SB Nation Exclusive Interview: Brendan Schaub

David St. Martin over at our parent site SBNation.com has an interview with Brendan Schaub, who will fight former heavyweight title contender Gabriel Gonzaga at UFC 121 in Anaheim, Calif., in October.

Here are few excerpts from the interview in which Schaub said he will not fight training parter Shane Carwin:

What do you think about fighting a guy like Gabriel Gonzaga? He's pretty dangerous on the ground, but he also wobbled Carwin with a punch. How are you approaching this fight?

For me, this is the reason I've always dreamed of fighting in the UFC. Fighting top level competition. Guys like Gabe, Randy Couture, Dos Santos, and the Lesnars. All the studs, the who's who of MMA. It's just a great opportunity for me. I'm fighting on another absolutely stacked card. The way I show my appreciation to Dana White and Joe Silva for putting me on these cards is just to put on a show. I'm just going to go out there and do my thing. I have all the tools I need to beat Gonzaga.

Speaking of that UFC 121 card, you really did get put on one of the most stacked cards of the year. Do you look at this and ask yourself- 'how the hell am I going to get a bonus out of this thing?'

No, not really. My first real UFC fight was a prelim on Versus 1 and that card was stacked. My next fight was UFC 116 with Shane and Brock, another insane card. I see all these stars fighting around me and I just try to stand out. On the Versus card I had a 47 second knockout and on the UFC 116 SPIKE prelims I had a 67 second knockout, so I can find a way to separate myself, find a way for people to talk about me. I grew up a huge Tito Ortiz fan, so it's an honor to be on the same card as someone like him. It's a unique opportunity for me.

What are your thoughts on the heavyweight landscape? I was talking to Justin Wren, one of your fellow training partners at Grudge, and he thinks Carwin and Overeem are the best in the game right now.

I definitely think Shane is the most dangerous heavyweight out there. Honestly, if you're not fighting in the UFC, I could care less about you. I don't care about guys like Overeem or anyone else fighting in these other organizations. If you want to prove your worth and prove you're one of the best in the world, you need to be fighting in the UFC. These other organizations are kind of half-assed to be honest with you. Shane's on another level. Obviously you can't put him above Lesnar right now because he did end up beating him, but if they get a rematch I think it's a different story. Carwin is the most dangerous heavyweight in the world. I think you can put all the top five to six heavyweights right behind him, they're all dangerous.

You can read the entire interview, which is pretty interesting, here.