UFC middleweight Travis Lutter talks about his recovery from the neck injury he suffered, his future plans and much more. "If they gave me a rematch with Anderson, I'd beat him," stated a confident Lutter and you don't want to miss what else he had to say about Silva's win over Rich Franklin and why he thinks Anderson would be concerned in a rematch with him. Check it out.
PC: How have you been doing my man?
TL: I'm doing good. I'm still recovering from the neck injury. It's one of them things that takes time.
PC: Do you have a timetable on how long you will be out for?
TL: I'm hoping for February to return back to the Octagon. I'm waiting on my neck right now. It looks like I'm going to have to get another shot. They're going to give me another Cortisone shot right in the disc of my neck and hopefully that works as far as them thinking that could fix it.
PC: Is this a reoccurring injury?
TL: I've had it before, but I've never had it this bad. When I fought Trevor Prangley for the first time in the UFC four years ago, I hurt my neck real bad before that fight. This is a more severe case of that same injury.
PC: Will your return be in the UFC and if so, will it be at middleweight?
TL: Yeah, I am going to be going back to the UFC and it will be at middleweight.
PC: Have you been able to do any kind of training with the injury at all?
TL: No, I mean, I am definitely training. I just have to take a couple of weeks off sometimes and then go back into training. I'm wrestling, sparring and I'm doing Jiu Jitsu, I'm just doing it with a little more pain than I would like to. Depending on the severity of the pain, then I have to take more time off than I would like to.
PC: How disappointing was it for you to come off of the Anderson Silva fight and not be able to redeem yourself right away because of the injuries?
TL: It's a rough day. I have to live with this longer than I would like. I took away some things against Anderson and I think I could build on that and hopefully come back and be pretty dominant. Right now, I'm just really focusing on trying to get healthy.
PC: Looking back at your fight with Anderson, you looked really good considering how he's steamrolled everyone else. Is that one of your motivations?
TL: Yeah. I really think I can beat Anderson Silva. I made a mistake during the fight and as far as the weight cut. I don't want to take anything away from Anderson's win. I made a mistake in the fight and got caught and I don't think I would make it again. I'd like to fight him again. I think I could take him down and impose my game the way I was. I'd really like to get another shot at Anderson. I think stylistically, I match up a lot better than most of the middleweights in the world with him.
PC: I've talked to some reputable fighters in the UFC and they told me you probably have the best Jiu Jitsu in the UFC. Do you think that separates you from the other middleweights Silva has fought?
TL: Yeah, I definitely do. They have some good wrestlers like Okami. I think Okami is a good wrestler. They're bringing in some other guys that may have good Jiu Jitsu, but maybe their wrestling isn't as strong as far as their offensive ability. I think I do have a nice balance. If they are a good wrestler, then they don't have as good of Jiu Jitsu and if they do have good Jits, it's not as good as my takedowns so I think I have a nice balance. I think that works in my favor. I can control where the fight's going to be played against a lot of guys.
PC: Are you surprised at the struggles the Pride guys have had coming into the Octagon?
TL: Yeah, a little bit. I picked Forrest over Shogun, but Cro Cop definitely surprised me. Maybe Gonzaga was more of an unknown to me or maybe I just underestimated Gonzaga and overestimated Cro Cop. I kind of thought that Kongo would be a bad matchup for Cro Cop. He's big. Neither guy has that good of takedowns or Jits and I just thought it was a bad matchup. I think Cro Cop is a bad man. He just hasn't had much luck in the UFC. I guess he's got a couple of more fights. I think Forrest was just underestimated against Shogun. A lot of people overestimated Shogun and Forrest looked tough in that fight. Forrest is really coming into his own and starting to believe in himself more and more every day. I thought he looked tough in that fight. I picked him, but I didn't think he would win.
PC: Do you think the fans and some media overlook a guy like Forrest simply because he came off of The Ultimate Fighter?
