'Talkin' Fights' round two: Brian Stann breaks down UFC Fight Night 47 on FOX Sports 1

For this week's edition of "Talkin' Fights," former World Extreme Cagefighting (WEC) light heavyweight champion and three-time UFC "Fight of the Night" winner Brian Stann joins us to preview tonight's (Sat., Aug. 16, 2014) UFC Fight Night 47: "Bader vs. St. Preux" event on FOX Sports 1, which takes place at Cross Insurance Center in Bangor, Maine.

Let's get right to it.

MMAmania.com: What do you think of the main event match up, and where do you think these guys can clash in terms of style?

Stann: "I love the match up. You got a guy in Bader, who both he and C.B. Dollaway who train together are really starting to peak. I thought Bader's last fight was his best overall performance. I think some people always want to see a slugfest, and people complain about it, but I thought it was the best use of all of his skills. He really integrated things well, exploited his opponent's weaknesses with his strikes, and he did everything you'd expect from a top 10-level mixed martial artist.

For OSP, and this is a kid I've trained with so many times, his level of athleticism impresses you every single time you train with him. So he's a guy that will do things technically wrong and still succeed with them. The real question to me, is can Ryan Bader turn this into a grinding-style match up? OSP is very, very difficult to take down because he's so athletic, strong, and flexible. If Bader can take him down consistently, ride him, grind him, wear him down in that style of fight in round one and two, I think that's the recipe for Ryan to win this fight. It takes away from a fighter's power, both their kicks and their punches, and OSP has never been in that style of fight, besides Gegard Mousasi, when he lost.

For OSP, he's so long, and he kicks in odd angles and things like that. Bader has been rocked before. If OSP can hurt him early, this could be a huge coming out party for him. With the way things have played out in light heavyweight, if OSP wins this fight, he can find himself in a marquee match up in his next fight."

What would you do with OSP if he beats Bader in a dominant fashion? What type of opponent can you give him?

"Unfortunately for OSP, if he wins this fight, he could be a victim of circumstance, and this could be a match up that he really likes. It would not surprise me to see him win this fight and fight Alexander Gustafsson next. Gustafsson's going to hold out, and he's going to say he's only waiting to fight Jon Jones. That's only going to last a couple of months, and if he can't talk his way back into that title shot, or if Daniel Cormier doesn't get hurt, something like that...Gustafsson's going to look and say, ‘I need to make money, I need to stay sharp. I can't wait a year before fighting without a paycheck.' He's going to want to take a fight, and the UFC's not going to want to lose him as a contender to the title.

Everybody wants to see him fight Jon Jones again...they just want to see DC fight Jones first. They don't want to give him a bad match up like Rashad Evans or Anthony Johnson. Give him OSP, who's still a top 10-ranked guy coming off a big win against Bader. That fight could make sense, and could be a great opportunity if he gets past Bader. But that's just me playing Joe Silva."

Bader has his fair share of naysayers, yet there have been fighters who were far less consistent than him. Why do you think that is?

"That's the fight game, man. If you're going to be a pro fighter, you've got to understand that. I see a lot of fighters that when I interview them now to call fights and things like that, they have tremendous chips on their shoulders. It's kind of one of those things you've got to be realistic. Look at what Robbie Lawler went through. How many years did people feel like he's washed up and he doesn't have it anymore? Now, look. He had to walk a mile in those shoes, and every fighter does.

There's a point in every fighter's career where people say they're done, and then, it's either true or false. For Bader, now is one of those moments where he's got to show the world, I'm not just going to win fights that I'm supposed to win. Here's a young, surging guy who's trying to make his name off of me, who said to me Wednesday on UFC Tonight that Bader's overrated. Bader has to show us that he could put him away."

If Gray Maynard gets stopped on Saturday night, do you think he should retire?

"Yes, I think the UFC should not book him for another fight, nor should any other MMA promotion, and if there's anybody out there that loves him and cares about him, they'll tell him the same thing."

Why is it hard for guys to hang up the gloves after such a lengthy career? Is it the fear of having to adapt to something else?

"It's a combination of things. One, there's a financial matter. You're never going to make the amount of bulk money in your life that you're going to make when you're fighting. By the way, you're going to train everyday, and you've got a lot of economy in their lives right now. The fear of now I'm going to be done fighting; I don't have much money in the bank, I can't sustain the lifestyle I got used to living in my twenties and early thirties. Now, I've got to go get some mediocre job somewhere, and I've got to significantly downgrade my living standard. That's a big part of it. When you're a guy making several hundred thousand dollars a year in your twenties and early thirties, it's just not going to be the case anymore when they retire. They're not going to go hand in their resume somewhere and find a job that's going to pay them two or three hundred grand a year.

The other part is the attention. I don't care who you are...everybody likes getting attention. Everybody does, and when you're a fighter, people want to talk. People want to ask you questions. And then one day, it's all over and it's gone. You've got to deal with that. Like anything, it doesn't happen overnight. It's a transition that those guys have to go through, and they've got to come to terms with it.

The easiest thing for me, you can enjoy your life more when you're not a fighter. When you've got a fight scheduled, the biggest attention and portion of your mind is always on that fight."

What do you think of Mark Bocek's comments about fighters not enjoying fighting? Do you think he speaks for everyone?

"I think he speaks for a lot of guys. They enjoy being fighters. Being a fighter after you won a fight is wonderful. Being a fighter after you lose a fight is awful. Being a fighter going through the tough rigors of a training camp, it's not easy, either. But that's part of it. If it was easy, everybody would do it. Most of the guys I've trained with would never make the same money doing anything else.

