you’d like to coach high school wrestling one day after you retire. How long do you intend to fight?

Joe Stevenson: For as long as my body permits. You know, ten years in this game starts to wear on you. But as long as you train correctly with the right training partners and don’t get hurt or injured, you can fight for an extended period.

Sam Caplan: At one point you and Melvin Guillard had a little war of words before your fight against each other. I read a recent interview with Melvin Guillard on the Baltimore Sun website where he indicated the feud was contrived. His quote was:

“When I have to fight, bro, it’s a business. Me and Joe [Stevenson] are cool. That was some made-up beef to get a little tension going.”

Joe Stevenson: I didn’t know it was made up. I took it personally. It was (Guillard’s comments) probably one of the worst things you could do to someone, because it makes me want to go out there and be willing to die. But it’s squashed now.

Sam Caplan: A lot of people, such as me, have B.J. Penn listed as a top five lightweight. Some people feel that’s overrating him because he hasn’t competed much at 155 lbs. lately. Do you feel he should be top five right now?

Joe Stevenson: He’s a top five almost anywhere, man. I definitely think he’s a top five lightweight.

Sam Caplan: A lot of people are also predicting him to win your upcoming fight on the 19th. Do you feel you’re being overlooked?

Joe Stevenson: No, they are just asking the wrong people. If you call my mom, she’ll tell you I’m going to win hands down.

Sam Caplan: I know you’re sick of being asked about Sean Sherk but I still have to ask. B.J. has been very outspoken against Sherk and his positive test result. At one point, he said he wouldn’t even fight Sherk but he later backed off that statement. Do you feel B.J. is being too critical?

Joe Stevenson: Everyone is free to voice their opinion, so you can’t really comment on someone else’s opinion; just give your own. As far as Sherk goes, stuff happens in life. Sometimes it’s your fault and sometimes it’s not, and I’m not going to judge anyone.

Sam Caplan: You train out of Marc Laimon’s Cobra Kai school in Vegas. Frank Mir trains there often as well. How do you think Frank will do vs. Brock Lesnar on February 2?

Joe Stevenson: I think he has a very good chance of winning that fight. I’m very excited with anticipation.

Sam Caplan: Can you talk about the role sponsors play in the career of a fighter and just how essential they are?

Joe Stevenson: Sponsors allow you not to have to reach into your life savings for a camp like this where you have to go away for nine weeks and train. And sponsors are who pay the bills and who allow you to actually take care of your family. My sponsors have been generous enough to front me money up front so I can prepare. People like Sprawl, Warrior Wear, and MMA Warehouse, they’re just awesome people. We have more than just a business relationship, we’re actually friends.

Sam Caplan: Would it be possible for you to train full-time if you didn’t have sponsors?

Joe Stevenson: (Laughs) I doubt that. I doubt I would be able to train full-time without the sponsors.

RawVegas has commenced its preparations for UFC 80 on Jan. 19 with the launch of their “Road to 80″ series featuring Joe Stevenson.

The below video gives you a good look at to who the man is behind the fighter.

From Yahoo! Sports:

“He represents himself in a different manner and it’s not the way I think is correct for our athletes,” Stevenson said. “You don’t brag about how much money you make. That’s totally disrespectful. I’ve seen him in clubs and I’ve seen the way he treats people and I can tell you, that’s not the kind of a guy we want representing this sport.”

Joe Stevenson isn’t pulling any punches. As a matter of fact, he sounds pretty confident that he would beat Floyd if given the opportunity:

“Boxing and MMA are different sports. He’s a great boxer. He’s the best. I was rooting for Ricky Hatton and I have to give Floyd credit for doing what he did. But he’d be in an entirely different sport. And yeah, his strikes would be intimidating, but I’d take him down. He’d have to be able to defend a takedown and that sounds a lot easier than it is.”

And finally, Stevenson represents his argument as to why MMA doesn’t need Floyd Mayweather:

“I don’t think we need that kind of attention,” Stevenson said. “We have a great sport and a lot of people are beginning to realize that, more every day. We don’t have to bring in the best boxers just to get people to pay attention to us, because they’re realizing what a great sport we have already.”

Exactly. Like Notorious B.I.G. once said: Mo’ money, mo’ problems. MMA doesn’t need Floyd Mayweather. In fact, he’s the last thing the sport needs. He brings exactly the kind of “me first” attitude that the sport has yet to be tainted by, save for the Randy Couture situation.

