Tommy Speer comes from the mold I came from. I was a wrestler that liked to impose my will and use my strength, and that’s what Tommy does. He imposes his will, uses his strength, and there’s no quit in Tommy whatsoever.

I did have to get Tommy to show more emotion this week, and even though I’m a poker face when I fight, I’m not just out there doing moves, and if I can use J-Roc (Jared Rollins) as an example, he was a guy out there who looked like he was out there just throwing punches and doing moves. I think if he would have shown a little more emotion and a little more dedication and a little bit more heart, he would have went out there and realized that he wasn’t winning on his feet, so maybe he would have tried a takedown or something like that. The mental aspect is what I’m getting at. There’s so much more to this sport than just the physical game. I’m a true believer in the fact that the sport is 50% physical and 50% mental.

Moving forward, I don’t know if Tommy’s going to be more emotional, but after that last fight, he knows just how mental this game is. It’s tough to have someone have your back with a rear naked choke set in, and your own blood running down your face. Honestly, the blood didn’t bother me that much because I couldn’t see how bad it was from across the ad Octagon, but when I saw that rear naked choke, I really thought that fight was over. He (Jon Koppenhaver) had his hooks sunk in, and I thought it was just a matter of time until he was gonna get it. Tommy had to have been thinking that this fight could have been stopped at any time, so that was a big win for him. Now he knows that the fight’s not over until the ref stops it. He’s gonna keep this win in his mind for a long time, and it’s gonna propel him to the next level.

Matt Serra was up to his old tricks again, trying to do an impression of me. Was it a good one? I don’t walk around looking in a mirror, so I wouldn’t know how to do an impression of Matt Hughes. But it just goes to show you what type of person Matt Serra is. And no, I’ve never done a Matt Serra impression, nor would I ever think about doing a Matt Serra impression.