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against Brad Blackburn which was his second impressive fight in a row. I've trained with him before at Couture's, his Muy Thai is sharp. He's a great athlete and he's really progressing. FiveKnuckles.com: (Jokingly) Maybe the two of you can meet at a catch weight in a battle of the medical field superstars?
Phillipe Nover: (Laughs) We can do an intravenous showdown. That would be cool.
FiveKnuckles.com: In moving on, you were the favorite going into TUF season 8 finals. How big of a letdown was your loss to Efrain?
Phillipe Nover: I was the heavy favorite and I thought I was going to knock his head off. That was literally my objective. I didn't have a good strategy going into that fight. I should have sat back a little and waited for him to come to me, but I came out a little too confident. I was focused on trying to get the knockout instead of strategizing properly and the moment you over commit to those big punches, mistakes start to happen. There are a bunch of different things I could've done differently, but there's nothing I can do about it now. Efrain's a great fighter and he definitely beat me that night.
FiveKnuckles.com: What are your thoughts on Efrain's last fight against Evan Dunham if you had a chance to see it?
Phillipe Nover: I wasn't surprised at all. I've trained with Evan before and he's just a straight up beast. His jiu-jitsu is at a super high level and that caught Efrain off guard. I used to feel like white belt when I rolled with him. Efrain had a chance to finish the fight in the first round, but once he let Evan regain his composure enough to take the fight into jiu-jitsu mode, it was downhill from there.
FiveKnuckles.com: I actually talked to Evan before that fight and his plan worked to a tee. I think being a southpaw in the stand-up game threw Efrain off just enough to weather the initial storm and get the fight to the ground where he wanted it.
Phillipe Nover: Efrain wasn't having an easy time connecting big like he wanted to, that's for sure. If nothing else, it was certainly an exciting fight to watch. Both of those two are really good fighters with bright futures in the UFC.
FiveKnuckles.com: On a more recent note, you were set up to take on Sam Stout at UFC Fight Night 19, but the fight was cancelled due to an incident that happened with you backstage during fight preparation. Can you explain what happened back there?
Phillipe Nover: Everybody was saying I suffered from a seizure, but that wasn't the case. I can assure you that I do not suffer from seizures. Since the incident happened, I've seen every professional under the sun. I've been to a neurologist, a cardiologist, my regular doctor, a nutritionist. I've seen everyone I needed to see relevant to the situation and I got so many specialists on staff that helped me out. My neurologist said it wasn't a seizure. My cardiologist said my heart is working in a perfectly normal condition.
It most certainly could've been a combination of anxiety built up, cutting weight, and probably eating incorrectly after the weight cut. I've been known to gorge myself improperly which...
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