MMA Superstar, Matt "The Law" Lindland, will be fighting in the main event of the Strikeforce Challengers show this Friday, May 21st at the Rose Garden in Portland. He will be taking on upstart "King" Kevin Casey (3-1, 1-0 in Strikeforce) in a fight at 185 lbs. NW Fightscene spoke with Matt a couple of weeks before the bout about his thoughts on fighting in his hometown, what he thinks about Kevin Casey's use of the nickname "King", and much more...

NW Fightscene: How's your training going for your fight coming up?
Matt Lindland: Training's going great.

NWFS: Who are some of your main training partners for your fight?

Lindland: I got two guys who are both fighting on this card, Patrick Healy and Nathan Coy. They're both getting ready. Of course Chael's there and Aaron Stark. And we've got some of the younger guys as well. We have a full realm at Team Quest.

NWFS: Tell us about those guys, Coy and Healy.

Lindland: Coy's on the Co-main. He's fighting Tyron Woodley. It should be a really good fight. Patrick's on the televised portion of the card as well. 

NWFS: Patrick Healy. He's a former UFC fighter as well..

Lindland: Yeah he's fought UFC, IFL, Sportfight, Strikeforce. He's kind of fought everywhere. MFC Champ. He's made his move down to 155 instead of 170. He's a real threat at that weight class.

NWFS: Last time you fought in Portland was in '06 with you're win over Jeremy Horn at the IFL. What's it mean to you to be headlining in your hometown?

Lindland: You know its great. I fought in this town against Horn. When JT Taylor backed out of that one fight, I fought Landon [Showalter]. So you know, I always enjoyed fighting here. You know its good. Your friends, your family [who] don't get a chance to come out and watch you fight, they don't have to fly somewhere. They can get a chance to come out and be a part of the show.

NWFS: Now your opponent, "King" Kevin Casey...

Lindland: Kevin Casey, I didn't know he was a "King". Did he steal that from Mo?

[Ed Note: of course referring to Team Quest's King Mo Lawal who also fights for Strikeforce and is coming off an April victory over highly regarded Gerard Mousasi]

NWFS: I think he kind of promoted that himself. He's said to have promoted himself to black belt among other things. What are your thoughts about him?

Lindland: Sounds like some kind of a fraud to me, because you can't promote yourself to a black belt or a king or any other thing. You have to earn those titles. It doesn't sound as if he's willing to go out and earn something... I don't know much about him. I don't think a whole lot about the guy. Kind of sounds like a bum to me. As far as an individual, he sounds like somebody who needs to get smashed in Portland at the Rose Garden.

NWFS: Does that kind of help seal the training?

Lindland: I'm always training and I'm always ready to smash somebody. If they're crazy enough to get in to the ring or cage with me, I'm going to smash them.

NWFS: So win or lose, your future with Strikeforce, what's that looking like?

Lindland: Win or Lose? I'm going into a fight! What are you talking about losing? I'm going to go in there and smash somebody!

NWFS: Awesome. After your win, what's next with Strikeforce?

Lindland: I don't know. I think we're taking this one fight at a time. I don't think we're scheduling two fights in a row. But as soon as I get done with this one, we'll worry about scheduling the next one.

NWFS: You did the movie "Fighting Politics" and you've run for the State Legislature. Are you going to get back into politics at all?

Lindland: I'm an activist. Got fed up with the system. That's why I ran for the State Legislature... I think I'll always be involved in politics. Anybody who says they're not involved with politics is just kidding themselves because its all around us. Its a part of our lives. You've got to deal with politics in every aspect of your life.

NWFS: And your training partner Chael Sonnen in his run for office, are you going to be a part of his run and helping him?

Lindland: You know, I support Chael. I've been coaching Chael since he's been 15 years old. I'll support him in anything he does. I supported him when he was wrestling, and in his fight career, and you know whatever Chael wants to do, I'm going to support him. He's a realtor. If I'm going to buy a house or sell a house, I'm going to call Chael Sonnen. So whatever he's doing, I'm going to support him.

[Ed Note: Sonnen is running for a seat in the OR House of Representatives and won  the May 18th primary. He faces Will Rasmussen in the general election Nov 2nd.

He faces Anderson Silva for the UFC Middleweight Title on August 7th at UFC 117]

Matt Lindland and Chael Sonnen

NWFS: Now you also run the Sportfight promotion. What's next for Sportfight?

Lindland: It's fantastic. We had the UFC come here Portland last August. Now we have Strikeforce and they're both using my venue: The Rose Garden. And that's Sportfight's home. July 10th, we're going to be back at the Rose Garden. We've let the UFC come in and use, and we've let Strikeforce come in and use [it]. But July 10th, Sportfight's going to be back at the Rose Garden. So we're looking forward to that show.

NWFS: With all this going on for you, how do you keep it together and run it all?

Lindland: How do I run my businesses? I delegate well. I have good quality management in place. I surround myself with quality individuals and quality people. I've got a very supportive wife. My staff is phenomenal at Team Quest and Sportfight. So as long as you're not surrounding yourself with a bunch of D'bags, you can accomplish stuff. You start putting quality people around you, you're going to be able to do quality things and that's what I've always tried to do is associate myself with quality individuals. I don't want to be around guys that aren't willing to be supportive and go out and help other people do stuff. Its a matter of give and take. I take good care of my staff and the people who work for me and my family. And they give back and they're supportive.

NWFS: You have a lot of stuff going on Matt and we're all supportive of you and hope to see you get in there and smash him on the 21st.

Lindland: Thank you.

NWFS: Are there any sponsors you'd like to thank?

Lindland: You know, Dirty Boxer is making a lot of noise in the headlines now as the only performance MMA clothing company out there. There's a lot of action [apparel] companies and I don't know too many fighters that need fashion apparel. We all need quality performance apparel because we're athletes. And that's what Dirty Boxer is about. Putting together quality performance apparel that's going to support you when you get in the ring, and its going to protect you. Check it out, DirtyBoxer.com. Right now, that's my main sponsor.

I've got a few sponsors lined up for this next event: Cash for Gold, and Full Tilt Poker. Looks like Kershaw Knives is going to come on board, and sounds like RockStar's going to be supportive so I've got some good quality sponsors as well.

NW Fightscene would like to thank Matt for taking the time out to speak with us. 

He will be fighting Kevin Casey in the main event of the Strikeforce Challengers show taking place in Portland at the Rose Garden Arena on Friday, May 21st.

The fight will also be aired on Showtime. For more info, visit Strikeforce.com.