Evan Dunham, who hails from Eugene, Oregon and is undefeated as a pro (8-0), fought a very tough Dustin Akbari at the Palace Fighting Championships in late January and came away with a very impressive 3rd round Submission victory. A week later, Evan got the call that he would be replacing David Baron to fight against highly regarded Per Eklund at UFC 95 in London. Two weeks later, Evan flew over to London and knocked out Eklund, signaling the MMA world that a new force in the Lightweight ranks had arrived. NW Fightscene correspondant, Steve "Spaniard" Valentine, spoke with Evan in Eugene about the victory and more...

NW Fightscene: Evan, first we want to congratulate you.

Your UFC debut win was very dominant over Per Eklund. How did that feel?
Evan Dunham: It felt really good. I couldn't ask for anything more. To come in and make my dream come true in the UFC and also to win in that fashion, I couldn't ask for anything better.

NWFS: Tell us a little bit about your career, what team your with and where you started out.
I started out here in Eugene, Oregon with Team Megaton. I'm still with them although right now I split my time between Xtreme Couture and Team Megaton. When I'm in town I train with all my guys here at Team Megaton. They're strictly ground guys, we do do some standup and some MMA with a couple amateurs and a few pros. But most of it is jiu-jitsu. I go down to Xtreme Couture to prepare for fights and that way I can get my wrestling and my standup sharpened up as well.

NWFS: What is your background in wrestling? Did you wrestle or did you have a strong background in any specific thing?
I wrestled ever since sixth grade. I was really competitive in that. I never won state or placed in state but was the district champion a couple of times and tried to compete year-round in freestyle and Greco. So I have a strong background in wrestling but just didn't pursue it in college which turned out to be a great thing because at that time I fell into jiu-jitsu freshman year and I've been doing it ever since.

NWFS: Now is that hard to go back and forth and train at different places, or does it kind of fit in nicely for you?
I like it right now because I get a good look at all sorts of different guys. When I'm here in town I get a lot more ground work. We have some very talented jiu-jitsu players up here. So I get lots of good ground work when I'm in town here and also down in Xtreme Couture. I enjoy it. Its sometimes hard because I have a girlfriend I've been with for about six years and a dog I care a lot about, and they're both up here... About the last half year I've been in Vegas more than I've been up here. So it can be tough but I'm enjoying it because its kind of what I got to do to pursue what I want to do at this point and that's going as far as I can.

Other fighters are able to pull off some sponsorships and able to fight full time and not have to maintain a full-time job. Are you one of those fighters that train full-time and fight full-time, or do you pull off a job and fight?
I used to work.. about six months ago I was working full-time all the way up before the Per Eklund fight. But at this point I'm just strictly fighting and training full-time. I feel that's what I got to do to reach my full potential. So right now I'm just training two or three times a day, lifting, and that's pretty much it. Just going fight to fight. 

NWFS: What was your amateur career like and when did you decide you were going to turn pro?
Dunham: My amateur career was good. I was 5 and 3 as an amateur. We have lots of talented guys all over the Northwest. So I had some tough fights. My last amateur fight was against Gray Maynard who is actually one of my training partners down in Las Vegas. He was a real tough opponent.

Gray Maynard vs Evan Dunham at Sportfight 15 - April 8, 2006

And after that fight I told myself, if I'm going to fight these tough dudes I might as well go pro. And just kind of ran with it. I fought amateur at 170 but when I decided to go pro I dropped to 155 because I'm not the biggest strongest guy out there so I thought I'd be able to compete a little better at 155. So that's what I did. We got a great amateur scene in Oregon so I feel like I was able to get lots of experience as an amateur. Took my losses and learned from them, and I was able to correct some of those mistakes when I went pro. 

NWFS: Talking about weight at 155, are you ever thinking about going down or are you staying at 155?
For now I'm staying at 155. I walk around pretty heavy, anywhere between 75 and 85. Just trying to get stronger. I feel pretty competitive at 155 and I think its my home for now. Maybe in the future I'll consider going 45 but I love 55 and I seem to be doing all right in it so far. So at this point I don't have any plans to go lower. 

NWFS: Talking about the Oregon amateur scene, who would you say is the next up and coming guy that you're keeping your eye on from your camp?
A guy everyone should be looking out for is a guy named Brett Primus. He trains with us and he's unreal. I really haven't competed against anyone stronger than him, even at the professional level.

NWFS: Is he with Team Megaton or Xtreme Couture?
He's with Team Megaton. He's a very very athletic individual. He's a purple belt but he's very strong on the ground. Very good hands. The last two fights were knockouts for him within about 40 seconds into the fight. He's a very tough individual. He's 6 and 1 right now and me and all my buddies say "hey, you're done with amateur. You're not going amateur anymore." So he's going to break onto the pro scene here pretty soon. In my opinion everyone should watch out for him. 

