Sources have revealed exclusively to FiveOuncesOfPain.com that Guida was selected as the replacement opponent for Shamrock after a deal with former UFC and PRIDE veteran Don Frye could not be reached. Five Ounces of Pain could not confirm the validity of rumors that indicated former heavyweight boxing champion Hasim Rahman was under consideration as well.

The pay-per-view will air live on March 21 from Pensacola, Florida. The need for a replacement came about this week after Shamrock was suspended by the California State Athletic Commission for one year because of a failed post fight drug test. Shamrock tested positive for three different steroids after he defeated Ross Clifton via first round submission at a WarGods’ event February 13.

Guida (17-19) is the brother of UFC lightweight Clay Guida. He is most famous for blowing an opportunity to compete on The Ultimate Fighter season eight. Unable to make weight for his qualifying match, the elder Guida was dismissed from the show.

“March Badness”s is being promoted by Square Ring Promotions and will feature a mixture of boxing and MMA matches with the legendary Roy Jones Jr. taking on Omar Sheika in a light heavyweight boxing bout. A heavyweight MMA attraction between Roy Nelson and Jeff Monson has also been scheduled.

FiveOuncesOfPain.com confirmed the news on Tuesday with EliteXC Vice President Jared Shaw.

Guida, the older brother of UFC lightweight competitor Clay Guida, will debut during the promotion’s Oct. 10 ShoXC event at Horseshoe Casino in Hammond, Indiana. Shaw could not comment on his opponent, but sources have informed Five Ounces of Pain that Guida is expected to fight Polish middleweight/light heavyweight prospect Mamed Khalidov.

Guida’s record varies greatly depending on what source you refer to but is 17-17, according to Sherdog’s fight finder. In addition to TUF, Guida has received national exposure on HDNet while competing in the main event of the debut show for Adrenaline MMA this past June. Facing heavyweight Mike Russow, Guida lost via first round submission. He also has suffered notable defeats against Terry Martin, Thales Leites, Travis Wiuff, Rory Markham, Vernon White, and Marvin Eastman.

Khalidov has competed exclusively in Poland and Lithuania and if he finalizes an agreement with EliteXC, the Oct. 10 show would mark his first fight on U.S. soil. Currently on a six fight win streak, Khalidov is 9-3 overall.

A UFC Virgin No Longer

by Nick Palmisciano

You can hear the rumble from the crowd as we descend the multiple flights of stairs of the Palms Resort and Casino that lead directly to the ring. Ben Saunders and his boys from American Top Team are in front of us only a few paces away. Marty (SSG Martinez) is the buffer between their camp and ours as Jason and I follow closely behind Dan Barrera. We finally emerge from the staircase into a long narrow hallway where the final four fights are staged.The ground is shaking. Bruce Buffer’s voice is echoing in the background as he announces the beginning of the UFC TUF 6 Finale. We are fixated at the opening that leads to the Octagon. Suddenly Mac Danzig, soon to become The Ultimate Fighter, leaps from his waiting room to slap Dan on the back hard and get him fired up. Mac grabs Dan by the back of the head and tells him to go all out. Dan nods and smacks Mac on the shoulders.

Saunders is already in the ring. The UFC escort gives us the nod to go and we step forward into the lights…

Only one week ago, if you had asked me if I thought I would ever corner anyone in the UFC, I would have said absolutely not. Have I cornered guys before? Yes. Have I been involved in fighting since I was eleven? Yes. Am I one of the top thousand guys you’d think of when you were choosing your corner for the highest level of professional MMA? Not a chance. So when Dan Barrera called me and asked if I would join Jason “Blind Fury” Keaton, the Fort Knox Army Combatives Instructor and owner of Cyclone MMA, and SSG Aaron “Marty” Martinez as his corner, I was a little taken aback. I actually asked him if there was someone else that might be better for him. Dan replied that a lot of people wanted to corner him, but that he wanted the guys that really got him there to be with him when it all went down. I was really honored that he asked, and when it became clear that his mind was made up, I set about trying to live up to his expectations.

