On June 26th, 2010 in San Jose, Scott "Hands of Steel" Smith will take on former Strikeforce Middleweight Champion, Cung Le, in a rematch of their epic battle that took place inside HP Pavilion last December. In that bout, Cung punished Smith with incredible spinning back kicks and punches and looked to be on his way to a victory, but it was Smith who, on the verge of defeat, once again was able to use his heavy hands to take out Le via a third round knockout.

NW Fightscene's Spaniard spoke with Scott late last week about the rematch with Le and more here...

NW Fightscene: How's training been going for you?
Scott Smith: Its been going good man. I've been working with a new boxing coach, Mike Guy. And he's really working on my footwork and movement so it's been a nice change.

NWFS: Are you doing anything different for this fight than you did in the first one? 
Smith: Yeah, I got somebody that helps me out with my diet, Rudy Baptista. He does my conditioning too. So he's got me on a pretty good diet. I'm just been preparing for this fight longer than I did the first time we fought. I had six weeks notice the first time we fought. I've been preparing a good ten weeks for this fight. 

NWFS: What did you change for this fight versus the first fight?
Smith: The first fight.. the reason I love Muay Thai so much is that it fits my style. Flatfooted, hit or get hit is the kind of mentality. I really needed to work on my footwork and movement, so I've been doing a lot more pure boxing, and working on that movement and its been going great for me.

NWFS: Let's talk about the first fight. You had a war and you finished it "Scott Smith" Style, people dubbing you as the MMA Rocky. After the fight, what was it like for you, the healing with all the bumps and bruises?
Smith: The sorest part of my body was my forearms from blocking kicks. I've been more beat up in fights before. The Benji Radach fight, the Nick Diaz fight, I was definitely a lot more beat up than I was in that fight. I healed up pretty good. I took quite a bit of time off to rest my body, it was nice.

NWFS: Are you using footage from your first fight to plan for this rematch, or do you think he's going to come out totally different?
Smith: Well, I don't see why he would come out different. He fought a great fight and just got caught the third round. But the only thing - I've said this many times before - the only thing I think he can improve on is his cardio and I think he knows that. He had a short camp as well last time so I think he'll be more conditioned and even tougher than he was first time.

NWFS: So do you expect a war to the end?
Smith: Well, because I plan on putting more pressure on, I expect someone to get knocked out in the first in this one.

NWFS: So now with the fight coming close, what's the coming week like for you?
Smith: Its just finishing up the conditioning, and just picking it up and making sure that we're peaking at the right time and it'll be June 26th when we'll want to peak.

NWFS: Before you fight, do you have any pre-fight rituals that you go through every time?
Smith: Its more the week of the fight, when I get down to San Jose Wednesday,  and I just wind down. Its about making weight on Friday, which won't be an issue. I have my friends and family around and just keep it low key. There's no sense stressing over the fight, its going to happen regardless. You don't want to sit there and dwell on it. That'll wear your body out and wear you out mentally. So I hang out with the friends and do light training. Just keep my body healthy. Actually every Thursday before my fights, me and my friends, we go bowling. Just something to get my mind off of things. And then Friday's the weigh-in and have a nice dinner and then get at it Saturday. Backstage before my fights its more kickback and we're making jokes and stuff like that. Try not to stress out too much.

NWFS: Anybody you'd like to thank? 
Smith: Yeah, my whole training camp. There's so many guys to thank, I can't name them all. My new boxing coach, Mike Guy. Ganyao at Fairtex, and then Rudy Baptista, my conditioning coach. And my sponsors I got to thank: Affliction, Rockstar Energy, Full Tilt Poker, and EA Sports. Those guys are taking care of me.

NW Fightscene would like to thank Scott for taking the time to speak with us. He takes on Cung Le in a rematch of their epic battle from last December, on the main card of the Strikeforce/M-1 Global show this Saturday, June 26th at the HP Pavilion in San Jose and shown live on Showtime. More info at www.strikeforce.com.