Eric Hibler, one of the trainers at the Pittsburgh Fight Club in Kurt Angle's hometown in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania tells that Angle has been training and would like to have at least one mixed martial arts fight before he is unable to.

"Kurt is an international superstar with a very busy schedule. When Kurt is in town he does train here," Hibler revealed.

"He's very low profile and easy to talk to. Everyone likes him and he's the man when it comes to fired-up hard workouts."

"Kurt is an amazing open-minded individual and his ability to focus on a task is world class, no matter what we are working on. However, MMA even though it relates, is very different from wrestling."

"Kurt must relearn strategy and tactics for better game play with real fighting. On the other hand, Kurt is a trainer's dream. He was born to train and compete."

"For now, his wrestling gives him excellent penetration ability for takedown transitions and a strong ground sense to help his positioning for ground and pound and submission set-ups," added him.

"Kurt's planning to participate in at least one MMA fight when he gets the right offer."

"To date he has not signed with any fight promotion."

Sometimes a change of environment can be good for a person. Getting a fresh perspective on things can often stem a tide of bad luck.

This is what the UFC fighter Jason "The Punisher" Lambert hopes to do with his recent move down to middleweight division to face Jason "The Athlete" MacDonald at UFC 88 on September 6 in Atlanta, Georgia.

Long a dominant force in the smaller shows, Lambert has experienced a mixed bag since making his UFC debut in 2006.

On one hand he's had impressive wins over the likes of top 205-pound Brazilian fighter Renato "Babalu" Sobral, and on the other he's lost three of his last four fights heading into Atlanta (from Rashad Evans, Wilson Gouveia and Luis "Banha" Cane).

With the decision to move down in weight, he looks to recapture past prominence and establish himself as a legitimate title contender.

"I've been training my butt off and getting ready to get down to 185," said Lambert of his recent activities.

"It's been going good. I've been working a lot on strength, endurance and stuff like that, trying to keep a lot of my strength going down in weight class."

Long known for his physicality, he says so far he hasn't experienced a loss in power that some fighters experience when changing weight classes.

"I'm still doing a lot of things that I did at the old weight class," he reiterated. "Just sticking with those routines has been pretty tough when you're cutting back on calories, but it's been going pretty well."

"The whole goal is to move quick and still keep that power. I'm just ready to get out there and get back into the octagon and test my skills."

At UFC 88, Lambert is slated to face MacDonald, a Canadian fighter who is also looking to get back on track after a loss in his last fight.

"I'm expecting a high-paced ground fight," he commented. "Both of us like to fight on the ground, so I think we're both going to be fighting for that top position."

"I'm sure he's going to be looking for some submissions, and I'm going to be looking to ground and pound, so it should be quite a ground war, for sure."

The loser of this fight could very well find himself out of the UFC, but Lambert says he's not feeling any of those anxieties heading into the match-up.

"I kind of try to drop some of the pressure," he admitted. "A lot of people can get sucked into that, but I'm just trying to go out there and have a good performance either way."

"I can't control every aspect, I just know I can control myself, and I want as fight as hard as I possibly can, and whatever happens is gonna happen."

Win or lose, he wants to continue to be active and take full advantage of his formative years in the sport.

"I just want to fight," exclaimed Lambert. "I want to get out there and compete as much as my body will let me."

"I wanna get out there and constantly improve. I think that's where you do it the most – in fights – the more you stay inactive and on the shelf, it doesn't help so much."

In a new weight class with an opportunity to rebuild his career, Lambert knows now is the time if he wants to make the run he's always been capable of, sooner than later.

"I want to thank Sprall fight shots and Cobian footwear, and my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ," he closed out.

"Thanks to all the people that stick next to me win or lose, because they know I'm gonna bring it. I come to fight hard for them, so I thank them for all their support."

Ben Askren, a 2008 Olympic wrestler, who just returned from the Beijing Olympics will soon decide if he will continue to work toward the 2012 Olympic Games in London or make a move into the MMA.

The University of Missouri wrestler, who won the 2006 and 2007 NCAA National Championship in wrestling in the 174-pound weight class, is a long time fan of the sport and sees the level of competition he could face as a whole new challenge.

"I see it as the ultimate competition, one man against another man, very limited rules, and the toughest guy wins. So that's definitely what I like about it," said Askren.

He competed at 174 pounds while in college and at 163 pounds while in the Olympics, but he said if fighting is his ultimate choice, he would compete in the 170-pound welterweight division.

He has worked in Missouri with a local gym rolling in jiu-jitsu a couple of times a week already, but has very limited striking experience to his credit. Askren is realistic about a move into MMA and knows he has a lot to learn.

"I'm not going to go in the cage unprepared," he stated. "I'm a worker and I'm going to work. I'm going to get good at what I do. I want to get good at jiu-jitsu, get good at striking, and I'm going to go in there prepared."

The Olympian stated in the interview that he's a fan of MMA fighters such as Mauricio "Shogun" Rua and Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic, and has seen the success of the past top wrestlers such as Matt Lindland and Josh Koscheck in MMA.

"Pretty much any high level wrestler that applies themselves to mixed martial arts does well in it," he commented. "I think you'd be hard pressed to find one that actually trained in mixed martial arts and didn't do well."

Just getting home from China a few days ago, Askren has thoughts of possibly competing in the Olympics again, while also mulling the decision to coach at his almamater or making the move to MMA. It's a decision he will make very soon.

"That's a decision I've got to make coming up really soon, maybe in the next couple weeks," he said. "There's a definite possibility I might just focus on MMA. I don't want to say 100 percent, but it's definitely a possibility."

