FH: How much do you dislike him [Matt Hughes]?
MS: I've got to admit, I'm not a big fan. I don't like him. As a fighter, he's done good things. He's going to be a Hall of Famer. But you've got to separate the two. As a person, I don't like him. In any field, when people reach a certain level of success they can either stay level-headed and down to earth, or they can let it get to their heads and become stuck-up jerks. And I think he's the latter.

FH: Does disliking him give you more motivation to prepare?
MS: It really does. The dislike for each other, everybody asks me, "Is it for real?" Well, yeah. Do I like the guy? No. People say, "You always talk about him." Well, people ask me about him. If you ask me about him, I'm going to tell you, yeah, the guy is a stuck-up jerk. I don't like him. I think it would be worse if people asked me and I said, "Oh, I think he's a swell guy." I really don't like the guy and I think it's better to be who you really are. And of course, it gives you extra motivation to train for a guy that you have a beef with. I don't want to lose to this guy. I want to put him into retirement.

FH: What do you view as his strengths and how you should approach him as an opponent?
MS: I think he's more of a one-trick pony. What I mean by that is that he's very good at his one trick. He's made his career out of using his wrestling, taking guys down, smushing them against the fence and getting them down, and ground and pound. And he's not bad with his jiu jitsu. His jiu jitsu level is what's gone up over the years, his submission level. He's got good ground control and he's good at passing the guard. Basically, he's good at takedowns and he's good on top. That's his main thing, that's his bread and butter. And I feel that I'm a good match-up with him. I really do. I think I'm good off my back if it ends up there. I feel standing up I definitely have an edge. And all-around I think he's a very good match-up for me.