About an hour after I landed in Vegas, I was on the ballroom level of the Palms, getting my corner’s license and credentials from Greg Hendrick of the UFC. The UFC crew was extremely friendly and professional and their excitement about the sport was infectious. As we were waiting for everything to be finalized, Marty and I stuck our heads into one of the training rooms. The experience became instantly surreal when we realized the dude whaling away on the heavy bag was none other than the infamous “love to hate him” Mike Goldberg, Joe Rogan’s commentating cohort. In a complete twist of the perceptions of every fan that I’ve ever met (myself included), the dude actually looked alright and appeared to be in solid shape – dare I say it – perhaps Mike is actually an MMA fan…

I’m not the kind of guy that is big on celebrity-worship, and thankfully, neither are Jason and Marty, because as corners, we were sitting with a whole lot of UFC stars. Having been around a lot of movie/music celebrities before in a number of situations, I can attest to the fact that the fighters, even the big name fighters, are a lot less Hollywood than average. In almost every case they were regular dudes. Joe Rogan, in particular, was especially cool. You can tell he is both a real fight fan and a genuine guy, and all of the fighters seemed to trust him explicitly, which says a lot.Anyway, we sit down, and Matt Hughes sits down right next to us. This was interesting to me because I never trust rumors and I certainly never trust television, so I wanted to see what this dude was like. We all know Matt gets a lot of bad press, and I cannot tell you what is warranted and what isn’t, but here’s what I can say: 1) He introduced himself and his wife to me and was extremely friendly. 2) He invited all of us to go train with him while we were there (which we did) and left an open invite to the Fort Knox guys to come roll with him whenever. 3) He has gone out of his way repeatedly to help Dan in a number of different facets, both in and outside of fighting. 4) He has a history of genuinely supporting the military.

Now, let me be clear – he is not a chuckles, giggles, and sunshine kind of guy, but truthfully, I was rather impressed that he was as cheery as he was considering the way everyone pretends they are his best friend. I barely know the guy – he probably couldn’t pick me out of a lineup – but in the few hours that I was sitting next to him, probably 100 dudes rolled by on overly familiar terms. One D-List celebrity straight up hugged him – and I mean a “I just saw my girlfriend for the first time after a year-long trip to Iraq” kind of hug – and was like “What’s up Matty?” After he left, the awestruck Mr. Hughes asked his wife, “Who the hell is that guy?” She didn’t know either. Eventually, the security guard explained the mystery personality…and there was much rejoicing…

So the weigh-ins began. Everyone was making weight. Some guys, of course had to drop their shorts to make it. They then all promptly put them back on.

Not Dan.

Dan decides that he will drop to his silver skivvies and just stay that way as he squared off against Ben for the pre-fight photos. The chuckles in the room were audible, not so much because Dan was in his underwear, but because he seemed to revel in it. Shit – we were laughing and we were his freakin’ corners.

Before the fight, each fighter is assigned a conference room (yes-the same kind you’d go to for a business meeting) that had been outfitted with a wrestling mat and a heavy bag. The main event fights – in this case Tommy vs. Mac and Guida vs. Huerta, get their own rooms. Everyone else shares them – about 5 fighters to a room.Besides Dan, we had Jonathan Goulet, Richie Hightower, Dorian Price, and John Kolosci. The tension behind the scenes is palpable. These guys are the best at what they do and with the exception of Goulet, who is a more veteran fighter, you can see that the magnitude of the situation is weighing on the guys.Right about the time that they all start warming up, Clay Guida walks in to give everyone some well-received encouragement. He reminds me a lot of Tim Kennedy before a fight – extremely relaxed – almost like he is ready for a nap instead of a huge fight. The contrast between his countenance and the other fighters in the room is sharp.Warm ups begin. Hightower is warming up with Jason Chambers, from The Human Weapon. Dorian is throwing side kicks so hard that they hurt me when they hit the bag. John is getting himself pissed off in preparation for the fight. Every fighter is very different and every one has their own routine.When matches are over, each fighter must return to the same room. Each time, win or lose, the fighter is greeted with applause from the other fighters and corners. There is a strong sense of brotherhood here, even among those that don’t know each other well. Finally, after the other four have met their challenges for the day, it is Dan’s turn…

We emerge from the doorway towards the ring and walk right up to Big John McCarthy, who, by the way, is quite big and deserves his moniker. This would be John’s last night as a UFC ref, which absolutely blows, but in retrospect, it was kind of cool to be a part of it.Big John checked Dan out and gave us instruction on how to get to our corners. Now keep in mind, none of us have ever been corners at a UFC event, and there was no briefing prior to the event explaining what we were supposed to do. As such, we screwed it up.When the round began, there we were hanging out in the corner, when all of a sudden a cameraman was yelling at us to get off the edge and into our chairs. We ended up scrambling away, running along the side of the cage as if we stole something, and actually missed Dan’s first exchange. Awesome. There’s nothing quite like starting off a nationally televised event feeling like a giant douche bag.

