Interview By: D. D. Mason - MMA Hawaii Staff Reporter

Ultimate Fighting Championships (UFC) has scheduled another night of fights that promises to excite, as well as have a prolonged impact on multiple divisions. UFC -109 Relentless will take place on February 6 at the Mandalay Bay events center in Las Vegas Nevada.  The main card will be televised on Pay-Per-View, while Spike TV will televise two bouts from the undercard. One of those undercard bouts pits local fighter Justin Buchholz against Mac Danzig in what is a loser leaves town match.

Mac Danzig, who won season 6 of The Ultimate Fighter, has been on been on the end of a three fight losing streak.  Local fighter Justin Buchholz, who earned his way into the UFC by delivering knock out wins over some of Hawaii’s top talent, has been on a two fight losing streak. Justin took a few minutes out of his training schedule to chat with us.

MMAHAWAII: Aloha Justin. How has training camp been going for you so far, and have you done anything different in getting ready for this fight?

Justin Buchholz: The one thing I’ve done different for this fight is to train a lot more jiu jitsu, because Mac is a pretty good submission guy. The last two guys I fought were strikers; those were fun camps, because that’s what I love to do the most.

MMAHAWAII: Visualizing the fight in your head, how do you see it playing out?

Justin Buchholz: The way I see the fight going is that we come out, touch gloves or not, it doesn’t matter. I go right after him. I start pushing him back, I land some shots, he covers up, I’m too fast and I’m too strong, he gets hurt and he can’t continue. That’s how I see the fight going.

MMAHAWAII: Both Mac and yourself are coming into this fight with your backs against the Octagon, what’s your feeling right now?

Justin Buchholz: I love this feeling. Every single time the pressures been one and I’ve been put in the corner, I come out on top, and I see this fight going no different. I love it, and I think I’m more comfortable here, than say if I was the favorite. I’m fighting for my life and you will see it on February 6.

MMAHAWAII:  This fight will be televised on Spike TV, so this may the first time that your fans that have followed your career from Alaska and Hawaii will see you fight live; do you have anything special planned? Are you going to change up the hair color?

Justin Buchholz: (Laughs). My hair is going to be black. I’m not going to do anything crazy, I’m going to come out and kick some butt. I’m all business this time, Standard shirt, standard shorts. I need to shout out my whole team at Team Alpha Male, in Sacramento. I want to say thank you and congratulations to my jiu jitsu coach Fabio Prado, who just one the world championships in No-Gi. I want to also give a shout out to my striking coach Master Tong, as well as a bunch of guys at Results conditioning and my sponsor Tap Out. Tap Out s a great sponsor and they have had my back until the end.

MMAHAWAII: Anything you’d like to say to your fans and friends in Hawaii?

Justin Buchholz:  Just keep training. A big mahalo and shout out to the guys at Bulls Penn. That’s where I started making major moves in my career when I was training with them. I hope to after I beat up Danzig, to come back, show them some stuff I learned, hang out. It doesn’t matter where you’re at, it only matters how much you want it. Just keep pushing, and keep training. Don’t let anyone tell you to stop, and don’t listen to anything negative.