The MMA Q & A: Junie Browning

MMAMadness.com's Cameron Gidari chats with Junie Browning

Written by Cameron Gidari                                                                  (Courtesy of Spike TV)                                                                          

MMAMadness.com: First things first. You have to tell me about this love letter you got today.

Junie Browning: Some young girl, I guess she was still in high school or something, she had a ziplock bag with a heart in it and a letter saying she thought I was the hottest MMA fighter in the UFC, and I’d have to agree with her. I’m pretty much the best looking guy on the planet. And it said she liked my country accent. There must be something wrong with her, because she said she loved my attitude on the show. But I thought it was awesome, I usually keep that kind of stuff too. Anything like that, I can look back on it when I’m old.

MM: Is that the first love letter you’ve ever gotten?

JB: No, I have like emails and stuff online. It’s awesome stuff. That’s the power of TV. I didn’t get any better looking.

MM: It sounds like it is really hard being a UFC fighter.

JB: I mean most of the fighters in the UFC are ugly as [expletive]. If you look like me and you can fight, some girls like it.

MM: You’ve been in Vegas about six months. How’s the culture shock? You’re coming from Kentucky, that’s not exactly the same as Vegas.

JB: It depends on how you let it get to you. I just train all the time, I don’t really go out a lot. The only time I really go out is if there’s an event. If I go anywhere, mostly I go to the pools. I like being in the daylight, it keeps me from drinking as much. Going at night is just asking for trouble, [especially] when you have a name. No one really tries to start stuff with me. They want me to drink more, I’d rather not be around it. At least I’m responsible enough to know how I act when I get drunk, so I just avoid the whole situation.

MM: Now you’re with Xtreme Couture and apparently a model citizen. How is it being with Xtreme Couture and getting that kind of training and experience?

JB: It’s like a dream scenario for most people. Especially coming from Kentucky, I had to search for good training partners. I had good training partners, but when people do it as a hobby, they don’t take it as serious. When you come out here, people, that’s their job. They come every day. I never have to go to the gym wondering if there’s going to be anyone to train with.

MM: Where do you go next? Obviously your last fight [a loss to Cole Miller] was disappointing, where do you look to go from there? Have you talked to the UFC about opponents?

JB: They just told me to be ready. They’re going to call me. I have a feeling it will be a few more months, but I’ll be ready. That last one was just nerves and got caught. Next time it’s not going to be like that, I’m not even going to go for a takedown, I’m just going to try to take someone’s head off.

MM: You’ve had two fights in the UFC. Do you think those nerves will be gone now that you’ve become a little more acclimated to the company?

JB: People don’t understand how much nerves affect you. That’s when experience comes into play. The biggest fight I’ve ever fought was at the Palms, and it’s not that big really. It’s more of a televised fight. When I was in Nashville and I walked out, it was huge. When I was across the cage from Cole, I didn’t even look at Cole. I was looking at the people behind him. It was so packed. Now that I’ve experienced it once, I don’t think it will affect me as much.

MM: You played up the bad boy image on the show, but you had fans around the block [for his autograph session at the UFC 100 Fan Expo]. Are you seeing a shift in how UFC fans are accepting you as they get to know you? 

JB: People don’t even realize how much they like me. People love to hate me. My girlfriend even noticed. She’ll be like standing and hear people talking about me, she’ll tell me. As soon as they get near me they’re like, ‘hey man, take a picture with me.’ It’s just like being the heel in wrestling, it doesn’t matter. People still respect you. People don’t realize how entertaining my season was until they saw season nine and how boring it was. If [Michael] Bisping hadn’t been on it, it would have been like a cooking show. I believe the first season of The Ultimate Fighter is what made the UFC so popular, and I believe it’s our job to maintain it, try to make it entertaining. Otherwise, people are not going to be interested. If you’re not interested in the show, not as many people are going to be interested in the fights. I’m not saying you have to fake everything, don’t be so nervous and laid back. A lot of people get nervous in front of the camera and don’t want to act themselves. A lot of guys on the show that people thought were real nice and cool, it was the complete opposite. Most of them were dicks. ‘Bad guys,’ they just don’t care what people think. I was one of those guys, I was like, ‘I’ll sacrifice myself.’

MM: Well the people that meet you seem to think you’re a nice guy, so the word might be spreading.

JB: If there aren’t any cameras in front of me, and I don’t have twelve shots in me, and a bunch of guys… It would have been completely different if there had been girls in the house, like the Real World. I would have been the guy in the room the whole time, you would have never saw me. I would have had all the girls in my room and never even saw any controversy.

Cameron Gidari is the Associate Editor at MMAMadness.com. He can be reached with questions and comments at cameron@mmamadness.com.