MS: In his recent string of wins, most people think he’s looked invincible with the way he dominated Sherk, Sakurai, Newton in the rematch and most recently, Trigg. By watching his latest fights, what flaw in his style do you see that you can capitalize on?

BP: I see some stuff that I don’t want to talk about. (Laughs) I’m not trying to hold out on you, but I feel that there is some stuff that I can definitely do out there, though.

MS: Ever since this fight was announced and that you were making your welterweight debut against Hughes, not many people have fully backed you in terms of the regulars on the various forums. Of course you have supporters, but it seems that the vast majority of MMA fans think you’ll get owned by Hughes, even many of your fans. How much does this bother you, if at all?

BP: Infidels!! (Laughs) Nah, just kidding. Nah, it doesn’t bother me. You know what? This is the first time in my life that I’m going to be an underdog in any of my fights. I’ve always been the favorite, so this is kind of fun, actually. There’s always going to be those people, though, that even if I do beat Hughes- Wait. I mean, when I beat Hughes, they’re going to say that stuff, but whatever. The only people’s opinion that really matter is the team that I’m with. And if someone over here on my team said that I couldn’t do it, I’d say to get the fuck out of here! But no, that doesn’t bother me too much.

MS: Exactly because no matter what you do, you can’t please everybody. There is always going to be somebody trashing you.

BP: Yeah and even after I beat him, they’ll still say that I never got over the Pulver thing or that I drew with Uno or that I didn’t fight Serra well. Who cares? Every fighter goes through adversity. If I never went through all the stuff, if I never had that adversity and didn’t have a tough career, like if I walked through Jens and got the belt, I wouldn’t be having as good time as I’ve had. All these people that are with you, then they’re not with you, then they like you again and this and that, then there are the people will never like you and then there are people who will always like you, so it’s okay.

MS: One thing that I noticed, though, that when you fought Pulver, everybody was riding the BJ bandwagon and though you lost to Jens, not many people jumped off. They still stuck behind you, unlike other fighters who lose their fans the instant they lose.

BP: Honestly, I think people have faith in me and think that I’m one of the best talents to ever fight. I think they realize that I have had problems in my career. I think that maybe they believe that I haven’t reached my potential yet and are still waiting to see that knockout of Din Thomas, that knockout of Uno again. That kind of stuff will happen again, you know, and I am very happy that all these people have stuck around. It’s good to hear people talking about you like that and understand that it could take some time. This is going to be my tenth fight now and I know I have gotten a lot better. Before I used to fight really hard and look great, then I’d not really try hard and kind of relax. Then I saw what was happening and changed that. I am happy with myself now. I was really happy with my performance against Gomi. I just started having fun again. Before I was just all about that I gotta win, I gotta look good, I gotta do this and that, but then I started just having fun again. It’s fun in my training, too. I’m just having a good time like doing other things like swimming in rivers, running on the road, jumping off waterfalls, all kinds of things that I loved to do before I started fighting. I’ve started to finally get back to doing all those fun things again.

MS: You’re alive again! I can hear it in your voice.