The plan going in was as follows:1. Box your way in with the heavy hands that Ben Saunders has to be worried about.2. Close the distance and take him down. (i.e. Ground)3. Hit him repeatedly about the neck, head, and shoulders. (i.e. Pound)So Dan goes out there – they circle a bit and exchange a few and Dan shoots a double, taking Ben down pretty easily. We’re fired up. A lot of people thought that Saunders would be able to submit Dan in this position, but Dan is actually very crafty and super strong, and we weren’t too worried about a submission as long as he was able to keep Ben’s legs down. He trained hard with Jason Keaton, Greg Thompson, and Tim Kennedy on this position – we were waiting for the punches to start raining down on an unsuspecting Ben Saunders. But instead, Dan threw a bunch of small hammer fists, and Ben was actually throwing elbows from the bottom. Nevertheless, we thought he came out on top of the first round, but it was close.

As the round expires, Marty and I run out there. Marty is telling him he is doing well but that he has to stay busy on top, when the “doc” taps me on the shoulder. I need to leave because his cut has to get looked at, and only two people can be in the corner at once. My friends watching at home all assumed I screwed something up and broke some rule, and continue to pretend that is what actually happened, even though it is not remotely true. The line “remember when Nick got ejected from the Octagon” has been used no fewer than 1000 times in daily conversation.

“How’s the weather today?”

“It’s 38 degrees. That reminds me…remember, when Nick got kicked out of the Octagon?”

They do this because they are giant assholes. I, of course, would do the same thing to them.

The round opens and after a brief exchange on the mat, both fighters are stood up. Ben Saunders opens the restart by throwing a flying knee as Dan simultaneously shoots a double leg takedown. Bad things could have happened, but Dan managed to slide underneath him. They pop back up and Ben lands a couple of knees and strikes, but Dan takes him down again. Same position as round one. Same result. We’re screaming that he needs to hit Ben. Saunders is trying submission after submission, but Dan deflects all of them easily.The round ends – no one did any real damage, but even though Dan maintained dominant ground position, we had this one going to Ben because of the strikes at the beginning of the round and a kick at the end.We ran out again to corner him. Marty and I are both telling Dan that he needs to throw leather. He needs to box and damage Ben, and then he needs to ground and pound. We’d seen plenty of ground, but the POUND was clearly lacking. This was a now or never moment.Suddenly, Matt Hughes stands up from the front row in the crowd and screams in no uncertain terms what we have just told him. As one might imagine, the words “Dan, throw leather! Throw some damn leather!” meant more coming from Matt than it did from us. Dan nods. He is going to come out swinging.

The round starts – there is a split second where Dan and Ben both throw – reminiscent of the end of Rocky 3 – where I am reminded that these guys are incredible athletes. The speed and power of the strikes would have been incapacitating. They both miss.The fight goes to the ground and Ben skillfully gets Dan’s back. Dan will not submit to the rear naked choke and eventually breaks Ben’s brutal body lock and achieves top position again.Marty, Jason, and I are screaming that he needs to POUND him. As we all know now, Dan would not do enough damage to win this fight.Ben Saunders’s hand was deservedly raised in victory.

At the decision, the only person a bit surprised with the outcome was Dan. At the time, he felt he had won. In his mind, he was never hurt during the fight, and he had dominant position throughout, so it was clear. This is because, self-admittedly, he still has a bit of a wrestler’s mindset. But we’ll get back to that.As we rapidly gathered all of Dan’s belongings and headed back towards the tunnel, we were once again right behind Ben Saunders. Tito Ortiz stopped Dan and told him “Good fight, Barrera”. Joe Rogan looked at me, laughed at my ”My Ops are Blacker than Your Ops t-shirt”, and said, “That was a tough fight man, but he did really well”.In the tunnel, a doctor checked both Ben and Dan and then the UFC dude handed them their checks right on the spot. Ben received about $16k minus any expenses and corner fees that the UFC had incurred and Dan received about $8k.We followed Ben and the American Top Team guys to the elevator and the UFC escort asked if they could ride on the same elevator. Dan and Ben both looked perplexed as to why they wouldn’t be able to. So we all hopped in and the two fighters relived the fight blow by blow.

