Middleweight Pro Fighter, Rob Criswell takes on Peter Aspinwall at the main event of United Combat Sports' "St Patty's Beatdown", happening tomorrow night, March 13th inside the Pavilion of the Salem Oregon State Fairgrounds. NW Fightscene's Spaniard spoke with Rob this morning about his prep for the fight and more...

NW Fightscene: Weigh-ins are tonight at 6 PM? How your weight going?
Rob Criswell: Well, I'm 27 pounds down so far and I got 8 to go. So I'm actually heading to the gym here in about half an hour to finish my cut and I should make 185, 186 by 4 or 5 PM.

NWFS: So 8 pounds in just hours. Is that easy?

Criswell: I cut a little bit last night so I'm a little dry but it shouldn't take too long. I expect a pound every 15 to 20 minutes to be honest. Anything over that I'm just not trying hard enough.

NWFS: So you're used to cutting a ton of weight?

Criswell: Yeah, yeah. I usually walk a little over 220 pounds and 185 is definitely my fighting weight. I'm used to it. I'm used to a 35 pound drop.

NWFS: How has your training camp been for this fight.

Criswell: Oh its been great. One of Brazilian Top Team's youngest black belts Marco has come over from BTT Boston to help me out and train my wrestling. He a black belt in Brazilian Jiu-jitsu, in Muay Thai, and is an Olympic Trials Champion for Brazil. So he's come over and really stepped up my game as far as wrestling and jits went. And I've just done my same old thing for striking.

NWFS: So for the people who aren't too up on you, tell us about your record and your team.

Criswell: I fight for Brazilian Top Team at Alive MMA in Portland, Oregon. As an amateur I went 10-2-1 with 10 KO's. Six of those got sent to the ER, 2 on a stretcher. So I'm pretty used to knocking people out. I do have one loss as a pro against a guy named Cleburn Walker in Wyoming. You can check him out on this season of The Ultimate Fighter, Season 11 at 170 lbs. So I took a fight a little over my head and you know it was a good learning experience. And I've trained really hard since then.

NWFS: Now you're fighting Peter Aspinwall in the main event coming up on the 13th. What are your thoughts on your opponent?

Criswell: I know he's a really tough guy. There's not a lot of video on him on the internet but luckily one of my head Brazilian Jiu-jitsu instructors, Bill Bradley, has fought him twice I believe as an amateur so he had a lot of input on Peter's striking ability, ground game, wrestling, and things like that. I do have a couple guys who wrestled him in high school at the state championships. So I feel pretty prepared for this. I mean I know its going to be a touch battle. But its definitely going to be one of the most exciting fights of the night.

NWFS: Now this is a classic striker vs ground n pound wrestler kind of deal. How do you think that's going to play out?

Criswell: Well if it does go to the ground I'll be looking to stand up like I always do. But one thing I am really comfortable with is ground and pound guys. I've trained with Mike Pierce and Ricky Story up at Braveheart for 7 or 8 months and I got really used to the ground and pound style. I feel like I can deal with it better than a regular jits guy so I'm not too worried about the ground and pound. The wrestling I've been training hard for. If you see my hands touch him, its going to be a quick fight. So I'm not too worried about it.

NWFS: So now organization-wise and fight-wise, where are you looking to go?

Criswell: You know, right now I'm just taking fights as they come. I'm actually leaning a little bit towards pro boxing right now. I'm doing MMA and boxing. I have a boxing match coming up next month in Idaho. You know I'm just taking fights as they come. I'd like to get into like a Strikeforce organization. I'm not really shooting for the UFC so much mostly from some things I've heard about their pay and politics and things so...

NWFS: But you are wanting to stick with being a pro fighter full-time?

Criswell: Oh yeah, definitely. I enjoy being a coach. I'm a full-time coach for Brazilian Top Team. And at Arsenal Combat Sports in Vancouver. I enjoy that and it pays the bills but my true passion is fighting. So I'm definitely going to be sticking around on the pro circuit here.

NWFS: What do you do besides fighting? Any hobbies, any fun stuff on the side?

Criswell: Oh yeah, I love going skiing, wakeboarding. Anything to do with water sports or pretty much anything my friends can come up with that will jack my adrenaline up. Anybody that knows me knows that I'm an adrenaline junkie. So if there's a sport out there that can get me going, I'll do it for sure. 

NWFS: Lets go back to the fights tomorrow night. You're fighting a guy who's known to go the distance and you're known to knock people out. So if this goes to decision, do you feel comfortable in that aspect?

Criswell: Well I've never actually gone the distance in one of my fights. And some people see that as a bad thing. But most of my fights I either end in the first round or second round by knockout. I know that definitely he does a lot of decisions wins over guys. I feel that I can pull out at least a first or second round win just by striking ability alone. I know he's going to be pushing the pace and personally I like a little bit slower fight. I'll be trying to drag him down... So, I feel that the decision win would be coming my way if it does go the distance.

NWFS: If you could win this fight by one move what would it be. 

Criswell: Probably flying knee would be my favorite. 

NWFS: You have one of those on your record don't you?

Criswell: I do have one of those on my record. Probably my 2nd favorite would be stoppage by elbow strikes. I've trained elbows since I was six years old and never gotten to use them so...

NWFS: You're flying knee KO. What was the time on that one?

Criswell: 3 seconds into the 2nd round. I took the first round nice and slow, kind of wearing him down and then came out really furious on that 2nd round. 

NWFS: Anyone you'd like to thank?

Criswell: I would love to thank Cage Culture for sponsoring me for this fight. Nigel Jourdain Photography has been helping me out a lot. PredatorSportswear.com. And to my wife for putting up with all my crap. (Laughs)