FightLine.com Exclusive Interview With Brandon Vera

BV: To get rid of him, man? You have to be tenacious like him. He's young and hungry and you have to be even more hungry than him. You have to be willing to sacrifice your body to get with him and understand that Jon Jones is a smart fighter, he's not a banger. He'll try to exploit the weak areas you have. The first time I fought him, I didn't respect him at all and that was a super huge mistake. I think a lot of people that fight him the first time end up making that mistake, not respecting his skillset and I for sure won't do that again.

MW: We know your personal feelings on Thiago Silva – you won't be calling him up to hang out anytime soon – but is that rematch something you really want, or do you just want to get back in there and fight whoever lines up?

BV: I want to get back in the mix and keep fighting man. I just want to get back in the fight game and get on that ladder, whoever's in front of me I plan on knocking off. If he happens to be one of them, I'm in.

MW: What do you think of Eliot Marshall as an opponent? What does he bring to the table that you see being the most threatening?

BV: He's got great jiu-jitsu. I know he's gonna want to take this fight to the ground, he's with the Greg Jackson camp, that's kind of their thing, to take people to the ground or stall them out for the first round, feel them out. It's not a big secret. I want to be able to hit this guy and not be stalled out. It's going to be part of the gameplan, to stop him from implementing his.

MW: If things go perfectly for you on Saturday night, what will it look like?

BV: Oh man, he'll be bleeding, laid out flat. Flat down on the mat. In a perfect world, that's exactly how it would be.

MW: How do you see the main event between Penn and Diaz panning out?

BV: It's gonna be a good fight man. Both guys are great strikers and they're both excellent on the ground, it's just gonna come down to BJ's cardio, I think.

MW: Are there any fights left in 2011 that you're going to be watching closely, or are looking forward to as a fan?

BV: Honestly, just Jones and Machida. Oh, and Muñoz and Chris Leben, next weekend. That's gonna be a good one, I'm super excited to watch that fight. I'm friends with both of them, but I think Muñoz is gonna take it for sure. I think his skillset is too diverse for Leben.

In a smart world, you don't swing with Chris Leben, unless you're Anderson Silva. You just don't swing with that dude, you don't know what the hell he's gonna throw at you.

MW: I spoke with Brian Stann recently, he's been using TRX and has been really happy with the results. I hear you've been using TRX in your training as well, can you talk some about that?

BV: TRX is awesome, I've been using it all through camp. I've been able to incorporate it in my training sessions along with my other three-a-day workouts. … I've noticed a huge difference man. I'm stronger, I feel like I'm lifting weights but I'm not, I'm just using my body weight. It's such an important piece of equipment that is so underutilized in our sport, but I think people are starting to catch on, especially with Brian Stann using it and Frankie Edgar.

I think it's an overall thing. It just make you stronger everywhere, and your joints don't work. And that's huge when you have three more training sessions to do throughout the day.

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