“That was a great knee you caught me with.”
“I’m really glad you missed that punch in the third.”
“Nick really is the shit isn’t he?”

Ok, they never said that last one, but it woulda been cooler if they did… Nevertheless, I thought it was awesome that these two guys were so professional about the fight that I took the opportunity to snap a picture.

After the fight we did what any respectable set of corners would do: we proceeded to get drunk and re-watch the fight we were just a part of on one of the Palms Casino’s many televisions surrounding the bar. While Dan did not take part in the booze, he did take part in multiple Red Bulls, which result in what I like to call “Super Dan”. Super Dan likes to shadow box around my head, grab his buddies at inopportune times and begin wrestling matches, and dance oddly as often as possible. While everyone who doesn’t drink likes to say things like “I’m so wacky that I don’t need alcohol to have fun” but in actuality suck the life out of the party with their non-drinking selves, Dan legitimately does not need to add alcohol to Super Dan. In fact, Dan, please do not ever add alcohol to Super Dan. Anyway, after watching the fight, Dan was shocked. He then realized very clearly that Ben had won the fight, and looked at us and said, “I thought something very different was happening in the ring. I am going to be a lot more aggressive next time.”And he will be.He’ll be better next time.He’ll be better still the time after that.

What most people don’t really understand is that this was Dan’s first professional fight. The dude freakin’ debuted in the UFC in front of millions of fans. He has only been doing MMA for a year! He is loaded with raw talent, has an unbelievable work ethic, and is always trying to learn. He has no ego about his ability and is always looking for people that can pound him so he can better.

I know there are a lot of “Dan Haters” out there in the MMA internet universe, but I have to tell you – and I hate most people – Dan is a great guy, with a great attitude and he is going to surprise a lot of people in the next few years.

The After Party was at Moon at the Palms. The place has a ceiling that opens every once in a while like a stadium to cool the place down, which I thought was phenomenal Vegas excess.After Parties are weird events. You have four groups of people at these things: 1) The Fighters and camps. 2) Celebrities. 3) Exceedingly hot chicks. 4) People that want to spend a couple of hundred bucks a head to hang out with groups 1-3.

Guy Rule Number One – You do not publish a bunch of embarrassing stuff about people when they are hammered at a party. That’s about as cool as indoor recess. As such, I will just very briefly hit you with the highlights from my vantage point that were notable, but not in violation of said rule:

– Robbie Lawler, who was hysterical, decided it would be funny to aggressively dance with anyone that walked in front of our table, whether that person be a guy, girl, animal, plant, vegetable, or mineral. Hilarity ensued. I snapped a couple of pics.

- Matt Pena, a former Marine and cofounder of Matt Hughes’s new camp, was also hilarious, keeping a Joe Roganesque commentary going all night about the club’s goings-on. My favorite was his “Dancing Girl” analysis. As with most every Vegas club, there were hot girls dancing all around on elevated platforms. At this point, Pena let me in on his theory regarding these women: “Notice that they don’t dance that hard right now, but as the night goes on, random drunk girls will start dancing up on the empty stage, and when that happens watch the pros – they won’t have it.” Sure enough, like clockwork, as the Drunkettes began to do their thing on the stage reserved for the amateurs, the Moon employees took it to a new level. You could actually tell they were pissed off at the “challenge”. I turned to Matt and said, “You are wise in the ways of many things…but there is a sadness to your wisdom…”

- Roger Huerta, who is as cool in person as he is good in the ring, brought his mom to the club. She was awesome and very sweet and while there is nothing funny about that, what was funny was when some random girl would come over and explain to Roger what they were willing to do to him/wanted to do to him and he would say, “I’d like you to meet my Mom,” and step aside so they could see her. I’ve never seen women more disarmed – they’d turn red and introduce themselves. This occurred several times, each time to my total amusement.

Barrera and Saunders were involved in one of the best fights on the current season of TUF and the fight ended with a somewhat controversial decision in Saunders’ favor. Barrera will now get a chance to avenge his loss to Saunders in a three round fight as opposed to a two round fight as seen on TUF.

Check out more TUF 6 content HERE at FiveOuncesofPain.com

Adam Morgan: A whole lot of people don’t know about how you got into MMA, so start out by telling us a little about your background and how you got involved with the sport.