Of course being an Olympic level wrestler, Askren also wants to fight the very best in the world if he does transition into MMA.

"I want to face tough opponents, I don't want to face 'cans', as they call them," he commented.

Askren's next move will be to attend the upcoming World Extreme Cagefighting (WEC) event to take a look at high level MMA first hand. WEC 36 takes place on September 10 in Florida and features a main event title bout between the defending WEC Featherweight Champion Urijah Faber and challenger Mike Brown.

From The MMA News:

In the world of mixed martial arts, Frank Shamrock has done it all. Shamrock’s been the Interim King of Pancrase champion, won the UFC light heavyweight title, then won the WEC light heavyweight title which he vacated to win the Strikeforce middleweight championship which he only recently lost to Cung Le. The MMA News recently had a talk with Shamrock and here’s what was said:

The MMA News: How’s your injury and what’s the update on your overall condition?

Frank Shamrock: I’m cleared so the arm is back to normal. I’m training at about 60% now.

The MMA News: Are you still looking to fight this year?

Frank Shamrock: I’m looking for a fight in November if I can get all the cards in place. I’m trying to pick a fight with Robbie Lawler.

The MMA News: How many fights do you have left on your contract?

Frank Shamrock: With Strikeforce I have one, with Pro-Elite I have two more.

The MMA News: Do you find that you don’t always get the credit for helping to innovate MMA conditioning to the levels that it has achieved now?

Frank Shamrock: I don’t know. I mean I don’t know if I need credit but I was at the forefront of it for a long time. Even now I think I’m still pretty advanced with what’s going on. The sport grows so fast and the history of it is so cloudy that I’m just glad that guys are in good shape and the level of athletism continues to grow.

The MMA News: What’s going on with you outside MMA?

Frank Shamrock: It’s all about the kids.

The MMA News: How’s the commentating with CBS working out?

Frank Shamrock: I’m the official CBS MMA expert guy. I’ve signed up for 4-6 a year, and I put a lot of juice into it.

The MMA News: What’s your take on Kimbo Slice?

Frank Shamrock: He’s generally a nice guy. He’s medium skilled but he’s dedicated. If you can’t be the best at least you can make the best of the opportunity.

The MMA News: How about Fedor Emelianenko?

Frank Shamrock: I’ve met him on a couple of occasions and he’s the nicest guy in the world. He’s a fan of mine, and he’s so nice and respectful. He’s always been wonderful to me.

The MMA News: How was Affliction:Banned for you?

Frank Shamrock: I had a blast at the show.

The MMA News: How’s your relationship with Ken?

Frank Shamrock: I don’t think we’ll ever be okay. We grew up weird. Ken and I grew up in the media in a sport that was just like the wild west and we’re totally different people.

The MMA News: Are you still looking at trying to fight Ken?

Frank Shamrock: Yes. The first quarter of ‘09 is when we’re looking at making it, and I think we’re on schedule to do that.

The MMA News: How about Tito Ortiz?

Frank Shamrock: I talked to Tito about it and he was pretty game. I think it’s going to happen and I think that Affliction will play a big part in that.

The MMA News: Where Is MMA headed?

Frank Shamrock: I think that the media property outside the industry will spur mainstream attention to what we’re doing. I don’t think it’s necessarily going to be the fighting itself, but perhaps a book or a docu-drama that will bring the attention and push the sport to the next level

The MMA News: Other than yourself who would you say is the pound for pound best fighter in the world.

Frank Shamrock: Probably for popularity I would say GSP or Anderson Silva. It’s so funny because I’ve been that guy on multiple occasions and all of a sudden you’re not that guy and you think “Wow that’s interesting” and you eventually learn it doesn’t mean anything. At one point I was the highest paid fighter per second and the best pound for pound fighter in the world and we had the smallest audience ever. Does it really mean all that much? I just smile because next year there’ll be another guy.

The MMA News: Give us some last words, first for your fans and then for your opponents.

Frank Shamrock: For the fans: Keep working out, keep training. For my opponents: Keep working out, keep training.

It's from the boxing scene. The World Boxing Association (WBA) Featherweight Champion Chris "The Dragon" John (41-0-1, 22 KOs), from Indonesia, will put his title belt on the line againsts the unbeaten Oriental and Pacific Boxing Federation (OPBF) ruler Hiroyuki Enoki (27-0-2, 19 KOs), a hard-punching Japanese, in Tokyo, Japan, on October 24.

By any coincidence both the champion and the challenger were born on the same day, September 14, 1979, so there's no age difference between them. Chris John, making his tenth defense since acquiring the WBA throne by defeating Oscar Leon in 2003, is regarded as a formidable kingpin, having beaten such name challengers like Juan Manuel Marquez (even by a hairline decision), Derrick Gainer, Osamu Sato and Jose Cheo Rojas.

Enoki, the current OPBF Featherweight Champion, is a game battler with stinging left hand who recently kept his regional belt by a unanimous draw (all 114-114) with highly world rated national champion Takahiro Aoh in a WBA elimination match this April. The also unbeaten Aoh will have an ambitious crack at the World Boxing Council (WBC) diadem against Oscar Larios here on October 16, just eight days earlier than Enoki.

It was surprising that the gallant challenger was so much moved by this long-anticipated title shot that he wept at the press conference and couldn't speak well before stunned people. But Enoki said, "I waited long for this opportunity, and will respond to my supporters' expectations by winning the belt." It is okay he cried at the press conference, but will never in the ring like Oliver McCall. Enoki will have a puncher's chance. But, Chris John will be his hardest opponent to be defeat.