And what happens, if say, Floyd does happen to fight in a mixed martial arts bout? He’s going to command a huge payday. Guys who have been busting their asses for years to break into the elite levels of mixed martial arts are getting by on enough to feed their families while still maintaining a day job. Is it fair that a guy with little training and no experience should command a huge payday when he hasn’t paid his dues in the sport? No.

Mayweather has proven himself in the boxing ring, nothing more. He doesn’t deserve the platform that he’ll receive if he does end up crossing over. We’ve seen what the guy does when he’s on a platform. It’s “me first.” Mo’ money. Mo’ problems.

With Sherk stripped of the title, the UFC has announced that B.J. Penn and Joe Stevenson will fight each other for the vacant belt on Jan. 19 in New Castle England at UFC 80.

Despite no longer possessing the championship, Sherk still remains in the title mix and is expected to fight the winner of the Penn vs. Stevenson bout.

“I have nothing but respect for Sean Sherk and I believe he’s been honest throughout this whole process,” UFC President Dana White is quoted as saying by UFC.com’s Thomas Gerbasi. “But BJ Penn and Joe Stevenson will be fighting for the lightweight title at UFC 80 on January 19th and Sean Sherk will fight the winner for the title.”

My brain hurts. It’s tired of trying to sort this mess out, and it’s getting nowhere. But it’s not my brain’s fault. At least, not this time.

If you’re on the UFC’s mailing list, as I am, you received an email alerting you that B.J. Penn and Joe Stevenson will be fighting for the “interim” lightweight title at UFC 80 in January. And if you also compulsively follow MMA news, as I do, you know that Dana White has said he will not strip lightweight champion Sean Sherk of his title because of the way the California State Athletic Commission has bungled his appeal of a positive steroid case.

But if Sherk isn’t being stripped, why is there an interim title at all?

This feels like one of those situations that only gets more confusing as you try to sort it out. I almost understand the reasoning. White seems to feel that Sherk is innocent when it comes to steroid use. From what I’ve heard, the levels of nandrolene detected in Sherk’s system were so low that it’s not unbelievable to think this might be a false positive.

So, okay, I get it. White feels that the CSAC, which has a reputation as the most difficult commission for MMA organizations to deal with, by far, is screwing this thing up. They postponed Sherk’s appeal hearing because they didn’t read all the material submitted by his lawyer, which makes them seem more like the Mayberry Athletic Commission than the California one. White was angered by this, as was Sherk, and understandably so.

That’s why White announced that Sherk (who White says he considers a friend) will not be stripped of his title. Okay. That makes a certain kind of sense. It seems like he might be blowing off the CSAC, and maybe somebody should.

But now I have to ask again. Why is there an interim title?

I understand that Sherk is stilll under suspension pending his appeal, but if the UFC’s position is that Sherk is going to hold onto that belt unless the CSAC can produce photos of a needle going into “The Muscle Shark’s” arm, there shouldn’t be any interim title. It’s meaningless. The winner of the interim title has essentially just earned number one contender status, only he’s got a belt to show for it.

I’m not going to pretend I don’t know why the UFC is doing this. They don’t want the belt to be out of circulation while they wait for this appeal, because a title fight always makes for an instant main event on a pay-per-view card. They already have a heavyweight title with no one to defend it after Randy Couture’s “resignation”, and they’ve kept their welterweight title in reality TV land lo these many months.

But they can’t have it both ways. They can’t refuse to strip the title-holder and also have two other guys fight for his title. That essentially creates two champions in one weight class, which defeats the purpose of having a champion at all.

Do you see now what I’ve been going through? Maybe it’s my fault for even trying to understand this, or for assuming that it’s supposed to make sense. As it is I feel like I’m standing in the mall and looking at one of those magic eye pictures that has an image of a sailboat somewhere in it, only I can’t see it and I just keep staring while old people and children pass by me with pity in their eyes.

Much like those magic eye pictures, this situation will leave me with nothing but a headache and a nagging sense of failure. I just know it. And at the end of the day, we’ll still have two guys walking around claiming to be the UFC lightweight champion.

Ben Fowlkes is the writer of the blog The Fighting Life and the editor of IFL.tv, the official website of the International Fight League.