Once upon a time, Phillipe Nover was considered the UFC's future golden boy. He was going forward and up and nobody could stop him. A finalist on The Ultimate Fighter 8, he fell on some bad luck, losing three straight fights in the Octagon.

Since getting booted from the organization following his UFC 109 loss in February, he's rebounded and gotten himself on a different track. Nover's now looking to open a gym and gain stability outside of fighting before returning to the ring. Even though he's gotten offers from several places, he's intent on keeping his job as a nurse and an MMA teacher until the new school is open.

Between working at the hospital and the gym, Nover found some time to discuss some hot topics with FiveKnuckles.com, including furthering his career, what unions would do for MMA, the possibility of a cruiserweight division, and his thoughts on the Frankie Edgar vs. B.J. Penn rematch.

FiveKnuckles.com: What have you been up to since your fans saw you last?

Phillipe Nover: I've been doing a lot of teaching lately, and I'm looking to open a school soon. I've been teaching at Brooklyn Mixed Martial Arts. We're looking to expand and open a new place, and I'm gonna partner up, and we're gonna work on having an MMA place in Brooklyn. That's what I've been up to, along with some training and also nursing. I've been doing a lot of nursing lately. It's just something a little more stable right now. Once the school kicks off and things start going, I can start directing myself towards another fight. But I have a lot of requests and different people have contacted me from different organizations. So it's just a matter of saying yes to one of them. I don't think it's a rush right now. I really wanna pursue MMA, not only just in fighting. I think the smart thing to do is make sure I'm stable enough in other ways also, in opening a school and doing something stable. As a fighter for two years, I quit my nursing job, I lost my pension, health insurance - these things are important for a professional fighter. The UFC didn't provide that, so I sacrificed that. But right now I'm gonna get back into nursing. I'm working on getting a full-time job pretty soon. And then with that, and once my school kicks off, I can start scheduling a fight. So that's what I'm looking forward to right now.

FiveKnuckles.com: Speaking of no medical insurance, there has been talk about having fighters unions. What are your thoughts on that? Could it help with insurance and the pay scale?

Phillipe Nover: I think with every organization, every professional sport, there needs to be some type of union involved. Especially in professional sports. In the UFC, they have a lot of money. For a newcomer or up-and-comers to step into the UFC, they start them off kinda small - $4,000 to fight and $4,000 to win. That's not a lot when you have a three-month training camp. I think that the pay scale is questionable and could be increased. And I definitely think medical insurance should be a standard with all professional athletes. I'm pretty sure fighters wouldn't mind paying a small premium each month. Some fights don't have health insurance, and some fighters have to pay...