Dan Barrera: Well, I started to wrestle when I was in junior high and it’s a pretty tough state where I was from. I’m from Idaho, so I grew up wrestling and then I got to state in wrestling. Then I got into the Air Force right after high school and I boxed for the Air Force team for a number of years and then I actually got to nationals a few times, got ranked, and then I started doing jiu jitsu once I got out here to Kentucky, so that’s how it all tied in.

AM: Can you tell us a little bit more about your military experience? You did a tour in Pakistan, correct?

DB: Yeah, I did six years in the military. I was a firefighter and I got to box most of the time so I didn’t really get to go do any GDYs. I competed as a boxer until I had an opportunity to go, I basically volunteered to go to do my tour over in Pakistan ’cause I wasn’t really selected. My GDY, my duty was to go and box. I go from fighting the Army, the Navy, the Marines, and then I would go to the nationals after that and represent the Air Force.

AM: Okay, so it was like a sponsored military boxing gig?

DB: Yeah, basically. Basically you travel around and you wear the Air Force colors and the Air Force logo and you go and you box against the best in the world.

AM: On The Ultimate Fighter, a lot’s been made of your connection with God and your spiritual connection. How did religion become such a huge part of your life?

DB: To tell you the truth I grew up in a home, where, you know, it was just kinda tough growing up. I have five brothers and my mom was by herself for awhile and it was like we were by ourselves, you know? God was just watching out for us because all my brothers are doing well, none of them are in jail. I mean we had our stints with the law growing up but everybody’s doing well, very well, successful and it’s just a blessing that we always had someone looking out for us and I believe that it was God that was looking out for us.

Nobody can tell me that he isn’t in my life because I have so many things and I really wasn’t supposed to get things. When I was in high school and junior high I was in juvenile detention center and these guys were telling me “you’re never going to get out of this place, man.” I wasn’t supposed to have these nice things, but it’s all turning out, so God’s always been there.

AM: On this season of The Ultimate Fighter, did you receive the bad news from home directly before your fight as it was depicted on the show?

DB: They edited it a little bit different. My hand actually was a little bit swollen a few days before everything and then I got the call. The call wasn’t like right before, but it was the day before. I did do those X-Rays right before weigh-ins, so that was right before I weighed in for the fight. It was hot outside, I was cutting weight, and I was getting agitated because they were wanting me to do three or four takes and I was like “C’mon, man, I can’t even drink any water right now!”

Some of the guys we had a problem with, like the cameraman and stuff. I understand they’re just trying to do their job, but man, when you’re cutting weight you just get agitated. You’re like, “Dude, what are you doing? It’s like 110 degrees outside, bro, can’t we at least do it in the shade or by the AC?”

AM: And is your wife okay?

DB: Yeah, my wife’s good, everything’s good and she’s okay. Everything’s good to go. I’m back home with her. A lot of people don’t realize that going onto that show is really a tough time if you ask any of the guys, man. Especially if you’re married or you have family because they don’t let you talk to them, dude. Nobody. You have like no connection with anybody.

Some of the guys have kids and they don’t even get to talk to their kids, man. Anything can happen on a day’s notice, you know? It’s a trip, man. When I went to Pakistan and did military things and did other things, it makes it a lot easier when you can have mail and you can email and there’s so many ways with technology nowadays. You can take a picture of yourself and forward it to your loved one and it’s like you’re there. But we had no connection with the outside world, it was like prison camp or something.

AM: How did your hand get so messed up before the fight and was it actually Matt Hughes that was responsible for it?

DB: Yeah, I think it was. To tell you the honest truth, man, that’s the only thing I can really come up with because I was going real hard with him. But, I mean, our practices were basically just gut checks every day. I can’t compare it to anything else I’ve ever done in my life. If you missed practice, everybody showed up early, everybody stayed, and they took their lickin’s, man. They didn’t show a lot of it, but they were pretty tough rundown practices.

Honestly, other guys got injured, too, you know? Like Billy Miles got his neck cranked hard. It was just tough love. Not to feel like Serra’s team wasn’t going through the same, but some of their guys didn’t even want to practice and stuff and we were resentful because if any one of us didn’t show up on this bus, it would be like “Hey, where’s this guy?” and then they would beat us up and be hard on us! They’d be like “Hey, where’s this guy at?” and we would be like “Hey, he didn’t wake up” and they would say “That doesn’t cut it here on this side.” It was like military fashion.

