FightTicker.com Exclusive: Junie Browning Discusses Upcoming Fight With Cole Miller

I recently caught up with Junie Browning (via phone) after he'd arrived in Nashville for his upcoming fight against Cole Miller. Junie took some time out of his schedule to discuss his upcoming fight with Miller as well as his move to Xtreme Couture.

Check after the jump for the full interview

FightTicker: Just a few days out from your fight with Cole Miller, how are you feeling?

Junie Browning: I feel awesome. I'm actually walking around Nashville now.

FT: How did you training camp go?

Browning: It was awesome. I did everything I did in this camp for the last one plus some.

FT: A colleague of mine on FightTicker, John Buhl (aka jmb35) recently interviewed Cole Miller and Cole said he plans to beat you wherever the fight goes and that he thinks he's a way better fighter than you except maybe in wrestling - how do you feel about that?

Browning: Ah, he'll see. We'll see about that. I think he's been playing way too many video games, he's been getting too many of those combos, and that's not real life. He'll see. This isn't "Street Fighter," the good guy doesn't always win [Laughs].

FT: So you've implied you're the bad guy - you seem to have a really different approach to training and things now than you did on the show, how's training been going for you since you left the show?

Browning: The training out here [Las Vegas] is awesome. It's extreme training scenarios for extreme fighters, I think. There's no reason you can't get good out here. You can get good by default.

FT: Why Xtreme Couture?

Browning: It wasn't necessarily even Xtreme Couture, it was really Shawn Thompkins. Plus Xtreme Couture has the best Lightweights there are.

FT: Do you still train at 4 Seasons at all?

Browning? Nah, that was a good camp and stuff, but I had to be around more people who take it a little bit more seriously. Everyone out here [in Vegas] is more professional, people back home just do it for a hobby. This is something - being in the UFC isn't something you can just do part time, do for fun or do it for a hobby, you have to do it like a job. I'm out in Vegas for good now. It's just something I felt I had to do. You're part of the people you associate with and back home, they want to do it for fun and I couldn't treat it like that anymore, I couldn't treat it like a game anymore.

FT: What do you think about Miller in general?

Browning: I don't know much about him so I can't make any comments about him. I think all the stuff he's saying is to hype it up and stuff, to convince himself but I think he really knows what the outcome is going to be. I'm not Andy Wang or Jeremy Stephens.

FT: What about Miller's win over Jorge Gurgel?

Browning: I think Gurgel was beating the crap out of him, but he just made a mistake - anything can happen in a fight, but I feel like Gurgel was pretty much dominating him until the end of the fight.

FT: Your conditioning appears to have improved leaps and bounds since you left the show - is a rematch with Efrain Escudero something you'd be interested in?

Browning: Yeah, I'd do it right now out here on the street if I could just to show him that wasn't even me at 30 or 40% when I was on the show.

FT: So you think you're at 100% now?

Browning: Yeah, definitely.

FT: Your brother Rob ended up with a spot on TUF - when he was going for the tryouts, what kind of advice did you give him?

Browning: I just told him don't drink as much as I did, have fun, it's something you experience once in your life so make the best of it. Try and get your name out there as much as possible and try not to lose.

FT: So is this going to be something we see in the future, the Browning brothers going on a tear in the UFC like the Miller brothers have?

Browning: [Laughs]. That would be cool. He hasn't really told me much about the show. I don't even know what necessarily happens on it, but I know we'll be the most insane people ever on the show.

FT: You've said in some other recent interviews you haven't been drinking or partying, anything like that - what have you been up to besides training?

Browning: Just playing videogames mostly. Watch some movies, I try to concentrate on fighting. I don't really go out or anything, too many distractions and temptations and stuff so I just try to avoid it completely, stay home, play videogames and have a lot of sex.

FT: So you don't buy into the whole abstinence before a fight idea?

Browning: No, that's an old boxing rumor, that's not true at all. I actually think it would hurt you not to have sex before a fight.

FT: The videogames, the not going out - is that just fight prep or are you not going out at all?

Browning: It's not going to be like this year-round. As soon as this fight's over, I'm going to go get drunk and have some fun, you know what I mean? It's almost like a reward to yourself for training so hard, but 2-3 months out, I won't drink or party anything, I totally avoid it. Or if I do go out, I don't drink, I just hang out with friends.

FT: Do you think you're ever going to get past the reputation you set for yourself on TUF, or is that something you don't have a problem with?

Browning: Nah, I don't really care. Some people like it, some people hate it, I don't really care. I don't think there's really anything I have to do to get rid of that reputation. When people see me fight a few more times people will realize I'm not the same person.

FT: About fighting a few more times - where do you see yourself in the UFC's Lightweight division now?

Browning: I'm the best looking guy in the Lightweight division, I know that [Laughs]. Time will tell. I don't believe I'm even close to being one of the top guys right now, but I think I have the most potential and within the next few years, I could beat anybody.

FT: Thanks for your time Junie - is there anybody you want to thank?

Browning: Denaro Sports Marketing and TapouT.

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Browning was a nice guy to talk to - when I messaged him about the interview, he responded almost immediately. At the weigh-in for tomorrow's UFN 18 event, it appears that Browning wasn't even the one playing the "bad boy" role. Here is a video of his and Miller's weigh-ins.

-PreView

(Originally posted on FightTicker.com)