I caught up with Dave Menne, an up and coming fighter out of Minneapolis, who has been making a name for himself in the mid-west, at the Super Brawl XIII press conference at 24 Hour Fitness in Honolulu, Hawaii the day before the event. Menne is facing Jutaro Nakao from the Shooto organization. If Nakao sounds familiar, it should Nakao choked out UFC lightweight champ Pat Miletich with a triangle in Super Brawl XI.

FCF: After seeing Pat Miletich get triangled by Jutaro Nakao, what do you plan on doing differently than Miletich to avoid Nakao's favorite technique?
Dave Menne: Try to stuff the guard, basically. I saw a couple of his fights and he grabs the guy's wrist and he uses his hand to push their hand through his guard. It seems that's the way he sets up his triangle every time. If I keep forward, I keep my balance and I just work on hitting him in the ribs and the head and, when my opportunity comes, try and pass the guard. That's pretty much my game plan.

FCF: What about while standing up?
DM: He's got a pretty good kick to the midsection, or to the ribs. I will try to stay outside his left lead leg, so he can't turn over on his kicks. I think that if I let my hands go and, everything willing [laughs], I think I have better hands than him. He's got a hard kick, but I think I have better hands than him so I'm just going to try to keep outside his lead leg, so he can't get power on it, work on cutting to his leg and hitting him with some upper cuts because he tries to come in and tie up.

FCF: Do you want to keep the fight standing or take him to the ground?
DM: He's got decent stand-up. He doesn't do a lot as far as being versatile. He has a few things that he does well. I think I can take him down though. I will have to see. I will push the fight on the feet and see. If I'm winning on the feet, obviously I will try to keep it on the feet. If I'm winning, but it's taking it's toll on both of us then I might want to try and get a clean take down and pass the guard. Obviously, I want to win the fight wherever I'm dominant and you never know where that's going to be. My biggest fear is going to be that triangle and him pushing my hand through and getting that triangle on me. But I kind of think I know how he sets it up, but the reality is once you're in there, it's a lot harder to stop sometimes.

FCF: Anything else you want to add?
DM: I think that if I perform, I should win, if I don't I won't.

FCF: Thanks Dave and good luck.
DM: Thanks.