AM: How much did your hand injury affect you during the fight itself?

DB: After I threw that right and knocked him down and he had a broken nose, I thought that I broke my hand to tell you the truth, Adam. I felt like, a lot of people don’t know this, but I felt like I seriously broke my hand, I thought it was broken. I just got a shot of pain all the way up to my spine and I just kind of hesitated for a second.

If you’ve got that much adrenaline pumping and you feel that pain, then that’s not good, because usually you don’t feel your injuries until the next morning because you’re so juiced up on adrenaline. I felt it right then, instantaneously, boom. I just thought in my mind “I broke my hand.” I was really hesitant to throw after that. All around, that was a performance that I was highly disappointed in because of the situation. I was wearing an extra large glove and my hand almost didn’t fit into the largest glove they have. If it wouldn’t have fit in that glove then I wouldn’t have been able to fight.

AM: Did you get the hand checked out again?

DB: Yeah, it’s down now, but there’s still a little lump. People when they look at it, they say “Man, that’s still messed up,” but you know, it’s good to go. It’s a little bit elevated on the knuckles compared to the other side, I think there’s some circulation problems, but it’s good to go now. I’ll be throwin’, that’s for sure.

AM: Do you feel that there was any overtraining on Matt Hughes’ part?

DB: You know what, man? Overtraining? Under resting? I don’t really believe in overtraining, but under resting? I don’t think a lot of guys were recouping fast enough or not at all. That situation is different, you know, Matt Hughes is a coach in the house but that’s a lot different than being an actual fighter in the house. That’s a whole different story. We’re going back to the house and we live there and it’s just a lot more stressful than when you’re staying in a hotel room where you can call people.

Some guys liked to stay up late and other guys liked to go to bed early. If you’re in a hotel you can get a wake up call and everything is quiet, but if you’re in a house with sixteen dudes and some guys are drinking, then everyone else hears it too, you know? It’s not really a controlled environment. You can’t really control whether it’s going to be quiet that night or not.

AM: You mentioned on the show that you had a job with the Fire Department and said that your Chief told you that you wouldn’t have a job when you came back. Did that hold true?

DB: Yeah it did, buddy! Sure did. That was 100% true. It was crazy because I’m a firm believer that everything happens for a reason and everything up to that point had amounted to me being selected to go and I felt that for me not to go would be a spit in God’s face or something. Hundreds of thousands of guys try out and to get selected and get an opportunity like that, I just felt like I had to do it.

I still have all my certs, I’m an EMT, Hazmat, all that, so for me to get picked up wouldn’t be a problem. Just the fact that it came at that time was and it was just like a blunt end when you’re so used to regular hours and everything, your medical and dental benefits, everything’s good, and then everything just stops. It was definitely a big decision, you know?

AM: Once in a lifetime opportunity for you, though, right?

DB: Yeah, man. I think about it, I pray about it, I think, man, I would have done the same thing. Any day. Any day of the given week. ‘Cause you, know what Adam, I’ve met so many guys in my life that I could see it in their eyes, man, they never took it to the next level. They never took that shot. They had all the talent in the world, they had all the opportunity in the world and they just didn’t step up, man. People have been on ESPN Magazine, USA Today boxing and all that and these guys sponsored them and they just didn’t step up and I can’t be one of those guys. I had to know.

That’s what I told my Chief. When I said “I’m retiring,” he said “Dude, are you crazy?” He thought I was going to go the other way when he told me I wasn’t going to have a job. I want to be able to look down the road in ten years, be able to look in the mirror and tell myself, man, “Hey, you know what? I went for it, man.” Whatever it ends up being, I went for it, you know? I went balls out and I took a shot, man. There’s a lot of guys that can’t say that, especially in the UFC.

AM: We all know there’s some tricky editing as far as putting the episodes of The Ultimate Fighter together goes. At one point during the episode with your fight, there are multiple scenes where you leave practice to go to the bathroom. Later on, they show us the camera angle from the bathroom and it was you shadowboxing in the mirror almost the whole time. Care to explain the situation for everyone?

DB: Yeah, you know what, man? These cats weren’t telling me they were gonna do this. They did me dirty with the shots of the bathroom. They didn’t tell me they were gonna do it like that, but honestly I shadowbox a lot but it wasn’t like that, man. I’ll tell you what it was. Hughes had us drinking Muscle Milk all the time and it was messing my stomach up during practices, like always right in the middle. I was getting torn up, my stomach was just torn up. Some guys wouldn’t even drink it, but like I said, it was just kind of like a military thing, drink your Muscle Milk. I mean, yeah, I would shadowbox in the bathroom a lot, but not that much like they were showing.

