Bellator 159: 'Caveman' Rickels appreciates 'Sisqo' putting rap career on hold to face punch

Bellator 159: "Caldwell vs. Taimanglo" comes to Kansas Star Arena in Mulvane, Kans., this Friday night (July 22, 2016) featuring a main event between two Bantamweight contenders -- undefeated "Wolf" Darrion Caldwell versus "Juggernaut" Joe Taimanglo, winner of three straight.

Elsewhere on the Spike TV-televised card, two well-known Lightweights will meet in a division that just crowned a new champion at Bellator 157 in St. Louis. "The Caveman" Dave Rickels is a fan favorite who will look to put together two straight wins for the first time since 2013 after beating Bobby Cooper in February. Rickels is doing much better than his opponent this weekend, though. Indeed, "Young Assassin" Melvin Guillard hasn't won a fight since his Bellator debut and hasn't defeated an opponent since Gesias Cavalcante in 2014. In fact, Guillard has only won three times in his last 10 fights.

In a recent conversation with MMAmania.com, Rickels is clearly feeling good about his chances in front of a biased crowd of faithful fans in Mulvane. He's even got time for jokes at Guillard's expense.

"You know, it's really cool of Sisqo to take time out of his rap career to come down to the Kansas Star and fist fight me in a cage."

In all seriousness, though, Rickels is expecting Guillard to come out throwing bombs.

"Melvin is, 'what you see is what you get,' man. Melvin is an exciting fighter who's gonna come out (and) who's gonna throw down! He's gonna look to knock me out in the first two minutes and I think that's his only chance is grazing me with some kind of shot in the first round. I think I'm a much better fighter."

For Rickels that has resulted in a fun training camp with Team Elevation with an easy-to-follow gameplan.

"Training camp has been pretty easy as far as getting guys who just wanna knock my head off -- it's been pretty easy to find guys like that. Training camp's gone really good for me. I'm feeling really in tune with my striking, my movement and all of the above. I'm hoping to go in there and outclass him."

Rickels says had some incredible scraps in training getting ready for this fight.

"I've been sparring with Matt Brown. One of my favorite moments in training camp was me and Matt Brown had this ridiculous banger round where we were beating the hell out of each other! After the round Matt looks at me and says, 'That should have been on camera.'"

Given his high level of sparring partners, is Rickels feeling overconfident given Guillard's recent track record or does he respect "The Young Assassin" for his long tenure in the sport?

"You know I definitely think there are harder opponents out there. A Ben Henderson fight, a Josh Thomson fight, (they) are much harder to train for, much harder to prepare for. With guys like Melvin Guillard (though) you do have to be very diligent with what you do. You have to be precise in what you do. If you fuck up, start walking backward and let that guy throw a five piece combo on you, that could be lights out."

Not surprisingly, Henderson and Thomson are exactly the guys he's looking to fight with a win over Guillard.

"I think those are just inevitably some guys that are gonna be in my way. Another fight that really makes sense to me would be a Patricky Pitbull 2. Yeah, those are kind of the guys I see -- Patricky, Josh Thomson, Ben Henderson and Chandler. Those are the guys I picture at the top right now, (Derek) Campos is kind of doing his thing, too, but yeah, we've got a lot of studs at (1)55. I will gladly and slowly and systematically knock them off."

That being said, Rickels is not opposed to the idea of taking a one off or a short notice replacement fight at 170 pounds.

"Oh you better believe I'll jump in! Yeah, I'm definitely jumping in. I've actually expressed to Bellator that if they've got some big fights at 170 that they want me pursue that I'm 100 percent down for it."

To be fair to Guillard -- as well as honest with fight fans -- Rickels is not shy about admitting he's had a hard time keeping a win streak going of late. Current Lightweight champion Michael Chandler has slowed his roll ... twice.

"That God damn Michael Chandler seems to be my Kryptonite! I've been making a lot of improvements -- even in that last Michael Chandler fight that I had you saw a lot of improvements in my game. My composure and my striking, there were definitely some good moments for me in the fight. Getting the momentum is going to be one of these great things for me. Building some momentum with a big win over Melvin Guillard, he doesn't quite have the shine he used to, but nonetheless a former UFC vet it still looks good on the rap sheet."

There's no shame in losing twice to the two-time champ, though. Rickels is the first to say it's a pleasure to see Chandler at work so long as you're not the man standing in front of him.

"It's one of those things where I watch Michael Chandler and I have a lot of respect for him. I watch the way that he trains and I watch his fights and I want to pick him apart but he does some things very well and it's kind of fun to watch."

Rickels is planning another fun and exciting entrance for the fans in Mulvane, something that has become a trademark of watching "The Caveman" at work.

"You bet your ass I do!! Got something great planned like I always do because this is my hometown and I love my people. Yeah man, there's an expectation at hand now. I can't do a hometown fight and not do a badass walkout, so yeah, I've got something going down."

Be sure to tune in to Bellator 159 this Friday night live on Spike TV to see just what "The Caveman" has got going down.

Complete audio of our interview is below and complete Bellator MMA coverage can be found right here on fight night.

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