Phillipe Nover: Rob is very similar to Kyle Bradley so I'm carrying over most of what I worked on leading up to that fight. He's a very tough guy, but so is every other UFC fighter. He's fought Gray Maynard before so he knows what it's like to bang with high level opponents. I respect him for that, but he's never fought Phillipe Nover before and we're going to see the new and improved version come February 6th.

FiveKnuckles.com: UFC 109 is going to be a great card indeed. What can you tell me about some of the other fights taking place?

Phillipe Nover: I think it's going to be a great fight card with a lot of east coast representation. Dan Miller is fighting, along with Rolles Gracie, Matt Serra, and myself so hopefully we all pull through. There's also the legendary main event between Randy Couture and Mark Coleman and the Marquardt/Sonnen fight is a great one too. I don't know if my fight will be aired or not, hopefully it will. I'm only concerned about winning this one.

FiveKnuckles.com: The last thing I'm going to ask you about is the legalization of MMA in New York. What's it going to be like when they finally put the bill through and you can hop on the subway down to your fight at Madison Square Garden?

Phillipe Nover: That's going to be amazing. I'll tell you right now the tickets will sell in about 30 seconds. There's a decent amount of fan recognition in New York, but there could be way more. There's always a billboard in Times Square with fighters on it, but New Yorkers need to see things before they believe it. MMA doesn't have that Las Vegas feel in New York. People don't respect MMA as much as they should and that's only because it hasn't been here yet.

In Vegas, people recognize fighters that walk into a McDonalds. Here, I'm on the subway everyday and nobody would have a clue. I don't mind that, that's just how New York is different. I would be more than thrilled to jump on the subway, ride down to Penn Station, hop off, fight in front of the best crowd in the world, hop back on the subway and go home. I'm literally 20 minutes from that stop and I pass it every day. It would be a dream come true. The only bigger dream I have is to fight at a UFC event in the Philippines one day.

FiveKnuckles.com: Give a shout out to teammates, coaches, sponsors, or anybody you'd like to thank.

Phillipe Nover: I definitely would like to thank my trainer Clarence Everett. He's my chief trainer and he's been helping me for many years. We've been sharpening up our old tools and refining some new ones together so I would like to thank "Cee" very much. I'd also like to thank Dave Esposito. He's one of the new guys I'm bringing aboard for this fight, and rounding out my three corner men is Nardu Debrah.

To throw some sponsors in there, I'd like to thank Tokyo Five Jeans, Jaco shorts, and powerstaffworkout.com.

Follow Phillipe on Twitter @PhillipeNover

Tommy Kail is a former athlete at the collegiate and professional levels and has been involved with sports his entire life. He is passionate about advocating for MMA athletes by shedding light on them as individuals and giving you a take you might not get anywhere else. 

Make sure to check back with us the day of the event for free, live, round-by-round coverage of UFC 109 right here at FiveKnuckles.com! Join expert analyst Mike Williams as he takes you through the entire fight card blow-by-blow and then keep it right here for all the post-fight news and notes you can handle!