TL: Yeah, that's probably the truth. He's popular, people know him, but he said it himself after his fight with Tito Ortiz, that's he's a dog and he fights. He didn't really start fighting in the Ortiz fight in my eyes until the second round and then it was really a close freaking fight. Tito is one of the best in the business at stopping people and he almost steamrolled him in the first round and he gave Tito a war after that. I think guys from the reality show are starting to get more respect. Hell, Matt Serra has the title and Rashad has a draw against Tito.
PC: Serra beat GSP who was supposed to be unbeatable and you gave Anderson Silva one of his tougher fights. Do you think that in itself should garner more respect for the fighters on the show?
TL: It's funny. I think some of us have. I'm actually surprised when some of the rankings and stuff come out that I haven't gotten more respect from the writers. I think the writers overlook me for some reason or another; maybe I don't fight enough because of the injury. I don't want to guess on why the writers overlook me. I looked at the last one and hell, they had Kendall Grove on there and he got knocked out by Patrick and Patrick got beat by me and, grant it, one plus one doesn't always equal in MMA, and I'm not talking any disrespect to Kendall, but it's like, "Hey guys, what about me?" They say "well, maybe you don't fight enough." Well, I just saw David Terrell's name mentioned. You want to talk about somebody that doesn't fight enough. I fought six times last year and this year I've been injured.
PC: Do you think when a GSP loses or Silva looks bad that people try and find what was wrong with those guys instead of what their opponents were doing right?
TL: Exactly. I heard he had knee surgery, but I've had friends that have had their knee scoped and that's not going to keep him from working and if he did have it scoped, I'm sure it was far enough away from the fight. You look at his demeanor for our fight, he was nervous against me. I haven't seen him look nervous for anybody else. He knew a fighter like me was going to be difficult for him. If you look at how he came out, especially against Marquardt; hell he cornered Nogueira. He comes out and he's looking like he's half joking around. This is a guy that flew in two days before the Franklin rematch. This guy is not stressed and I thought in my fight, he looked concerned. He was definitely all business. I think a guy like me is a bad matchup. I think Matt Lindland is a bad matchup for him, but I doubt we ever get to see Lindland fight him unfortunately. I would like to fight him again. I think I can beat him. I gotta get in there and they have to give me a shot, you know?
PC: Were you surprised at how easy he defeated Rich Franklin in the rematch?
TL: Yeah, a little bit. I thought the outcome would be the same. I didn't think he would go the distance, I didn't think that Rich would have an answer for Anderson, but I didn't think it would end like that. I personally thought the fight was over two and a half minutes in. When he started looking up at the clock, I think he was half out on his feet or hurt or something. He definitely didn't lookÂ
he was fighting, he was doing the best he could against him, but he looked hurt. That's what I saw. It's funny, I looked at the punch stats on HDNET and he hit Anderson a good bit of times. He knocked the shit out of him a couple of times, but Anderson must just have a phenomenal chin.
PC: Yeah, I've heard Anderson has a hell of a chin.
TL: I had Jorge Rivera in the house and he told me that when he fought Anderson in Cage Rage, and Jorge hits hard, he hit Silva with everything and he didn't slow down or do anything other than nod likes its going to be a long day. He said most people would've backed off and collected their senses, but Anderson just keeps on going.
PC: How is your confidence right now with the layoff?
TL: I'm real confident. I think by some magical way, if they gave me a rematch with Anderson, I'd beat him; that's where my confidence is. I'm training every day t my gym. I'm doing the things that I always do. I just think right now, I couldn't make it through a training camp. I'm training just like I normally do when I'm outside of a training camp. I sparred today, I wrestled today and I did a little bit of Jits today and that's an ordinary day for me, it's just not at the same intensity as it is and for the same length of a training camp. I just don't feel like today if I had to start a 6 week training camp, that I would be healthy enough to complete it. I feel like I'm getting better in everything I do. I know they're going to match me up against someone and I just need a little bit of luck. A little bit of lady luck and I could beat anyone.
PC: I can't wait to see you back healthy and in the Octagon. Is there anything you want to say in closing?
TL: I'd like to thank everybody that has supported me and wrote in and sent me emails. I really appreciate that; the nice ones anyway. Thanks for calling me and giving me the opportunity to do an interview.
[ Follow Percy Crawford on Twitter @MrLouis1ana ]