NWFS: In other states like California, the amateur divisions are having a real rough time getting open and available fights. Oregon is one of the states that allows the amateurs to fight with no head gear and actually get a record. What are your thoughts on that as a pro fighter in the UFC?
I think its excellent because as myself I think I was able to really develop my game in a realistic competition, what it would be like as a pro. So in Oregon I think its great. Oregon has such an advantage in my opinion because you get these guys who have 7, 8, 9, 10, even more fights than that, before they even turn pro. And so when they go pro and fight these guys, they'll have the experience and quite the advantage. So I think that's one of the advantages we see a lot of the top fighters at the pro level being from the Northwest and especially from Oregon. 

NWFS: What was it like for you, the whole UFC experience?
It was a great experience... It was short notice. I heard about it just over two weeks before. I got a call from my manager when I was back home. I took a fight down in Palace [Fighting Championships] and I was home for just over a week.

NWFS: That was after you beat Dustin Akabari from Team Alpha Male, Urijah Faber's team?
Yeah. And I got a call from my manager one morning saying "Hey, you're fighting in the UFC in London." So I was ecstatic. I literally jumped on a plane three hours after I got that phone call and went straight down to Vegas and started training hard again the next morning. With Shawn Tompkins. It was short notice so I didn't have as much opportunity to get nervous which I think played to my favor. It happened so fast, the next thing I knew I was training, the next thing I knew I was in London fighting. I didn't get too nervous as I was trying to ignore all that. You know the stage and all that. It was a great experience. I enjoyed it thoroughly. It didn't really hit me until I was in the stands watching afterwards and then the reality kind of set in where I was and what just happened..

NWFS: Now you have some highlight material for your fight video. Are you going to be putting together some highlight stuff now?
We'll probably work on that. Right now I'm just kind of hitting the weights hard and working on some holes in my game. I just learned about my next opponent and event and I'm just trying to get ready for that. I'm just a little bit over four months out. 

NWFS: So who's the next opponent and where at?
I'm going to be fighting at UFC 102 in Portland which I'm really excited about, versus a guy named Matt Veach. 

NWFS: So they did finalize it. That's Great. 
I believe its in the books. I just signed that contract last week. It's a great opponent for me. He's 11-0 from the H.I.T. Squad I believe, with Matt Hughes. He's one of his training partners. I looked him up, he's a great wrestler, but I know I got better standup and better ground. So if I play my cards right, I know I'll be able to beat him. Its just a matter of going out and doing it and training hard for the fight.

NWFS: So you're going to put your game plan together. Where do you start? Starting from here what does a fighter go through for that coming fight?
My plan right now.. I haven't finalized it yet the dates I'm leaving and coming back. I'm planning on heading down to Vegas probably in the next couple of weeks, heading down there for four to six weeks. Get a good training, go back teaching for about two weeks, and then go back down for a full 8 week camp. So I have a lot of training to do even though I'm in great shape already. I need to get my weight down and I need to work on my plan that I need to implement for this guy. 

NWFS: Is there going to be a little more on the line being that you're fighting in front of your home town crowd?
Oh yeah, I love fighting in front of my hometown. It's always motivating. I train very hard and I kind of base my  far success on is a hard work ethic. But I love fighting in town because nothing drives me more than somebody who wants to come to my hometown or my home area and wants to give me a loss in front of my friends and family, and nothing drives me more to train hard and prepare. 

NWFS: What would you say to an upcoming fighter who's seen you go through the ranks & is finding themselves in the ranks in some of the smaller shows in Oregon?
I'd just have to say keep your nose to the grindstone and believe in yourself. I honestly believe a lot of this game is mental. If you believe you can do it and know you can do it, its just a matter of going out there and doing it. You have to train hard and believe in yourself, because if you don't believe in yourself in this sport, nobody else is going to. You have to work hard because its all about mental and working hard. If you're not right mentally, you can't work hard. If you're not mentally right you wont go in and fight like your supposed to. So my advice to somebody would just be to work your ass off and really believe in yourself. 

NWFS: Well all right and thanks very much and congratulations on the win and good luck for your future fight. You got any sponsors you'd like to thank?
I'd like to thank Full Contact Fighter, One Shot Fighting, everybody at Team Megaton, and Extreme Couture. They've all been really great to me. So those are pretty much my main people. 

Much thanks to Evan for taking the time to talk with NW Fightscene.

Fans wanting to hit up Evan on Myspace can do so HERE