—How is your current condition?
My training has been a mix of wrestling, boxing, jujitsu, kickboxing as well as sparring. I have been sparring with a heavyweight who came over from Holland, as well as boxing with boxers with title fight experience. I also sparred with Olympic medalist Junior dos Santos as well as having trained in Los Vegas with an American Top Team fighter. I feel great.

—Your opponent was named much later than everyone else’s. Did this influence your training at all? And you could tell us your thoughts on him?
What I do when I don’t know who my next opponent is, is imagine each day what kind of fighter he is. For example, one day he might be a wrestler so I train for that. The next day I imagine him to be kick boxer, or a grappler and I train differently depending on that. I simulate what kind of fighter my opponent will be. If I worry about who I will be fighting all the time, I won’t be able to concentrate and train well.In regards to my opponent, he punches very hard and I know he is an ex-rugby player so I imagine he is quite tough. I watched his tape however, and I have to say he really didn’t impress me at all, and I think I am going to win this fight within 7 minutes.

—What were you feelings like when you were chosen to compete in the tournament?
When I found out I had another chance to fight again in Japan, I was so happy I couldn’t sleep. This is going to a historical event. MMA doesn’t have a strong following in Japan just yet, but I believe MMA is going to make a big comeback after this event. People are going to watch this Rizin event and the next generation of fighters are going to be born. It’s going to be great, and just as big as Pride was.

—How do you feel coming over here and representing Bellator?
I fight for myself first and foremost. After that I fight for my family, and then for Bellator. Because I am fighting for myself, I feel no pressure. It doesn’t matter where and when I fight, I’m a Bellator fighter and that won’t change. I’ll take on the strongest fighter, and the pressure won’t increase, it’ll always be the same for me. I doesn’t matter who I fight, I already know I am representing Bellator.

—We heard that your were also coaching Lei’D Tapa and training with her. How is her preparation going for her fight?
I met her years ago when we both were attending a pro wrestling school. 2-3 years ago she came to me and said she wanted to try MMA. Then, three months later I got a call from her saying she had an offer to fight in Japan. When I asked where, she told me Rizin. I told her to instantly accept that offer.

When I heard that her opponent was Gabi Garcia, I asked her where she was training and she told me in North Carolina. I told her to get to the American Top Team gym and that we can train together. After Top Team, she went over to a Florida gym where she is staying right now, living and training there. The training there is very tough, and although I think Gabi is an amazing fighter, Lei’D Tapa is good too. These two fighters have a big chance of being the two fighters who shine the brightest in this tournament.

—If you end up facing Japanese fighter Satoshi Ishii, it will be in the final. Do you want to fight him?
This is a Japanese event, and it’s important for the nation that a Japanese fighter advances to the final, so I think that would be good. There are both good and bad points to fighting him however. The good points are that a Japanese fighter will make it through to the final. The bad points being that he will fall to me and lose.

I do think however, that Ishii has improved a lot over recent years, and certainly gotten tougher. He’s training in Holland and I respect that.

The only problem for him is, that even on his best day, he is no match for King Mo. There would only be one winner.

And while we talking about Ishii, I want to bring up the point that even though Ishii is Japanese, all the popular Japanese fighters live and train in Japan. They have their training camps in Japan, whereas Ishii is now based in Holland. Based on that, I’d say he’s not Japanese because the Japanese fans don’t get to see him anymore as he’s not in Japan much. Take a look at Sakuraba, he was based in Japan and became a legend here, one of their most popular fighters. If the Japanese fans are to get behind Ishii more and support him, I think he needs to have more of a connection with Japan.