From MMAweekly.com.....

Patrick: Hey Ricco how's it going bro?

Ricco: Things are good.

Patrick: About Team Punishment, what's going on with that? Are you and Tito still training together and with who else?

Ricco: Well, I didn't like the idea of having to pay a percentage of my purse to have a training partner. In my career I have always worked with other people. It was said in the past that I was with Team Kerr, or Team Machado. I trained with the Machados and Team Kerr was just me and Mark you know, not like a real team. With Tito Ortiz there was this group of guys and we were like hard core training. It was me, Tiki, Rob McCullough, Rampage and we were training together and then there was Team Punishment. Tito had a structure the he wanted followed that nobody really wanted to follow. I saw that Tito was putting alot of time and effort into it and wasn't really getting anything back. It doesn't mean the guys aren't there or we aren't training together. Tito's just not going to help people that aren't going to pay for his help and I can see where he's coming from. He was taking alot of time, he was giving people connections that he worked really hard for and people were kind of using him and not paying for his help you know?

Patrick: You went through a few struggles on your way to the UFC, what is it that kept you going?

Ricco: I had alot of struggles in my life and conquering them was a step by step process. Everything I have I had to work for, nothing was ever handed to me on a silver platter. Hard work kept me going.

Patrick: As a champion what do you feel that you bring to the sport of MMA in regards to it's future success?

Ricco: I feel that I'm one of the guys that's going to bring the sport to a whole other level in the aspect of taking it with me to do other things, whether it be movies and working with guys like Vin Diesel or bringing MMA to the Spanish speaking market and the Hispanic community. I'm not saying that the other champs aren't doing things to bring the sport into the mainstream, I'm just saying that I think I'm the guy with the personality to get along with everybody and really open things up and make the heavyweight division the premier division that it should be.

Patrick: Do you feel that Tim Sylvia deserves the shot that he is getting at your title?

Ricco: Out of all the heavyweights in the UFC I think he's the only man that deserves the shot, his record speaks for itself. Even though he only won one fight in the UFC, Gan McGee lost one, so it would have been a tough decision to fight Gan. Gan beat Pedro, Freeman beat Mir, Orlovsky beat Freeman and I've already beaten Orlovsky so if you do your homework you see that Sylvia is the only guy elligible.

Patrick: Your first and only loss came from Bobby Hoffman. Well, Hoffmans out of jail now and he wants to fight the top heavys. Would you be interested in avenging the loss to Bobby?

Ricco: Most definitley, I'm a sportsman and I want to clean that from my past. I would love to do that, it wouldn't be a problem for me. I'm sure the UFC would want him to fight someone before giving him a tiltle shot. After that I would love to give him a chance at the title beacuse there's nothing I want to do more than clean any messes I left in the past. It was the most rude wake up call I ever got, and I would compare a rematch like the rematch between Shamrock and Lober.

Patrick: Shed some light on your training relationship with Saul Soliz.

Ricco: He's been in my corner for years and nobodys really ever understood that or ever really given him credit. I kinda keep him on the hush hush because he's one of the best guys I've ever worked with in my life, he's given me everything I have today and he's been there from day one. He's built me into the fighter I am today and enlightened me about so many things. He trains and works with some of the best guys out there, Yves, Pete Spratt now Randleman, he works with champions.

Patrick: How far down the road is a fight with Nogueira? Do you see it happening?

Ricco: I see someone beating him before I get a chance, whether it be Josh Barnett or the Russian, I just don't see him going on as long as he thinks he will. I'm not taking anything away from the guy the guy deserves everything. You know what, I'm in the UFC I'm not going anywhere I'm not jumping ship if anybody wants to fight the champ I'm here and I'm going to make the UFC Heavyweight division a bigger and badder one. This is home for me and I've got to make the best fighters want to come and fight me here which is what I plan to do.

Patrick: Ricco I want to thank you once again for the chance to talk to the champ.

Ricco: No problem guy, take it easy.