Brian Stann on MMA Nation: Rashad Evans Would Beat Jon [Jones]

This past Sunday on MMA Nation on 106.7 The Fan, I caught up with "All-American" Brian Stann as he prepares to take on Mike Massenzio at UFC on Versus 2. The former U.S. Marine Captain and I talked about the differences between MCMAP and Army Combatives, dropping to middleweight and working on his wrestling ability. We also got a sense of where he thinks his light heavyweight training partners stack up against one another. Stann goes as far as predicting Rashad Evans would defeat Jon Jones "hands down".

You can read excepts of our conversation below or listen to the entire interview here:

Stann on training with Jon Jones:

I train with Jon everyday. It's great. He's a kid. He just turned 23. He's got every physical tool you can have in this sport, so there's not a lot I can offer him there. It's more on the mental side where I try to help him out and just be a friend to him. When you're that young and that good, there are a lot of negative people that try to invade his life. But being in Albuquerque and being with Greg Jackson's camp where we all look out for each other, we're able to help him exclude himself from that. It's special to train with a guy where every move works for him. But he's still very raw. He hasn't even reached ten percent of his potential. When he learns a new move, five minutes later he is using it.

On who he believes would win a fight between Jon Jones and Rashad Evans right now:

Rashad Evans would beat Jon hands down. Rashad has been in the sport a lot longer. I think he's just now hitting his prime. He's so focused mentally on training and evolving. He's able to put all his skills together now much more easily than he used to. And his wrestling style of fighting where he continually takes someone down is the most cardio taxing style there is in our sport. Most of the time, unless it's a fight like my last fight, you have to continue to take someone down. Not many guys have the cardio or mental toughness to do that, but that's where Rashid is right now. As for Jon, he's still so young. I really hope they don't rush him, because he can really be something special in two years and be one of the top fighters in the world pound-for-pound.

On the transition from the WEC to the UFC:

I wouldn't say it had a negative impact on me. I was fortunate to be fighting in a growing organization like the WEC at the time. If you really look at my career, if I step back and look at my career objectively, it probably wasn't the best route for me to take considering that I didn't have any real training until I was out of the Marine Corps. Switching over to the UFC, I was excited. Obviously everybody always thinks that they're ready or hopes they are. But as far as going from big stage fights to smaller fights, it wasn't bad at all because I wanted to earn my way up just like every other fighter. As fighters we all understand who's earned it, who's over hyped and who's getting a free ride. And I didn't want to be one of those guys. Now I'm just grinding it out trying to improve and get back to fighting on main cards.

On what he learned from his fight with Phil Davis:

The biggest thing I learned is one, I need to cut to middleweight. And two, we talk about this a lot in the Marine Corps, I lost the initiative in that fight. Once he landed the first takedown after I stopped a few, his base was just incredible. His wrestling ability was just too much. I started thinking about what he was doing instead of focusing on what I need to do. By the second and third rounds I was just worrying about stopping the takedown rather than trying to knock him out before he got the takedown. I don't ever want that to happen again where I'm focusing on what my opponent is doing rather than myself.

More after the jump.

Obviously I've heard the rumors about a fight in Afghanistan like everybody else. If I weren't put on the card, I would book a flight there myself and find a way to get it on it. But I haven't heard anything personally about it. I'm sure they're still in the process of working on all the logistics of it.

On training with Tim Kennedy:

It's been great. It's a really good mesh for both of us. Obviously he's a phenomenal grappler and I'm more apt to the striking part of MMA. We're cut from the same mold. He's a great guy. We both had been following each other's careers, but we had yet to meet until now. It's a relationship that I think will last a long time. He's much bigger than people realize. He's short, but he is thick...

...We met on the set of Inside MMA where we had a conversation and exchanged numbers. He came out to train at Greg Jackson's camp for a week to help me prepare for my fight as he prepares to take on "Jacare" Souza, and hopefully we get to train more and more together in the future.

On the improvement of his wrestling ability:

It's steadily improving. I'm never gonna be the caliber of wrestler that Mike Massenzio is. I could wrestle for the next ten years and I would never be able to wrestle like Phil Davis. I need to focus on as much wrestling as I can to be able to fight my fight. Four days after the Phil Davis fight I was right back in the gym solely focusing on jiu-jitsu and wrestling. And though Mike is a world-class wrestler, he's certainly not on the same level as Phil Davis.

On his weight cut to 185 pounds:

I've never done any dummy cuts. Actually, scientifically it's really bad for you, especially if you're in training camp. I started the cut back in April and got down to 205 really easy. From there is where it was slow and steady wins the race. I haven't lost any strength. Last week when I did my final session of heavy lifting I was using the same weight that I was when I was 215. And I'm faster at this weight and have better cardio now. This is a natural weight for me.