'UFC 136: Edgar Vs. Maynard 3' Conference Call Notes And Quotes

UFC 136: Edgar vs. Maynard 3 is set to go down next Saturday, October 8 from the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas. The card will feature the much-anticipated rubber match between UFC lightweight champion Frankie Edgar and Gray Maynard, a featherweight title contest between champ Jose Aldo and recent divisional entrant Kenny Florian, as well as a middleweight match with title implications between Brian Stann and Chael Sonnen.

All six men participated in a media conference call today by the UFC; the following are notes and quotes from the call.

-Edgar points out that he's only been training to face two different guys - BJ Penn and Gray Maynard - for the last two years.

-Aldo doesn't take any offense on Florian dropping to his division to fight for the title; he sees it as a natural move for Florian and says he has nothing but respect for him.

-Florian describes Aldo as fast and dangerous - "similar to BJ (Penn)" - and presents threats in every area; believes their wrestling is about on the same level.

-Florian isn't expecting to be the stronger fighter, says they won't know until they get into the cage.

-Aldo believes that one day cutting the amount of weight he does may become unhealthy and prompt a move to 155lbs., but is comfortable with doing it for the time being.

-Stann isn't surprised that Sonnen has made things personal in the lead-up to the fight, he believes Sonnen is genuine when he says he has a problem with someone and is respectful to those with whom he doesn't.

-Sonnen is feeling sick, as he always does close to a fight, and plans on taking at least a day off to recover. He rented Road to Perdition.

-"I've never been excited to have to go and fight another man. I'm envious of those guys who get excited for fights. I'm happy… I'm not excited." - Sonnen.

-Stann reveals that this is the first fight where he hasn't also worked as a real estate agent; he decided he could only focus on training and running the Hire Heroes USA charity.

-"I'll speak for everybody. Nobody wants to fight Brian, but somebody has to. … If he quit beating everybody then I wouldn't have to fight him." - Sonnen

-Sonnen says it's getting harder and harder to deny Silva the number one status at middleweight - still believes he's better than Silva and that he ducks opponents - but says he's done better than everyone else, even Sonnen himself, at the end of the day and is the champion, so he deserves a tip of the hat.

-Stann says this is the first time he's been told exactly who he was fighting; normally, his manager and Joe Silva go back and forth over a list of names.

-Stann appreciates the compliments that Sonnen has given him, but doesn't take it as a sign that he'll be taking it easy on him next weekend.

-Sonnen talks The Ultimate Fighter, says he wishes it were focused more on the fighters than the coaches. He says he's a fan of the season overall and discusses how many talented fighters pass through that house; he points to guys like Forrest Griffin, Josh Koscheck and Kenny Florian as evidence.

-Sonnen thinks Michael Bisping is the favorite for a reason over Jason "Mayhem" Miller, he believes that Miller can win and he'll be cheering for him, but is more impressed by what Bisping's done in the cage recently.

Mark Wayne is the head writer for FightLine.com. He can be followed on Twitter at http://twitter.com/_MarkWayne.