He was a three-time All-American or two-time All-American and we were 5-5 all through college. His senior year, we had to wrestle to be an All-American and he beat me by something like two points, the lowest scoring match we ever had.

He's the only guy that I've seen jump in from my weight, but I'm sure there will be some more down the road.

In an interview with Fight! Magazine a while back you credited former WEC featherweight champ Urijah Faber with pushing you to get into MMA.

Tell us about that relationship.

When I was wrestling in college, Urijah was like three years ahead of me. He was helping out at UC-Davis as an assistant coach. I knew him and he used to wrestle my main training partner Jesse Brock; they used to always compete against each other when Urijah was still in college.

I knew him, we had been talking and as I got closer to graduating, Urijah had started fighting and he started telling me, "You gotta fight, man. You'd be good at it and there's money to be made." I thought about it and by the time I was done with college I didn't All-American like I wanted to; all three years I went to NCAA's I was one round out. I think I missed out on being a three-time All-American by a total of like six points.

It was the worst feeling of my life, so I took Urijah's word and I literally flew back from NCAA's my senior year on a Sunday and went and started training MMA on the Monday. He told me to try it, so I tried it and I loved it.

I was always a fan of the sport; my dad and my little brother and I used to watch the early UFC and I always thought it would be fun to do. Now I love the sport and there is nothing right now that is going to take me away from it.

You lost your WEC debut to Greg Jackson product and Top 10 ranked Damacio Page, though many observers felt you did enough to win that fight.

What are your feelings about that bout and is a second chance to fight Page something you'd like down the road?

I'll fight anybody that I've lost to. I'll fight anybody period, but especially those guys I've lost to. I want those fights back.

That particular fight, I remember everything about it. My opponent got switched like four or five days out, so I'll I heard was he had heavy hands. I had never stood and traded with anyone, so I relied on my wrestling a lot in that fight and I spent a lot of time on top of him, ground and pounding. I landed some good punches on my feet.

I do remember never being hurt. I know from watching the fight and hearing the announcers, they thought he was getting through, but he was never getting through with anything clean. I remember feeling like I was in total control of that fight, even when I got taken down. I either reversed him or stood back up with no damage until the third round.

At the end of the second round I felt like I had the fight won granted I didn't do anything stupid, which is my own mistake and something I never would...