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STATUS: WEC Featherweight champion.

HT: 5-6 WT: 156

DOB: May 14, 1979 IN: Santa Barbara, CA

HOBBIES/INTERESTS: “I have a lot of stuff to do with fighting - watching other fighters, learning. Outside of fighting, I like to go to the beach, anywhere sunny near the ocean is awesome. I like to eat good food obviously. Hang out with my friends.”

NICKNAMES: “Bambi was from Pop Warner football. My coach was making fun of me because all the little cheerleaders liked me I guess because of my big brown eyes. So he called me Bambi. Thimby from my little sister and stepdad.”

FAVORITE MOVIES: “I like all sorts of older ones, like Cool Hand Luke, The Good The Bad & The Ugly, probably Gladiator. Blood Sport.”

FAVORITE TV SHOWS: “I would have to say…growing up it was Cheers. I don’t really have one now. Anything fighting.”

MUSICAL TASTES: “I like a ton of different stuff, anything from rap to rock to country. Depends on the mood. If I’m relaxing on the beach - something like Jack Johnson or Johnny Cash.”

LAST BOOK READ: “Chuck Liddell’s book. I read it this weekend.”

FIRST JOB: “I used to do acting when I was little. I was in commercials and plays. And got paid for it.”

FIRST CAR: “Datsun B310 ‘85 (white).”

CURRENT CAR: “Is a Toyota Sequoia (champagne color).”

FIRST FIGHTING MEMORY: “I remember sparring in karate as like a second-grader, like every Friday. Every Friday was sparring. I never tried any kicks, just haymakers. They moved me up to my brother’s class, my brother (Ryan) is two-and-a-half years older than me. Then the older kids started kicking me and it was harder to throw haymakers.”

FAVORITE MEAL: “Anything my mom makes, Italian, salad and chicken or barbecue chicken.”

FAVORITE BREAKFAST CEREAL: “Honey Bunches of Oats.”

CHILDHOOD DREAM: “You know, as a little kid I didn’t have something I wanted to be. I’m not a huge planner. I wanted to be Spiderman a long time ago, that’s the last one I have. Just kinda went with the flow after that.”

FAVORITE WEBSITES: “Sherdog.com. And MMAWeekly.”

PRE-FIGHT FEELING: “I try to relax - till an hour before the fight. Then I start to think about my offense, what I’m gonna do to the other guy. Impose my will.”

GREATEST CAREER MOMENT: “Yet to come.”

MOST PAINFUL MOMENT: “It was being drunk after the Abu Dhabi Fighting Championships, wrestling in the hallway at like 4 am (in 2005). I had a severely sprained ankle, thought I broke it. Was out for three months. That was right before my fight with Tyson Griffin.”

WORST INJURIES: “I haven’t really had any injuries, knock on wood. Cut my head open once. Seven staples in my head. Busted my head open with Tyson Griffin. Eight seconds into the fight I did a head dive, hit an inside ankle trip. And came directly down on part of the cage.”

WHICH FIGHT WAS YOUR FINEST/BEST PERFORMANCE: “Not sure, man. To be honest, my best performance…my game is always changing so much. I’m gonna say I haven’t had my best performance yet.”

FUNNY FIGHTING MEMORY: “Let me see…go back to some of my early fights. It’s not too funny but it’s all I can think of now. In my second fight against George Atkins, I remember kind of feeling sorry for him. During little breaks asking him, like I knocked his mouthpiece out and let him put it back in. Asking him, Do you still want to keep going? Because it was a non-stop, just a total beatdown. It was pretty brutal.”

EMBARRASSING FIGHTING MEMORY: “Not really.”

FAVORITE FIGHTER(S) TO WATCH: “Yeah, I like watching Sakuraba in Japan. He’s always entertaining, he does some inventful stuff. He’s original. It looks like he’s having fun in there. I like his attitude. Like one fight with Royce Gracie and he was taking off Royce Gracie’s Gi. You could see Helio trying not to laugh. Sakuraba was taking his pants and Gi off while they’re in the standing position.”

INSPIRATIONS: “Other fighters. I get inspiration from all sorts of different fighters. Not one in particular. I get motivated by great fights. I remember watching a Strike Force fight. All the fights were lame. And then Gilbert Melendez and Clayton Guida came on and gave an awesome fight, a back and forth battle. I needed that. I had a fight coming up and just wasn’t feeling the regular amp. That fight kicked me right back into the mode.”

LAST VACATION: “It wasn’t related to fighting or work…Bali, Indonesia a couple of years back. Pretty awesome, man. Really nice. Right after my fight with Charlie Valencia.”

LAST HALLOWEEN COSTUME: “I can’t remember the last time I dressed up…probably a pimp.”

PEOPLE QUALITIES MOST ADMIRED: “I like to see people that are positive. I feel like the most successful people in the world are people who are able to stay positive. My dad’s one person like that. He’s just a happy dude.”

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