Danny Acosta: How do you feel coming into this fight with Kazuo Misaki?

Joe Riggs: Good. I’m just finishing up everything, getting my last two days of sparring in. I feel good, I’m just really excited to get out there.

DA: Can you tell fans what its like to be at The Lion’s Den Arizona?

JR: It’s nice to have a nice facility at home with my family, but I went to Xtreme Couture for a little while. Jeremy Horn, Joe Doerksen, and Billy Rush came down to help me for a couple of weeks. We just had a nice facility down here. I finished up, doing lots of sparring with Rick Roufus and that’s all I have need to focus on is lots of sparring.

DA: Who did you get to work with at Xtreme Couture?

JR: S--t man, that place is stacked. Mike Pyle, John Alessio, Jay Hieron, Tyson Griffin, Gray Maynard, Frank Trigg, everybody’s down there. It’s just great.

DA: What was the one thing you learned there to bring back to your gym?

JR: There were a couple of back escape moves that were really beneficial. I was able to work with Frank Trigg—he gave me a few pointers with Misaki that helped a lot.

DA: Misaki is the first ranked guy you’ve fought since Diego Sanchez. Also, you’ve mentioned you want to drop to 170lbs after this fight. Are those factors coming into this fight?

JR: I’m keeping my weight close to 185, keeping it there This is the first ranked guy I fought in about a year and a half, two years and I’m glad because I’ve never really fought, you know, too many turds since I’ve been fighting big names. So its nice to get back there and fight people in the top ten and get my name back in the top 10. That’s the main goal here.

For sure, if I beat Misaki, I think its just gonna put me even deeper into the top 10. Obviously, coming down, Misaki is a former Pride grand-prix champion. I already have two top ten wins down there, I have a lot of good wins down there beat Lytle and Diaz, so this will just add to it.

DA: Jumping into such a dangerous fight after almost two years, do you feel any extra pressure?

JR: I like it man. Like I said, I just want to fight the best. Especially if it’s a great style for me, I adapt to certain styles. This is perfect. I just think its good. I’ve had lots of big wins in my career and this will rank up there as the biggest.

DA: How has being a main eventer before prepared you for this fight?

JR: It doesn’t play a factor at all. I’ve been in very, very big fights. I’ve been on the main card every time I’ve been in the UFC. I’ve fought in front of lots of people. Its no big deal to me; it doesn’t matter to me. It’s good I get to fight a big name, that’s all I care about.

DA: Are you excited to go back to the Playboy Mansion? You were on the card last year.

JR: It was cool. Yeah it’s cool being there. But you know the crowd is a little lackluster. Not too many true MMA fans, the crowd doesn’t really know what’s going on. Most of the people are just there to be at the Mansion. So it’s weird. People are concentrating on looking at the t----s and drinking more than the fight.

DA: Your prediction for the fight?

JR: I predict I’m gonna win a unanimous decision. I never really say that, but I have a feeling it’ll be a hard fought war. Misaki has never been knocked out. I’ve trained hard for this fight. He’s prone to go to decision. I’m not gonna try to take this fight to the ground. I think it’s gonna be a really exciting fight. I’ll end up on top with the decision, if the knockout comes that’s gonna be great too.

DA: He’s a really elusive fighter, you’re known for bringing it. How are you going to handle that?

JR: It’s good. I like guys backing up. I’m a really good counter fighter as well but I think when I’m the bull and I come forward, its even better. It allows me to get off and throw my punches even harder. I have really, really heavy hands and I haven’t been able to show it in fights. The main thing is if I’m sparring a lot, sparring with the right people, a lot of the fights I shy away from standing up if I don’t get the right sparring in, this time I’ve done a lot of sparring and I’ve done a lot preparation for a striking fight and I think its really going to pay off in this fight.

DA: Not to look past Misaki, what can fans expect once you return to 170lbs?

JR: The same thing as every one of my fights, I’ve never had a boring fight and I’m always bringing it. I’m 25-years-old and I’m going to keep getting better. I’m going to be a champion one day.

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