SB Nation Exclusive: Mike Pyle- 'I Just Absolutely Handled The Kid'

I had another very cool oppurtunity to speak with Mike Pyle yesterday and boy was he excited about his performance at UFC 120.

Mike Pyle chats with SB Nation about his huge upset win over John Hathaway at UFC 120, derailing the hype train, his thoughts on British fighters, making a giant statement, and where he goes from here.

via SB Nation-

My psyche has been battle-hardened by years spent on the mean streets of suburban northern Virginia, so there's very little cringe-worthy content left for the world to throw at me. That said, what Mike Pyle did to John Hathaway for the better part of the second round in their fight made me about as uncomfortable as doing algebra on the chalkboard, Sr. Maureen Christopher's eyes burning holes right through the back of my polyester sweater. After winning a wrestling exchange in the second round, Hathaway quickly realized that he was ill equipped to hang with Pyle on the ground. Hathaway was in the wiley veteran's sights and soon found himself on the business end of a nasty S-mount/reverse triangle. Basically, Pyle was able to sit backwards on his opponents face, trapping one arm, and proceed to reign punches down at will. It probably looked like something you did to your little brother growing up.

"You know when you get put in a position where you just feel like an idiot?

When you're being put in such a way that you can't do a thing and you're just getting your ass beat?

To me, it gets in my head more so than if I were to get caught in a guillotine or foot lock after making a small mistake. When you're twisted up and getting pounded? That's just the worst. It breaks people. I knew I had a long time to sit there and beat on him. If he were to slip out I would have gone for the submission, but I had him. There was no reason. I didn't want to let go. I really wanted to make a statement and beat on him. I wanted him to remember that fight."

"I never believed any of the hype whatsoever. The whole time the kid was coming up I could see wholes in his game. I could see his inexperience. I've got an eye for this sport when it comes to preparing gameplans and I've helped a lot of people in a lot of big fights. Now it's time to help myself out in these bigger fights. I just knew that this matchup would be the perfect scenario for me to just go in and dominate. I wasn't surprised at all. I knew about the kid in my heart and that was the only thing I was focused on."

check out the rest of the feature after the jump