AM: You were 1-0 coming into the season, is that right?

DB: Yeah, that’s what they put it down as. For boxing I’m like 15-3 with some Olympic boxing. I’ve had about 6 MMA fights but they were all amateur fights but they just wrote down this all military MMA tournament where I beat everyone and that’s all they put down.

AM: How do you feel about the experience level of most of the fighters on the show this year?

DB: I’d say everybody was pretty legit. I think, honestly, as far as the fights go and the character of the people, I’d say it was top notch and this is the best season yet. Not just because it was mine, but I’ve watched all the episodes and watched all the seasons before where somebody’s an alcoholic, somebody’s doing something crazy, or somebody’s jumping the fence and runs off, gets kicked off. All of our guys, they were there and they went in there and threw down. I was happy and I hope all of the guys that were in the house, I hope they all do well in the UFC because that’s like my fraternity, you know what I’m saying? I hope everybody does well, I hope everybody beats those other guys from the other seasons and makes us shine.

AM: Outside of George Sotiroopolous and obviously Mac Danzig, it seemed like everyone was mostly rookies. Do you feel that it was fair that Hughes was going so rough on what seemed to be a rookie class of fighters?

DB: They only gave us a few weeks, you know? The way they run their corner and the way I’m used to my corner running was different. Everybody was just in a whole different environment. Do I listen to my corner or do you just kinda take me into your own hands? Some of the guys were just thinking “I’m just gonna do what I do.” As far as being too rough on anybody, I don’t think it was overtraining. More just the under resting part. You come back after a few hours and you just go at it again. There’s only so much a human body can take before it gets a toll taken on it.

AM: Do you think Hughes’ feud with Matt Serra ever clouded his judgment at all as far as training goes?

DB: I think he wanted us to be tougher and better because he doesn’t like to lose at anything. I found out when I was on the show that he’s just competitive at everything. It could be a first grade drawing contest, man. I think it’s because he has a twin and those guys maybe are just competitive at everything growing up. He just doesn’t like to lose at anything.

I know that they (Hughes and Serra) are in two different worlds. They don’t see eye to eye at all.

AM: I think everyone out there saw your fight with Ben Saunders as one of the better fights this season and one of the best in the history of the show. Do you wish there’s anything you would have done differently to change the outcome?

DB: I guess I could have just asked for another round, man. I don’t know, man. It was just, like, wow, with the judges that they thought the first round wasn’t going to be in my favor. I just had to roll with it, man. It’s gonna be a lot different comin’ out this time out.

AM: How are you physically feeling now that the show’s over?

DB: I’m healthy, no surgeries or nothing. Some guys I know came out of the show and people were busted up, man. Some guys have had surgeries that will pain them for the rest of your life, so I feel blessed to come out healthy and good, man.

AM: Who are you training with currently?

DB: Yeah, I’ve been working with the Army Combative and the black belt in jiu jitsu out here, Jason Keaton. It’s the same crew, man. I really don’t feel like I was out of shape at all. I felt like during the evaluations that I was probably in the best shape out of everybody the first day. Hughes picked me and I thought I was gonna fight first. I really did. I was kind of disappointed. They didn’t show that part on the editing, but I was kind of pissed when they said “Okay, Mac, you get to fight” and I was like, “Well, why is that? Why don’t we see who’s in better shape right now?”

It was a dictatorship, it wasn’t really a democracy. I got called out when things weren’t going so great on my end and I could have fought in week one or week two. I was closer than anybody else to weight. I came in at 176. I was ready to fight that day. I would have fought that night, but it is what it is, man.

AM: Well, thanks for taking the time out of your day to do this interview with us. Are there any sponsors you’d like to thank or anybody you’d like to give a shout out to?

DB: Yeah, you know, my sponsor is Jesus, man. He’s my sponsor. Just want to thank everybody that had my back and everything, but hey man, thanks for the interview.

Big thanks to Dan for doing this interview with us. He was a good sport and a very interesting cat to talk to. He’ll be fighting on the TUF 6 Finale on December 8th and Five Ounces of Pain will have the exclusive on who his opponent will be, so be sure to check back early and often.