Neil Magny: I don't care if Lombard is ‘juiced out of his mind’ when I fight him

The co-main event of UFC Fight Night: Hunt vs. Mir on Saturday, March 19th (technically, Sunday, March 20th) in Brisbane, Australia features a welterweight bout between top-10 ranked Neil Magny and the returning Hector Lombard, who was banned for a year by the Nevada Athletic Commission after testing positive for PEDs. As a result, this weekend will mark the first time that Lombard has competed under the new UFC-USADA drug testing policies. In an interview with Bloody Elbow, Magny said he doesn't care whether or not Lombard shows up to their fight clean or on steroids.

"Honestly, I don't care," said Magny. "I'm preparing to beat Hector Lombard. If it's Hector Lombard juiced out of his mind or if it's actually Hector Lombard who spent the time to train in the gym and get better, I mean, I honestly don't care about it. I'm just ready to go out there and beat the best version of him who shows up."

Even though Lombard (34-4-1) is coming off of a PED ban, Magny (17-4) is quick to praise the former Bellator middleweight champ.

"I think he's a really good fighter," said Magny. "He's a former Olympian, he has some great wins inside and outside of the UFC, [and] he's undefeated at welterweight."

Magny stated that he's ‘pretty confident' in his ability to best Lombard ‘wherever the fight goes.' When asked for specifics, Magny revealed that he thought the longer the fight goes, the better it will go for him. He also stated that he would be a ‘fool' not to take advantage of his nine inch reach advantage.

"I don't know exactly how the fight's gonna play out but I know it's gonna be a high paced fight from my end, me just constantly pushing and looking for the finish, looking for an opportunity to break Hector Lombard."

Magny is ten years younger than Lombard, and when asked if he thought this gave him an advantage, the 28-year-old laughed.

"That's what I thought last time, with my fight vs. Demian Maia."

"At the time [Maia] was ten years older than me, and I felt like, ‘Oh yeah, this fight will be a cakewalk, he's ten years older than me, he's at the end of his career, I'll be able to blast through him,' but that didn't end up being the case at all."

"I'm not going to make the same mistake as far as assuming that just because of his age, [Lombard] might be on the downside of his career or anything like that."

Magny is making the long journey from Denver to Australia for this contest, but this is nothing new for the former Ultimate Fighter contestant. Magny's last four fights in the UFC took place in Mexico, Canada, Brazil, and the Philippines. He has also competed in New Zealand. While he's fought all around the world, Neil did not become one of the most well traveled fighters in the UFC by choice.

"It's just kinda the way everything's played out," said Magny. "I'll go wherever I'm asked to fight, it just so happens that they ask me to go international."

Fortunately for Magny, he enjoys the excursions. "I'm truly blessed to get to do what I love, and get to see the world while doing it," said Magny.

In addition to taking fights overseas, Magny also has a knack for beating the hometown heroes he encounters there. However, Magny does not revel in the role of being the spoiler.

"I mean, honestly, I just go out there and try and do my best," said Magny. "If we happen to be fighting in their home country so be it, but I just enjoy going out there and doing what I do, in this country in that country, I just make the most out of the opportunity."

Magny's last outing was a hard fought decision over fellow rising star Kelvin Gastelum, at UFC Fight Night 78, held in Monterrey, Mexico. Though he won the fight, it didn't happen the way Magny had expected, or hoped for.

"The very first jab that I threw hit his forehead and it kinda hurt my hand so I couldn't really stick to my game plan, which was to use my range," revealed Magny. "So I had to switch up the approach right away and actually out grapple a guy who is known for being a great grappler."

The last two rounds of the fight, which was Magny's first main event and five-round contest, saw him fade and almost fall to the resilient Gastelum.

Magny admitted that he didn't prepare appropriately for the ‘championship rounds.' Though he's happy to have the highly touted Gastelum on his list of victories, Magny is most thankful to have had the experience of fighting for twenty-five minutes. Now, after making changes to his training and diet, he feels more than prepared to go that distance again in the future.

The Gastelum fight was Magny's fifth fight in 2015. He also fought five times in 2014, winning each to tie Roger Huerta's record for UFC wins in a year.

Despite being committed to a posting in Japan with his National Guard unit this summer, Magny hopes to have another active year inside the UFC octagon.

"One thing that I don't get about a lot of fighters is that they spend time just waiting and expecting, you know what I mean?," said Magny when discussing his Cerrone-esque levels of activity. "There are guys who are sitting on the sideline for a year and believing they are next in line for a title shot and there are other guys who want to talk their way there."

Magny believes wins will get him to a title shot. He currently has two in a row. Before this he had a seven fight win streak snapped by the number six ranked Demian Maia.

This January, Magny surprised many when he turned up at a Demian Maia seminar, looking to learn from his former foe.

"I was in Las Vegas at the time to support a teammate who was fighting, the UFC had brought [Maia] out as a guest fighter for an event as well," explained Magny. "During the time, [Maia] was doing a seminar, so I reached out to him on twitter and asked if it would be ok if I attended, and of course he said yes and I was able to go to it.

"Once I got to the seminar [Maia] actually surprised me even more, and it wasn't actually just a seminar, he actually took notes of things I did wrong in my prior fight and actually took the time to show me what I could have done different or could have done better."

According to Magny, Maia had identified a key mistake that Magny had committed on the ground in both his fights with Kelvin Gastelum and Erick Silva. "It was a mistake that both myself and my coaches missed," said Magny. "I started applying [Maia's insight] to my training and I definitely see a difference, and if I end up getting in those same kind of positions against Hector Lombard, I'll be sure to take advantage of it."

You can follow Neil Magny on twitter @NeilMagny