Mike Budnik replaces Cole Province at "WEC 40: Torres vs. Mizugaki"

Originally posted on MMAjunkie.com

Former X-Games medalist Mike Budnik (7-2 MMA, 1-2 WEC) will step in on just nine-days' notice to face American Top Team's Rafael Dias (11-5-1 MMA, 0-1 WEC) at "WEC 40: Torres vs. Mizugaki."

MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) was today informed of the change after original participant Cole Province (5-1 MMA, 0-1 WEC) was forced to bow out of the preliminary-card featherweight bout due to an undisclosed injury.

WEC 40 takes place April 5 at the UIC Pavilion in Chicago. The main card airs live on VERSUS.

Budnik will be looking to rebound from two-straight losses in the WEC, the first two defeats of the 34-year-old's career. "Wildfire" dropped a split decision to John Franchi at WEC 39 on March 1.

Budnik has opened his career with an undefeated record over seven fights before the WEC defeats.

Click here to read the entire article at MMAjunkie.com

From the X Games to MMA X-Factor: A 411 MMA Exclusive Conversation with Mike Budnik

Originally posted on 411mania.com

On Sunday night March 1st, Mike Budnik will make his third fighting appearance under the WEC banner. Mike recently took time out of his busy training schedule to sit down with 411 Mania’s Todd Bergman to discuss his X-Games career, being a scratch-level golfer, his obsession with Jiu-Jitsu, his previous fights and his upcoming fight at WEC 39, plus much more.

Todd Bergman: So before talking about your current career in MMA, let's go back to your previous career. You're an X-Games veteran along with being an X-Games medalist. What made you jump from the X-Games to MMA?

Mike Budnik: It wasn't something that I did consciously, like man MMA is cool, let me go do that. I actually jumped from the X-Games type stuff and me and my wife settled down and had kids. I've been in the gym business for awhile and I've ran a lot of gyms all over the country. One of my assistant managers was taking Gracie Jiu-Jitsu and I wrestled back in High School and I was like man that looks like fun let me give that a try. I had the itch to do something and I was getting kind of fat and just wanted to do something so I rolled with him one day and he was a skinny little 135lbs guy and I thought that I was just going to be able to throw him around and beat him up, but he just tooled me for about three hours and I was instantly hooked. I did Jiu-Jitsu for about two years before I took any fights or anything like that. I just kind of started there.

TB: Was learning Jiu-Jitsu something that came easily to you or was it a skill that you really acquired over time?

MB: I wouldn't say that it was easy because there's always that learning curve. I took to it pretty quickly. I had a wrestling background so I was comfortable grappling and I was far enough removed from wrestling that I really didn't have any bad habits like most of the guys who are wrestling currently who go straight into Jiu-Jitsu [and] make a lot of the same mistakes. I hadn't wrestled in fifteen years so it wasn't like I was wrestling everyday. And the next day, I tried Jiu-Jitsu. I had a great instructor who was a Gracie Jiu-Jitsu black belt, and I learned from day one. Once I got hooked on it, I was gung ho about it. I was going to class something like nine times a week. I was going during lunch breaks, I was going after work, plus I was taking like three private lessons a week. So I dove into the deep end right off the bat.

TB:Now while you were competing in the X-Games and rollerblading, did you ever watch MMA?

MB: Oh yeah. I graduated high school ages ago, back in 1992, which was right about when the original one started with Royce Gracie. Being a littler guy back in high school, I wrestled at 119lbs. I'm sitting there watching the show and there's this guy on TV who weights 160 something pounds fighting a guy that weights 260lbs. and it looks like he's in trouble. I didn't really understand what was going on and out of no where he freaking ends up choking the heavier guy out or breaking his arm or something crazy like that. I've be been a huge fan but there was little time in between the first couple of events to where things started gaining a little bit more popularity that I didn't really follow it, but I was a huge Royce Gracie fan back in the day.

..........

TB: What's your ideal finish for your upcoming fight?

