The always affable Len "The Liger" Bentley, who fights out of Dennis Hallman's Victory Athletics camp, takes on Marques Daniels Friday June 19th on the undercard of the Strikeforce Challengers event inside the ShoWare Center in Kent. The fight is at 155 lbs, the 2nd fight in a row at that weight for Bentley, who had previously fought at 170 lbs as a pro, & as an amateur fought at 185 lbs & 205 lbs. NW Fightscene spoke with Len June 13th about the impending fight and more...

NW Fightscene: You mentioned to me at your last fight that you felt really good at 155 pounds. Tell me about the move down to Lightweight?
Bentley: Man that was a rough diet. I dieted hard for 2 months. No UA, really strict, had about a 12 pound cut of water the day of weigh ins. So it was a rough cut, but I got some IVs, and I recovered nice. So I was back up to about 170 by the time I fought Rex. I felt great. My movement felt good, have been training full time with Brad [Blackburn] and Carlos [Hernadez], my boxing coach and then with Dennis. That's the most serious I've trained for a fight as a pro in my life. That's because also I got out of the army, so I've been training full time and only fighting. So I've been doing two a days forever. Yeah, so the cut was good. I'm stoked, at that cut, I burned at some muscle that I needed to burn. So this next cut should be easier.

How's training camp gone? 
Good. I feel like I could have trained a little harder for this fight. But truth is I trained hard for that last fight. I took a week off. I went to Texas. Still been training hard, still be doing two a days, running, and my boss has me focusing on that and my wrestling. My grappling is good. I train with the best guys in the Northwest as far as grappling goes. So my grappling is leaps and bounds above Marques. I want to keep it on my feet. I want to knock him out. But if worse comes to worse, I'll take him down and beat him up.

And you've seen Marques fight before?
Yes, and he's a spitfire. I mean the guy's no pushover. He's tough and he's peppery. But pound for pound, I'm bigger, stronger. If we get into an exhange of punches, he's in trouble.

How are you taking this fight with Strikeforce? Is this a one fight contract?
Yes, I don't know if they are going to want to sign me after my performance is going to be. Hopefully it's good. To be honest, I really want to be WEC. I've been talking to Dennis about that. There's just some guys at the WEC that I want to bang with that I don't like and I think they are overrated, and I would like to throw down with them. If Strikeforce offers me something good after the fight, I'll talk to him about taking it. But the publicity and the TV time that I will get is way better in WEC. And they said to [Ken] Pavia, which is Dennis' manager, to get me another 2 fights at 155 and see how I feel and how I'm looking and we'll go from there.

Now you also made your pro boxing debut this year?
Last year, November. End of the year.

Did you enjoy that?
Yes, it was fun, it was different. So much different than MMA. So much slower paced. Both guys have the same game plan, to punch in the face. I didn't fight a great pro, I fought a lower level of pro boxing. Obviously there are some really good pro boxers out there that I'd have a hard time with. But I've been boxing full time. My boxing just has really tripled since I've been with Carlos and Brad. I'm looking at a few more boxing matches, a few more paydays. Even with a 1 and 0 record, I can still get a grand or so for boxing. That's not bad for 12 minutes, 4 3's. 

You're a veteran of the Army. You just got out. How'd you feel about that? Was it a happy day for you?
It was. You know, I miss it. I did 6 years and I was pretty high up in rank in the Army. I did a lot. Infantry. I was in the Stryker Unit, before it became mainstream. So I really got good training, I was Airborne. At that time in my life, it's what I needed. I grew up, and I kind of grew out of that phase. I realized that being a fighter is what I really wanted to do. And like anything else, the only way to be great at it is to do it full time. I had the opportunity to get out of the Army and I chose to do it. And I'm happy. Iraq was a tough place and I wasn't really looking forward to going back. And Marques is in the Army. He's a recruiter in Portland.

Are you working now or just training?
I'm just training full time. I have other monies coming in. And that helps. I've been fighting quite a bit lately, getting those paychecks. Snoqulamie was a decent payday. So that held me over for a little bit. And I got Strikeforce. I'm staying in shape so I can take fights whenever they come.

How about sponsorships? Got any lined up?
I've had some people offer me some sponsorships. I guess I can get out there a little more, and try to fish for sponsors. But it's really a lot of work to get out there. You have to make a list of what you would get paid for a banner, shirt, or shorts. And that's just something that I don't think that fighters should have to deal with. At a WEC or UFC level they have people that manage that for them. They have guys that do that for them. Right now I don't really care, I'm just training, and fighting, and living the dream. When the right time comes, and I'm at a level where sponsors really matter. Right now I don't think it matters at this point. It'd be nice but...

What was your background getting into MMA?
I did Karate. I'm like a St. Pierre. I have my black belt in karate growing up as a kid, then I did American Kickboxing when I was a little older. A little more aggressive form of karate. But I joined the Army and they had a Combatives program there and I ended up being an instructor. I did their instructor courses that was a basic Gracie Jiu-Jitsu style training. So that's how I got involved in it. I really didn't have a wrestling base until I came to Victory [Athletics]. And that's kind of where I got my wrestling from. And it's really improved. Being with those guys, it can't help but improve. Rolling with Dennis, and Steve Hadsell and Cory [Devela] and all those guys.

I've been to the gym and you guys train hard...
I've traveled everywhere and have gone to [Team] Quest and trained too, and other gyms... And not a lot of gyms train like us. Victory and Quest have their own style of training. We're really throwing down. A lot of people don't want to throw down, they don't want to get hurt. They're really concerned about insurance and lawsuits. People have to go to work the next day and they don't want to be banged up. We're in a roomful of pro fighters and it's our job. It's a little more aggressive than other places. It's definitely where I need to be right now for sure.

Anyone you want to thank?
Next Level Boxing: Carlos Hernadez and Todd. Victory Athletics with all my teammates, Dennis [Hallman], Cory [Devela], and all those guys. The Fans. And NW Fightscene of course- you guys are always there.

Brad Blackburn, Carlos Hernandez, Bentley, & Dennis Hallman

Many thanks to Len for talking the time to speak with us.

Visit him online at myspace.com/victoryathletics