Eric Payne has been making quite a name for himself in Steve Nelson's USWF events in Texas and has claimed their Lightweight Championship. This will be Payne's second appearance in Hawaii at Future Brawl after an impressive Hawaii debut. This time he is facing the man who has one of the most spectacular knock outs in Future Brawl, if not in NHB, Steven "Bozo" Palling, from the always tough Jesus Is Lord team. I called Eric to check in on the USWF Lightweight Champ.

FCF: The last time you appeared in Future Brawl, you took out Cheyenne Padeken rather easily. You're facing Steven "Bozo" Palling, another Hawaii local with heavy hands. Have you see him fight before and if so, what can we expect from you in this fight?
Eric Payne: I saw his fight with [Takanori] Gomi from Japan [Future Brawl 12]. I heard he knocked out Jay R. Palmer, so you know he has power. It doesn't look like he gave Gomi a hard time, but Gomi didn't have his way with him either. It looks like he's better up on his feet than on the ground. I don't know if I'm going to take him down or stand up with him. I have been working on my hands. Wherever I see a mistake, I'm going to try and capitalize on it. I'm not predicting an easy fight or nothing. I'm just going to try to take advantage of any mistakes he makes.

FCF: Have you fought since fighting Padeken?
EP: Yeah, I fought in one fight since. It was a small show, a local fight here in Texas. I weighed 160 and I fought a guy that was 180 and I beat him in a little less than a minute. The event was the PSDA.

FCF: How do you like fighting in Future Brawl, with its rules much different than the USWF?
EP: Well, I fought using Shooto rules before in Tokyo, Japan. I got a taste of it in Tokyo with Uchu Tatsumi and I fought Uematsu. Both are really tough guys. Those were my first shoot or NHB type matches and I did that within my first year of training. I think that I was a bit young [in my training]. I have been training with Ali Elias and Eric Davilla and we've been doing a lot of NHB training and grappling. For this fight coming up, we have been training since early last month. We've been training for this fight pretty hard. [Eric Davilla is also on the Future Brawl 17 card facing Matt Hughes]

FCF: Which style of rules do you prefer?
EP: I like this way better because the strikes on the ground help set up your submissions better with the closed fists.

FCF: In the USWF, you have to use open hands to the head on the ground. What about strikes to the body?
EP: Nope, open hand all the time…Texas.

FCF: Do you have any other scheduled fights?
EP: No, no, maybe USWF in July. That's the only other one that I have planned.

FCF: What's the latest news regarding the USWF?
EP: Well, I heard there is supposed to be a fight in Lubbock, Texas next month, but it was canceled because they couldn't get the arena because of construction or something. The next one is on July 17th for sure. I think Evan Tanner is going to be in it, Paul Jones, maybe Steve Nelson and Eric Davilla.

FCF: Isn't that's basically why they put a hold on the USWF, because the arena was getting torn down and another one built, wasn't it?
EP: Yeah, that's why they shut it down for a year. They tore down the civic center, which is where they had the show before, and they built a brand new arena.

FCF: Do you know why he didn't just move on to another arena?
EP: He likes to stay in Amarillo. He doesn't like to travel too far outside of Amarillo.

FCF: Is there anyone that you would like to fight?
EP: Yeah, there is. [laughs] No disrespect, but I would like to fight guys like Jens Pulver and Aaron Riley. No disrespect to those guys, but they are out there making a name for themselves and I don't want to be fighting Joe Blow from a bar. I want to fight some guys who made names for themselves, like Yves Edwards. I want to be pushed. I would like to see what I can do against them.

FCF: Thanks.
EP: No problem.