“There’s no way I’m going to let Okami come in after 3 fights, beat me and take my spot and a shot at the title.”

Boxingtalk.com recently caught up with UFC Middleweight prospect Mike “Quick” Swick to discuss his upcoming bout at UFC 69 against Yushin Okami. You don’t want to miss why he feels Nate Marquardt will beat Anderson Silva as well as why he thinks Randy Couture should retire again. Check it out!

PC: How is training going for your fight at UFC 69?

MS: Training is going great. I’ve trained the longest I’ve ever trained for a fight. It will be 12 weeks by fight night and everything is exactly where we want it to be.

PC: Who are some of the people you are training with to prepare for this fight?

MS: As far as my trainers, I have Dave Camarillo, Bob Cook and Javier Mendez. As far as my teammates go, I have Josh Koscheck, who is fighting on the same card as me, Jon Fitch, Cain Velasquez, Bobby Southworth and Phil Baroni.

PC: Last time we saw you was when you decisively beat David Loiseau at UFC 63. What did you learn from that fight?

MS: It’s just one of those things where I just think we both had a bad night at the same time. As far as what I learned from it, I made a lot of mistakes going in. I didn’t do what I should’ve done preparing for the fight and I think it cost me. I’m making sure that it doesn’t happen again.

PC: Many people thought you were in line to fight Anderson Silva. Are you disappointed that Nate Marquardt got the nod over you?

MS: I’m just focusing on one fight at a time right now. I have Yushin Okami. I guess it was assumed by some people that I would get a title shot after I beat Loiseau, but you never know for sure until you sign a contract and that’s kind of what happened. A lot of people thought I was getting a title shot, but after the performance I put up against David, I could understand. I was real critical on myself after that fight and I can totally see why it didn’t warrant me a title shot. That’s why I’m doing everything in my power to make sure this fight is a lot better than that one.

PC: They’re not making your road to a title shot any easier fighting Yushin Okami. What are your thoughts of him as a fighter?

MS: He’s a very tough fighter. He’s very well rounded. I think he’s like 20-3 overall. He’s got a good ground n pound. I think he’s going to have a very good top position as far as being on the ground. He doesn’t seem to be very aggressive. He’s very passive and methodical, but I don’t want to get caught up in that like I did with Loiseau. I’m going to do everything in my power to try and counter his passiveness and force the action so we don’t have a boring fight.

PC: Okami is on a 5 fight winning streak with 4 coming in the UFC. Do you think an impressive win over Okami warrants you that number one contender spot?

MS: I think if I beat Okami, I would be obviously behind Nate Marquardt and Franklin. The thing is, I would never argue that Franklin doesn’t deserve a rematch or a title shot because he was the champion and he was a very good champion; 3 time world champion. I don’t really know how Marquardt slipped in there, but he too is a really tough opponent and I actually pick Marquardt to beat Silva. I would have really liked to have a shot over Marquardt, but obviously I’m not going to overstep my boundaries and say I deserve it more than Rich because any time you have a champion like Rich, he obviously deserves a rematch if he wants one even though it didn’t seem like he wanted one right after the fight. I don’t know what’s going to happen next. It looks like Marquardt is fighting him and like I said, I wish it was me instead of Marquardt, but I definitely think Marquardt is going to beat Silva and I guess that leaves Franklin. But he’s going to have a long time to wait, so I don’t know what he’s going to do, but hopefully I’ll be right there with those guys if I beat Okami. A lot of people say the winner of my fight will be the number one contender and I’m not about to let Okami come in after I’ve won 5 fights in the UFC and been on the show to let him come take my spot and my shot at the title, you know what I mean? There’s no way I’m going to let him come in here after 3 fights and beat me and get a title shot. I’ve been working on this ever since I started in the UFC and I’m not going to let anybody get in the way if there’s anything I can do about it.

PC: Where would you like the fight to take place to assure yourself a victory?

