Then Gilbert says that he’s fighting Kawajiri, which comes completely out of the blue after PRIDE had spent two months building up to a fight. Now, you have Aoki showing some frustration with PRIDE in regards to upcoming fights. Something is going on.

GM: Thanks. Yeah, man. It’s been my breakout year definitely. Last year this time, I was still you know like…living the life of a struggling fighter. I was in survival mode – financially and trying to hustle to get fights. Here I am a year later, invited to fight for what will probably be the most viewed MMA show of 2006, and set to fight one of the best fighters in the world in my weight division. Despite injury, it’s been one hell of a year for me and I expect to end the year big.

RP: Speaking of injuries, how is your arm?

GM: It was actually my elbow. It’s fine now, doesn’t pose a problem.

RP: Initially, it was Shinya Aoki that you were expected to fight on Shockwave. It was surprising to a lot of people that you are set to go up against Tatsuya Kawajiri. What happened?

GM: Yeah, since I had to pull out of the fight against Aoki in November because of my injury, it seemed we would be able to re-schedule the fight for the New Year’s Eve show. They were trying to work it out and I think it has something to do with Aoki fighting on a Shooto card. A lot of people want to see Aoki and I, so I know it’ll happen when the time is right. I’m not really sure how the decision came to be to match me up with Kawajiri as opposed to someone else. Right now, I’m just thinking about Kawajiri.

RP: What’s your opinion of Kawajiri and what are your feelings toward the match-up?

GM: (laughing) Thank God, I knew what I was signing up for. Kawajiri’s tough, strong, explosive, very active, great stand up, great GnP, veteran, proven top 3 lightweight in the world. He’s known as “the crusher” for good reason. It’s a classic match-up on a lot of levels. Style-wise, there’s a lot of similarities between us – we’re both straight forward scrappy fighters, you’re not going to see a lot of fancy, flashy, slick stuff in our fighting. He’s been tested, very experienced and here I am, the new kid. People have said, I need to be tested by fighting the big boys and you know what? That’s absolutely right. Pretty much every fight I have ever had has been my “biggest test” yet so I’m used to the doubters. I know I still need to prove myself and I accept that challenge. I’ll tell you this though, I look forward to proving myself and I’ll be bringin’ it come Dec. 31st.

RP: It’s interesting that you say that your next opponent seems to always be labeled as your “biggest test,” yet you have an undefeated record still. How much thought do you give to maintaining that perfect record?

GM: Well, first of all I consider a perfect record to be when someone finishes every fight. So, even though I’m undefeated, I don’t have a perfect record. I did have a perfect record through my 7th MMA fight, but to answer your real question, I don’t give any thought to losing. Losing is part of the game, I’ve long accepted that. Don’t mistake that to mean that I would be at ease with a loss. When you watch me fight, do I look like I would handle a loss well? Of course, I’d love to remain and retire undefeated, but that’s not my goal. My goal is to be #1. At this point in my career, I could probably make a comfortable living fighting 2nd tier fighters and fighters in the twilight of their careers. I’m at a point where I probably can have the option to sit back and cherry pick my opponents if all I cared about was being undefeated, but that’s not where it’s at for me. If I fight with all my heart and I lose, the way I see it, I needed a loss to teach me a lesson I needed to learn so that I can be #1.

RP: You’re still the Lightweight Champion for Strikeforce, so when will you be defending your title?

GM: I expect that to happen for sure next year.

RP: Do people recognize you now as a professional fighter? You’re developing a pretty big fan base.

GM: (laughs) If you’re talking about like at the gas station or supermarket, no man. My popularity has quite a long ways to go for that level of recognition. I go to a lot of MMA shows, where, you know people follow the sport, so, yeah where MMA fans congregate, people recognize me. It’s funny you ask though because up until this year, it’s only been the real, real, hardcore fans that had ever heard of me mostly from my days at Shooto and so I’m glad that a lot more MMA fans have had a chance to watch me fight. I noticed that people who knew of me before this year, really know MMA. It’s cool that they are a hardcore and knowledgeable bunch. I like that a lot. In Japan, I would say that I’m a little more recognized.

RP: Thanks for taking the time and lastly, what are your predictions for your fight with Kawajiri?

GM: Thank you. As a huge MMA fan myself, I hope this doesn’t come off as being arrogant because it doesn’t come from that place, but I’d be really excited to watch this fight – doesn’t matter who’s side you’re on or even if you don’t care for either of us, but it’s an intense match-up. Someone said, it’s a real hardcore MMA fan’s type of fight. I have to agree with that.

I’m takin’ it, he’s gonna give me one hell of a fight though, but I’m takin’ it.

There’s the fascinating start to Edwin Valero’s career. 18 fights all wins by 1st round TKO. Then he backs up his rep with a brilliant ten round TKO win over legit WBA Champ Vicente Mosquera. And let’s not forget that the Venezuelan KO artist has an added risk of death every time he steps into the ring because of his motorcycle accident. A risk so real he’s been banned from fighting in the U.S.

And what about Kassim Ouma? As a six year old he was abducted into the Ugandan army and forced to kill other little kids for five years. He later escaped to America and lived in the streets while hanging around a boxing gym. Next week he challenges Jermain Taylor for the Middleweight Championship of the world.

And let’s not forget Manny Pacquiao’s Godlike status in the Philippines. Last month when he fought Erik Morales 67% of all TV’s in his country tuned in. Ali never came anywhere near that level of popularity in any country.