John "Quick Guns" Gunderson will fight Mark Holst this Sat, June 19th, on the undercard of The Ultimate Fighter Season 11 Finale in Las Vegas. Gunderson was originally scheduled to fight UFC veteran Paul Taylor at UFC 112 which didn't happen due to Taylor being scratched at the last second for medical reasons. The pair were scheduled again for the TUF Finale, but yet once more Taylor fell off the card and a new opponent for Gunderson in Mark Holst was found. Gunderson spoke with NW Fightscene's Spaniard about the fight earlier this week...

NW Fightscene: You have a new opponent now. Tell us about the switch with Paul Taylor being out. 
John Gunderson: I got a call about four weeks ago saying that Paul Taylor's out  and a guy from Canada is in named Mark Holst. This is his UFC debut. He's fought I believe three times this year since January and he's riding a three fight win streak, with his last one coming in April against a tough Corey Hill. I've actually watched him compete twice before in kickboxing matches here in Vegas. And at the very first fight I was at, he fought a guy I trained with before who I highly respect in Kickboxing and knocked him out, I believe in the first round. So he's impressive. I've heard nothing but good things about him before he even signed the fight. He's an up and coming fighter. So we'll see what happens.

NWFS: So what does that do to your training, where you've been training the whole time for one opponent and now you got this whole new opponent? 
Gunderson: Nothing. I'm not going to go into this fight wanting to switch anything up. The way I fight, I don't care about how he fights. He's going to have to do what I do.

NWFS: Tell us about your training camp leading up to this fight.  
Gunderson: Its been a good camp. I train with a couple of guys from Canada that are really good strikers. Obviously Mark's an excellent striker so I train with some good strikers. And I train in Las Vegas where the best train. I train with Shawn Tompkins at Tapout...  I also train with some guys from Xtreme Couture.. with Evan Dunham, Martin Kampmann, just a lot of great fighters. Of course all the guys over at Tapout.. Chris Horodecki, Sam Stout, Mark Hominick... just a lot of great guys.

NWFS: What do you plan on doing going into the fight and what do you thing will be your way of ending the fight?
Gunderson: I think this is a super fight for me to finish. I don't think he has what it takes. He's young. He's young in the sport. This will be his tenth fight. This will be my thirtieth one for me. I'm just going to get after him. I got to get after him right away. I got to turn it into a fight. I don't want it to be too much of a technical fight. I'm gonna get in there and beat him up. Pull him around. I don't think he'll be able to hang with me on the ground. He's got some wins by submission.. he's supposed to be pretty decent on the ground but I believe I'm more of a beast on the ground, especially when I'm in shape. I think I'll scramble to fast for him and I'll be a little too strong for him.

NWFS: Do you think this being his debut in the UFC will get to him a little bit, rattle his nerves? I mean you've been in that position, does that get to a fighter?
Gunderson: Yeah it does, no matter what anyone says, it does. No matter how hard you try to prepare for it, it does. You know, its not a real big show, its at The Palms, so its not as many people as say The MGM or Mandalay Bay.. But its still The UFC and its still going to get to him and still going to mess with his head. He's got to perform and he's got to carry the weight of his whole town on his shoulders, all his trainers and everything. He's going to look to perform and come out there and he wants to look good, and his adrenaline's gonna be running. But I've been prepared for big fights my whole career. I've been in co-main events and main events, so I'm ready to go.

NWFS: Do you think living and training in Vegas gives you a little bit of advantage since you don't have to travel or go anywhere?
Gunderson: I think so. I'm already adapted and I'm already ready to go. I've been training my ass off. I'm already in shape. I don't have any jet lag. I don't have to get used to anything. Everything I need is at my disposal right here. I'm ready to go. I'm not one of those guys who goes out all the time. I'm always at home or I'm at the gym. So I'm ready to go and come in and just take his head off.

NWFS: Coming up to the fight, what are some last minute things you go through?
Gunderson: Basically just cutting weight. I cut the weight and do mental training. I've already done everything that it takes to prepare for the fight. I may go over some drills here and there, and some last little things I may need to tweak. Then I just cut the weight, and spend a lot of time mental training is a big part of it. A lot of guys don't do that. A lot of guys just go in, bite down on the mouthpiece, and get after it, without having the right [mental] training and expose themselves to getting knocked out or submitted. I don't ever do that.

NWFS: Anyone you'd like to thank?

Gunderson: I'd like to thank Tapout, and all the guys from the Tapout Training Center in Las Vegas. My coach Shawn Tompkins, Mike Cody and my strength and conditioning coach Jake Bonacci. And everybody that helped me prepare for this fight. I've been preparing for this fight since January so I'm excited & ready to go.

NW Fightscene would like to thank John for taking the time out to speak with us. He'll be taking on Mark Holst, in a Lightweight bout on the preliminary card of The Ultimate Fighter Finale, this Sat June 19th in Las Vegas. More info at UFC.com.