(Pyle partaking in MMA’s newest training craze: coffin planking.)

By CagePotato Special Contributor Mike Schmitz

Our friend Mike Schmitz  from TapouT VTC caught up with UFC welterweight fighter Mike Pyle Monday morning and hooked us up with an exclusive interview for The Potato Nation ahead of “Quicksand’s” upcoming UFC 133 bout with 22-year-old Canadian phenom Rory MacDonald.

Check out what Pyle had to say about a variety of topics, including his training, his upcoming fight and what he thinks about being an underdog against MacDonald:

Cage Potato: How’s training been going?

Pyle: It’s been going fantastic. Right on point with where I want it. Just working on the full spectrum.

Cage Potato:: Where are you training?

Pyle: Xtreme Couture.

Cage Potato: How would you compare this fight to your fight against John Hathaway at UFC 120?

Pyle: The situation is somewhat the same. Two totally different fighters but the hype train is still the same. I really don’t’ care about that. I just have a job to do and I got to go do it.

Cage Potato: Are you a different fighter now than you were entering the Hathaway fight?

Pyle: I’m just always getting better. I’m better than I was then and I’ll be better than I am now in the next fight. I’ve got a certain game plan that I’m going to go do and beat him up.

Cage Potato: You’ve said you’re now entering the prime of your career. Why has your peak come later than most fighters?

Pyle: It might have come later because I’m patient. There’s no hurry for me. I enjoy this sport. I want to have longevity in the sport. I don’t really care about my age. I don’t feel any difference than I did 13 years ago when I started this. I could care less about that. It’s just a number, everybody makes a big deal out of it. I’m happy with where I’m at right now. I just look forward on moving on.

Cage Potato: Is it rewarding to be the underdog and squash all of the hype surrounding young guys like Hathaway and possibly MacDonald?

Pyle: Whoever makes the odds; number one I’m not a stepping-stone for anybody. To try and think that you’re going to use me as a stepping-stone is a big mistake. I don’t care about what everything thinks about my age. I’ve got to get in there in kick some ass. When I buckle down and focus it shows in my fights. I don’t care about all that. It means absolutely nothing when the cage door shuts.

Cage Potato: What have you seen in MacDonald’s fights?

Pyle: I’ve watched enough to know he’s a dangerous opponent.

Cage Potato: Obviously you don’t want to look past MacDonald, but if you were to have your hand raised, what comes next for you?

Pyle: I don’t know. That’s up to the UFC, ultimately. It’s up to them and that’s the bottom line.

Cage Potato: And if you happen to lose?

Pyle: That’s not in the game plan.

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You can train with Pyle in addition to several of the sport’s biggest names at TapouT VTC — the best online MMA training destination on the web. TapouT VTC offers MMA training from over 25 pros as well as MMA workouts, nutritional tips, exclusive interviews and much, much more.

“It will expose techniques you’ve never even seen,” Pyle said of TapouT VTC’s revolutionary training system. “I’m self-taught; I was taught by videotapes and magazine articles when they had the step-by-step articles. I wish I would have had something like this.”