[Ramma]

UFC middleweight contender Travis Lutter talks about his intriguing clash with Rich Franklin at UFC 83. Check out what he had to say about the fight as well as his thoughts on Anderson Silva, Nate Marquardt and much more.


PC: How are you doing my man?


TL: It's going good man. How about you?


PC: Everything is good here. I'm glad to see you got the fight that you wanted against Rich Franklin. How excited are you about fighting him?


TL: I couldn't be happier. The only way I would be happier is if I was fighting Anderson! I'm excited about it.


PC: Who gave you the call to let you know the fight was official?


TL: My agent called me and said that the UFC talked to them so I'm guessing it was Joe Silva. He didn't say exactly who, but I'm sure it was Joe.


PC: It's ironic that both of you guys are coming off of losses to Silva, but you faired a lot better than Franklin did. Do you feel like you have the momentum coming into this fight?


TL: I think so, you know. It's a fight and anything can happen, but I just think, stylistically and everything like that, Rich is a good fight for me. Rich is going to beat 90 % of the guys out there at 185 pounds, but I think I can take him down and beat him up. We'll find out.


PC: How do you feel about fighting in Canada?


TL: I'm perfectly happy with that. I'm excited about going to Canada and seeing what that's all about. I've flown through there, but I've never spent any time over there so I'm pretty excited about being able to spend a little bit of time there. I'm very excited about spending time there, being there for the week and hanging out. It will be nice to see the country a little bit.


PC: I'm sure you have to be pleased with the fight being in more of a neutral site than the original venue of Ohio?


TL: Yeah, I'm still expecting to get booed when I walk out there, but hopefully it won't be as bad as Ohio would've been.


PC: How important is it for you to wipe away the memory of the Silva weigh-in from fans' minds?


TL: I guess everybody makes mistakes. It's a little harder to forget when it's something like that; something that important. I don't even have words to describe it. I'm just going to go out there and make weight and make it look easy and hopefully they'll forget about it.


PC: The fight isn't until April. When will you began hardcore training for the fight?


TL: I'm already training hard, but we'll definitely step it up here in the middle of February. In the middle of February, we'll be picking it up and by March, we'll be hitting our stride.


PC: Rich is coming off of a tough loss to Silva and has a lot to prove to his fans. Do you think you'll get one of the hungrier Rich Franklin's we've seen in awhile?


TL: I don't know. I think that's a good question. I think Rich has made a little bit of money and I heard he made a movie and any time you've got distractions like that, it's…I don't know. I don't want to assume that I know Rich or what he's going through or if he's hungry or not. It's my time now and I'm ready to go out there and beat Rich whether he's 80% or 120%. I just want to go out there and take it to Rich and that's what I'm going to do.


PC: It's been awhile for you and I'm sure you're pretty anxious to get in there again.


TL: Yeah! It was nice until August to have the little bit of break I had, but then after that, I got injured and stuff and then you're just wanting to get back in the Octagon. A year is a long time to not be competing and everybody forgets about you by the time a year goes by.


PC: Yeah, it's a big difference between resting and rehabbing I'm sure.


TL: Yeah, and I'm in the gym every day regardless. I have my school and I'm training with my guys and helping them train for their fights and stuff like that. I'm here and I'm training, but it's still not the same as when you're fighting.


PC: It's no secret Rich will come out swinging. How important is it for you to impose your gameplan on him similar to the way Silva makes him fight in the clinch?


TL: I think with the way I fight and taking people down and doing what I do, it's always important for me to be able to impose my will. I have to be able to clinch and take people down. If me and him had to be in a kickboxing fight, it would be like me and Anderson being in a kickboxing fight and I'll lose that fight. This is not kickboxing, this is MMA, thank goodness, and I could go out there and take people down and beat them up.


PC: I spoke with Nate Marquardt and he said that he would love to fight the winner of you and Rich. What did you think of his performance against Jeremy Horn?


TL: He looked good. He looked tough against Horn. Horn has had some tough losses lately. I don't know what he is in his last 5 or 10 fights, but I know he lost to Lindland, he lost in Art of War and to Marquardt. All of these fights are tough fights to lose and I feel bad for him. I don't know Nate at all. If they want me to fight Nate, I'll fight Nate and if they want me to fight Anderson, I'll fight Anderson. Whoever they want to put in front of me. I think Nate's a good opponent, but I don't have a big desire to fight him or anything like that. Whoever the UFC wants me to fight.


PC: Travis, we'll get a lot more with you the closer the fight gets. Congratulations on it happening for you. Is there anything you want to say in closing?


TL: Thanks for calling and thanks to the fans. I'll talk to you soon.

Source - FIGHTHYPE \\ CONTENT

Lutter coming off classy as usual. It is a shame he didn't make weight for the title fight.. I think most people have gotten passed it at this point....

If he had missed weight and won, it would have been much worse.