MB: My ideal finish would be a quick KO, but I'm pretty sure that he isn't going to want to stand with me. He's another Division 1 wrestler, so he's probably going to take me down. And since I slipped on my armbar in my last fight, I would love more than anything to redeem myself and possibly snap his arm in half.

TB: Anyone that would like to thank?

MB: My Jiu-Jitsu coaches, Piet Wilhelm from Triton MMA and Mickey Swafford from Chattanooga Jiu-Jitsu, along with MMA Agents for all their support.

Click here to read the entire article at 411mania.com

Check Out These MMAagents' Fighters

Looking for an interview? Contact Joe Kalawi at Joe@MMAagents.com. Any sponsorship inquiries can be sent to Danny@MMAagents.com.

Please be advised the following fighters are available for interviews with regards to their upcoming bouts. The fighters have been listed chronologically with the soonest fight card first:

Rob McCullough, Mike Budnik, James Thompson, Sean Salmon, Marc Cofer, Brandon Lee Hinkle, Martin Kampmann, Joe Scarola, and Josh Hendricks.

“Razor” Rob McCullough returns to action after his fight of the year quality match. This time Rob faces Marcus “The Wrecking Ball” Hicks at WEC 39 on 3/1/09 in Corpus Christi, TX. Hicks brings an impressive 8-1 record into this bout with no fights going the distance. This match will help determine who is next in line for a shot at the WEC lightweight title. “Razor” has been training hard at Xtreme Couture for this bout and looks to showcase new skills in this bout.

Mike “Wildfire” Budnik, a nine-time X Games inline skating medalist, is set to face John Franchi in a lightweight match at WEC 39 on 3/01/09. “Wildfire” brings an exciting and impressive 7-1 MMA record to this bout with only one of his fights going the distance. Budnik has shown slick submission skills and dangerous striking in his 8 fights. John Franchi is an exciting IFL veteran with a 4-0 record. 2 of his wins have come by submission and 2 by TKO.

James “The Colossus” Thompson returns to action in Japan’s World Victory Road against “Big” Jim York on 3/20/09. Over 500 lbs of fighting mass will collide in the ring. In their combined 34 fights, only 1 match has gone the distance. Look for fireworks since both heavyweights are coming off losses.

Sean Salmon is set to face Lucio Linhares in the main event of Fight Festival 25 in Helsinki, Finland on 3/14/09. Salmon is looking to improve his 15-6 record and Linhares would like to continue to make a name for himself internationally in this middleweight bout.

Undefeated 3-0 Marc Cofer will also be competing on the Fight Festival 25 card in Finland on 3/14/09. He will be tested against 9-1 Timo Suhonen in this middleweight bout.

Heavyweight UFC veteran Brandon Lee Hinkle is fighting in the main event at SNBCMMA: Beatdown 4 in New Town, ND against Chris Tuchscherer on 3/21/09. Tuchscherer has a 15-1 record and was a finalist in the YAMMA Pit Fighting inaugural tournament. Hinkle is fresh off a victory over Roman Zentsov and looks to rack up another W against a game challenger.

Martin “Hitman” Kampmann steps up his welterweight competition as he faces WEC welterweight champion Carlos Condit in the main event at UFC Fight Night 18 on 4/01/09. Kampmann’s impressive 14-2 record is full of exciting finishes, in fact, only 1 of his fights has gone the distance. The same can be said about Condit’s 22-4 record. This fight has knockout of the night and fight of the night written all over it.

TUF alumn Joe Scarola returns to action at MMA Big Show in Bellaterra, IN on 4/11/09 against newcomer Rocky Bowman. With a 4-1 record, all wins by submission, Scarola will likely utilize his solid Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu background to submit Rocky.

UFC veteran Josh Hendricks will take on Brian Heden at the main event in the MMA Big Show event on 4/11/09. Hendricks has a 15-5 record with 10 wins by submission and Heden is 10-6.