One of the more charismatic figures within the sport of mixed martial arts is welterweight contender Frank Trigg. His brutally honest opinions have ignited debate as to whether he is the most entertaining fighter outside of the ring when he speaks, but Trigg isn’t one to try and build himself up. He simply just speaks from his heart and, quite frankly, doesn’t really care what anybody thinks of him.

He is a California resident who posses a New York mentality and if you don’t enjoy the things he spews from his grill, so be it. Whether it is openly trashing his foes like Matt Hughes and Dennis Hallman or simply just giving his opinion on why B J Penn was stripped of his UFC belt, all ears are usually always on “Twinkle Toes.”

But the interview we conducted with Trigg a few days back was actually somewhat surprising, as Trigg didn’t overly express himself as he usually does. Has Trigg become a changed man?

Sherdog.com: Frank, here’s a question I am sure you are so sick of hearing; what are your thoughts on Matt Hughes as a person and a fighter now that you have already had the opportunity to fight him?

Frank Trigg: There’s some personal history between Matt and I that will remain out of the media. There is some personal history. I know there what the personal history is and we’ll leave it at that. I don’t have a very favorable rating for him as a person but that is something between him and me.

Sherdog.com: Not to pry, but did this happen before you guys first fought or after?

Trigg: After we first fought. It was after. No, I take that back! This actually goes back to long before we first fought. It actually goes way back before we first fought and it continued through the fight and then continued on just recently, maybe a year ago.

Sherdog.com: I respect your wishes not to allow it into the media, Frank. But with that said, it must have eaten you alive to lose to him when you first fought back in UFC 45.

Trigg: It did. It put me through a very severe depression, actually. I went through almost an eight-month depression after losing to him. I started questioning whether I should continue fighting because he is a guy I know I could beat. I know I am better than him. I know that I have a better training situation than he does. I know that I have more passion about the fight game. I know I am more hungry about getting the belt and keeping it and I knew that back in November of 2003. I went in there and made a mistake and Matt Hughes being Matt Hughes took advantage of my mistake and finished the fight.

It put me into a deep, deep downward spiral and I wasn’t sure what was going on. It was kind of like seeing a piece of history that disproves your entire belief system. It put me into depression, but I was able to pull myself through it. Beating Hallman kind of helped me through it and beating Charuto helped me pull through a little bit more.

Sherdog.com: I did hear the rumblings about you being depressed and bummed out but I never knew how severe it was. Did you resort to heavy drinking or drub abuse to help you through the depression like so many others?

Trigg: Well, traditionally, we fighters kind of like to party after we win. We drink and party and celebrate after they win and they drink when they lose to kind of quell it. Even Matt said that after he lost to B J Penn, he was drinking a bunch of beer, but he got over it. This last time when I lost to Matt, I chose not to drink my sorrows away. I sat down and tried to figure out what went wrong. I sat down and tried to figure out a real scientific approach to it and I had to figure what I needed to do to make myself a better person and a better fighter. So, instead of self-medicating with alcohol and drugs, I chose a different path. I wouldn’t say a higher path or a better path, but I chose a different path. It seemed to work.

Sherdog.com: Going back to Hallman, did that really boost your confidence or did you still suffer from the depression even after that win?

Trigg: I was kind of over it by the time I got to Dennis. I wasn’t completely over it but I got along pretty well. I kind of felt that the fight went OK; I don’t think it was picture perfect fight. I think I made some mistakes that could have been improved upon and I tried to work on them for when I fought Charuto.