(For Busta, it was always about the fight, not all the bullshit like tattoos, shaved chests and  pre-fight smack talk.)

When Murilo Bustamante announced his retirement from mixed martial arts in 2007, it didn’t take long for fans and pundits to start wondering how long before the former UFC middleweight champion returned to the cage. 

As we reported yesterday, a date and an opponent has been set for the head of Brazilian Top Team’s return as he will face Jesse "JT Money" Taylor in Australia at Impact Fighting Championships’ July 18 event.


Speaking with TATAME this week, the 42-year-old said he is excited to get back to fighting and that he planned a return two years ago, but a series of setbacks prevented it from coming to fruition.

"Oh man, I’m thrilled, feeling like a beginner… I wanted to come back for a long time. Many things happened on 2008, I lost a few contacts, some events were cancelled, and my mother got sick… In 2009 I moved to the United States and my mother passed away, now finally I could find some time to practice and to sign a contract. I was training to fight for a while. I did a Boxing fight to warm me up in the beginning of the year, it was a good training, I could feel that adrenalin when I entered the ring again… I’m crazy mad to come back.I’m thrilled to fight again, it seems that the event will have great athletes… It’s a new event, so I can only hope for good thing, man. I’m very glad to train and get back to my routine. "

When asked whether ring rust may be a disadvantage for him, especially since Taylor is one of the busier fighters, having fought eight times last year, and four times thus far in 2010, Busta admits that it may play a factor in the fight.

"It won’t help, man… I had not worked much for the past two years, so it’s a negative thing for me, but I’ll try to compensate that with my trainings. I’ll try to be in a good shape to compensate my lack of rhythm with my experience. It’s seems like I’m a beginner, it looks like a debut for me."

Considering Taylor was tapped out in less than three minutes by Thales Leites earlier this month, I’m thinking Bustamante won’t have any trouble beating the TUF castaway.