MS: You know, I like every fight to stay on the feet. You run the risk of getting caught when you’re on the feet. We’ve seen sometimes not the best striker catch someone if the fight stays on the feet. I’m looking for a much more exciting fight; that’s kind of my style. I like to keep it on the feet. On the ground, I’m kind of excited about that as well. I think I’m better in Jiu Jitsu than he is. It would come down to who would get the top position and if he gets me down, if I could submit him or reverse him or if I get him down in top position, maybe I can submit him or ground n pound him. I want to keep it on the feet, but if it goes to the ground, I’ll be kind of excited about that too because I’ve kind of been hungry for a little bit of a ground fight. I haven’t really spent too much time on the ground.

PC: Do you feel like Anderson Silva was exposed any in the Travis Lutter fight?

MS: I don’t think he was exposed in the Travis Lutter fight. I knew that could happen going in. I have seen it in a lot of his fights. He’s not as strong as people think on the ground. He is a black belt in Jiu Jitsu, but he doesn’t fight like a black belt. He doesn’t fight like BJ Penn. You could pick a dozen other black belts that adapt better to MMA than Anderson Silva on the ground. His strikes are no joke. He throws a lot of good strikes; he’s a very good striker. I give the edge to Nate Marquardt if he could keep from getting knocked out. I definitely give the edge to Marquardt in the fight because if it goes to the ground, Marquardt will be all over him and he’s going to eat him up.

PC: Style-wise, who would you rather face, Nate Marquardt or Anderson Silva?

MS: You know, it doesn’t matter, but if I had a preference, I would rather face Anderson Silva. I think that would be a more exciting fight. Obviously better for the fans and better for me because I like to challenge myself  against guys that like to strike and one thing he will do is strike and he’s very good at it. I think that will make for an exciting fight for the fans. Marquardt is a little more well rounded and who knows where that fight will go or where it will end up. I will obviously try and keep it on the feet, but who knows. I don’t think it will be as exciting as a Silva fight.

PC: UFC 68 just wrapped up. I know you were there live. What did you think of the fights?

MS: I thought it was a good card. The swing fight was very exciting. Kampmann and McFedries really threw some leather. I was curious to see how Drew McFedries would turn out in the middleweight division. He proved that he’s definitely a dominant striker in the middleweight division too; he just got caught in a choke; which can happen to anyone. Of course Randy Couture and Tim Sylvia was one of the most amazing fights I’ve ever seen in my life. Captain America, I told everyone in my pre fight prediction, you could never count Randy out. Whenever he says he’s going to do something, you just have to give him the benefit of the doubt because he’s that type of guy. You think it’s impossible and he’ll do it. He’s a gamer and he absolutely took apart Tim Sylvia. It was an amazing fight. I think he should retire and come out ahead and end his career on the best note possible. It’s not that I don’t think he should continue fighting, I think he’s a great fighter. It’s just he basically reenacted the Rocky movie, just with a better ending. I don’t think he could retire any better way. He’s healthy. He could do commercials; he could train people or commentate. I think it’s a great time for him to move on and make money. I look up to him so much. I’m his biggest fan and I’ll watch every fight that he has and he’ll probably have some more good fights, but that was just an amazing performance.

PC: Who do you like in the Liddell/Jackson rematch and why?

MS: I’ll try and play it as political as possible for you (laughing). I know everybody and as soon as I say Chuck, Quinton is going to come looking for me and vice versa. The thing is, and Quinton even said it, his performance against Eastman wasn’t his top performance. If he can adapt and go back to how he used to fight, it could be a really interesting fight. Honestly it’s hard to really pick a winner in that fight. It’s going to come down to who shows up, how focused they are and what their game plan is. I tell you what; I’m really excited to see it. Chuck is absolutely on fire right now, he just can’t seem to lose and Quinton is hungry as well. He came into the UFC and now he’s got the jitters out and he’s ready to become a superstar. This is the fight to do that for him. It’s going to be a great fight.

PC: I appreciate the interview Mike. Is there anything in closing you would like to say?

MS: I want to thank all of the fans out there for the support and thank you guys for doing the interview. We just redid my website, so check that out, mikeswick.com. It’s got a bunch of videos, pictures and all kinds of media on it. We’re going to update it all the time. I’m still on myspace and check out my UNICEF campaign there as well to raise money for kid’s all across the world. Thanks again!  

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