FiveKnuckles.com: But what about the fans that pay money to buy tickets and pay-per-views and wait long periods of time for some of these fights to take place?

Mackens Semerzier: Don't get it twisted, I'm a fight fan first and I talk to a lot of people about what's going on. My buddy and I talk fighting all the time and I listen to him calling fighters pussies when they back out. I get where fans are coming from, but they're dead wrong calling these guys pussies because that's definitely not the case. In this game, the job security just isn't that great. Your career can be seriously affected, even if you lose a close decision which we see a lot of times. I know it comes along with the territory and it happens to the best of them, but there's not much we as fighters can do. These fighters really do want to fight, but sometimes you just can't ruin that chance with the stakes being so high. You have to be as close to one-hundred percent as you can be once fight night comes around.

Back in the day, it didn't matter. All you had to do was put on a show. Now, you have to put on a show and you have to win. At first, it was, do whatever you can do to win. Lay on the guy, punch him a couple times, get the win, and raise your hand. Then, the fans wanted a show so the fighters had to adjust. If a fighter wanted to get sponsored or put on the main card, you had to put on a show. Now, it's put on a show and win. It's not go out there, scrap, and lose. You have to go out there, scrap, and come away with the victory. Fighters just aren't taking many chances with their careers and rightfully so.

FiveKnuckles.com: Well, that's certainly an interesting take on the subject and it makes perfect sense. Moving on, what's it like to train with such an accomplished fighter like Miguel Torres who has nothing but good things to say about you?

Mackens Semerzier: Training with Miguel is a lot different than what I've been accustomed to. The cool thing about him is that he gets his hands dirty. Whoever is the head of the gym is usually not participating in what's going on. They might run the gym or they might teach the classes, but they're not usually in the training sections scrapping out with the fighters. Miguel owns his gym, he teaches the classes, he runs the business end and he throws down. He can do whatever he wants, it's his gym. If the music is playing too loud, he can shut it off. If he's teaching a class, he can take his shirt off and walk around with no shirt on and wear those little umbros that he likes to wear (laughs). Sometimes, he just calls guys out of the class, lines them up, gets them in the...