FiveKnuckles.com: On March 6 at WEC 47, you're taking on Dominick Cruz who is next in line for a title shot. Dominick has similar experience to you with his only loss coming to a pretty well known fighter in Urijah Faber. What are your thoughts on Dominick?

Brian Bowles: I think Dominick is a very similar fighter to me. He's a boxer/wrestler type. He can obviously hold his own or he wouldn't be in this position. He does some things differently, which isn't such a bad thing in today's game. His weird head movement and footwork can pose a problem for anybody, but I've been training to deal with what he has to offer. But it's not like I'm sitting down and studying his every move, because at the end of the day, a fight is a fight.

I've seen all of his fights. He's a tough fighter, but I'm not going to over simplify the situation. I know he's going to bring it all, and so am I.

FiveKnuckles.com: None of your professional fights have gone the full three rounds, let alone five. Are you prepared to go the full twenty-five minutes against Cruz, and what are you doing differently to prepare?

Brian Bowles: I'm fully prepared to go five rounds no matter what the situation. Five rounds is definitely a different pace, and I've only prepared for one five round fight which was my last one, but the fight didn't make it out of the second round. A lot of it depends on who you're fighting. I know Miguel likes to come out and test his opponent. He wants his opponent to waste his energy in the first couple rounds and go in for the kill as the fight progresses. As far as Dominick goes, I'm sure he's training hard and will look at this fight like any other one he's been in, regardless if it's his first five-rounder.

I'm not really doing anything differently from the last fight with Miguel. I prepared to take that fight the distance, but it didn't end up that way. I trained for the Miguel fight to go more than five rounds. I don't train to go the distance; I train to go longer than the distance. Even when I train for a three round fight, I train to go five rounds, so it's nothing new to me. I've done this before. I know how to train and prepare myself. I'll definitely be ready to go five rounds.

Dominick's fights tend to go to the decision, so I have to be ready to take this one the distance. He's pretty much a decision machine. I know he likes to take fights into the later rounds, so I need to push the pace and not wait around so much. And I certainly don't want him to feel comfortable in there with me.

FiveKnuckles.com: On the same card in Columbus, Torres takes on Joseph Benavidez whom Dominick defeated to get to you. Do you see that fight playing out as the number one contender fight?

Brian Bowles: That's a good fight. Both of those guys are really good. It's also a weird match-up with Joseph being short, and Miguel being so tall and long. You never really know what's going to happen. I feel that Joseph can go into the...