Donald Cerrone was a guy who, when we were in the WEC, he hated fighting. He liked training; he absolutely despised the fight. Then he kind of transitioned a bit, and started doing the things he loved doing during his training camps. Riding horses, wakeboarding, all these others things...he started to realize that he could still train and be in an elite shape and do these things, he started enjoying his life a whole lot more. Now he loves it. He absolutely loves it.

Luke Rockhold loves fighting. Tim Kennedy loves fighting. It's not everybody, but there's a substantial amount of guys that don't necessarily enjoy it. They love being a martial artist. They don't love being a fighter."

One more question on this...do you know any programs, other than psychologists, that can help fighters transition when they are done fighting?

"I don't, and I'm sure there's going to be. In fact, one of my former employees is actually starting a company to help athletes transition. He worked in helping military veterans transition and obviously, it's very similar. You're taking someone out of the military, a lifestyle and language all to their own, and help them finding ways to transition into a completely new career field. So it wouldn't surprise me if some companies or organizations pop up to do that. I just don't think we see them in MMA because there's not much money to be made. How much is a retiring fighter willing to pay them to construct a resume and find a new career path? Where in the NFL or NBA, these guys have made millions. They'll throw five grand to someone in order to help them do that."

Provided Ross Pearson wins against Maynard, do you see Pearson ever contending for a lightweight title, or at least making a statement in the title picture?

"It's hard to say. I haven't' seen enough from him to say yes to that question, and that's with all the respect in the world. I certainly wasn't a world champion caliber fighter, either. Being in the lightweight division is one of the most athletic divisions out there. He would have to really put on some incredible performances. I haven't seen the skills out of Pearson necessary, or the dynamic knockout power with one strike to get it done. That dynamic power allows you to beat guys you shouldn't beat because you catch them with a punch."

Some have been critical of Chris Cariaso's title shot against Demetrious Johnson. Keeping John Lineker in mind, do you think the promotion forgot about Zach Makovsky, or that he's being overlooked?

"I think that there's business decisions that we don't have the perspective on. They need to have main events in place. They're booking venues, selling cards, certain timelines to follow. There are reasons why they didn't wait for this fight to take place, to see what happened in Lineker's last fight in Atlantic City. I think there's reasons in place why all that happens.

But look, Cariaso got the shot. I loved Johnson's tweet about how UFC 178 has a real main event, but these guys got to step up to the plate. It's not just about winning, and making the walk and showing up; these guys got to step up to the plate and they've got to carry a card. We're going to see what their ability is to do it. That doesn't just start when they walk to the Octagon; that's going to start in the pre-fight media."

What do you think Sara McMann has to do in order to bounce back against Lauren Murphy?

"If she goes out there and finishes Lauren Murphy, who is no slouch, it's exactly what that women's division needs right now. Because right now, it's Ronda Rousey, and everybody else is far beneath her."

Do you think Murphy should be considered as the underdog in this fight, considering she's coming in as a former Invicta FC bantamweight champion?

"I still think she's good, but I mean she's dealing with an Olympic silver medalist. That's a caliber of athletics that is still held in a very high prestige. Sara didn't look back in her fight against Rousey. She got caught with a vicious knee to the body...it happens. So I'm not surprised. Everybody looks good in this sport until they fight an elite-caliber wrestler. This is a huge fight for Murphy. It's an opportunity she deserves."

We've got quite a few UFC debutants on this card. Do you that the UFC should consider making maybe not a developmental league, but something similar to the Strikeforce Challengers cards of the past?

"I think that they've got the platform already with Fight Pass. They're using that to develop international talent, and spread the promotion. I think people are being a little shortsighted on some of this. I think the UFC is looking more long-term, where the sport is still growing. You have RFA, Legacy FC, Titan FC, and those out there that are helping the younger and developing fighters prosper.

I wouldn't say that it would necessarily be a bad idea for the UFC, to be honest, but I think once you do that, you immediately take away a certain percentage of people that are going to want to tune into your cards. Once you actually put a label on this card, saying you're going to watch our developing fighters, how many people are going to tune in besides the hardcores? That's the reason why they would never do that."

We're going to be treated to 17 UFC events from now up until the end of the year. Some don't mind the schedule, while others loathe it and suggest oversaturation. As an analyst who works in covering these cards, where do you stand on the topic and do you ever feel like it's too much of a good thing?

"For me, no. It's tough, because the more times I could work, the better living I could provide for my family. Every fighter wants to be an analyst now. It's not easy to get on these shows and get booked to do it. I still hold a full-time job besides all the TV work I do. On the flip side of that, it's very similar of what I just talked about. It's a long-term business plan by the UFC and it's going to be hard to critique now. I think it's better to critique it in two or three years, to see if it worked. They're still making money, the sport is still growing, and the cards aren't the same as what they used to be.

They may not satisfy as much to hardcore fans sometimes, but the real measuring stick is going to be down the road. What the UFC is trying to do is a long-term plan, and we've definitely seen pay-per-views that aren't the same as what we were used to seeing, no doubt about it. But whether it works or not, is a story yet to be told, in my opinion."

That's it for our second edition of Talkin' Fights.

Remember: MMAmania.com will provide LIVE round-by-round, blow-by-blow coverage of the entire UFC Fight Night 47 fight card RIGHT HERE, starting with the FOX Sports 2 "Prelims" matches, which are scheduled to begin at 8 p.m. ET, right on through the FOX Sports 1 main card at 10 p.m. ET.

Enjoy the fights!