Northern Virginia's MMA scene continues to explode with next weekend's Operation Octagon. Saturday January 26th at the Prince William County Fairgrounds in Manassas, Virginia.  Naked Choke promotions will bring 20 scheduled bouts to the cage. Three Ruckus in the Cage champs from Gold Medal Grappling in Woodbridge, VA will be on the card. DCMMA sat down with Bantamweight Champion Justin Hickey to talk about his fight and his team.

DCMMA: It looks like your going to be about 4-5 inches taller than your Operation Octagon opponent, does that change anything about how you prepare?:
Justin:  Actually, I might be a little shorter then they list me [laughs].  But it really doesn't change a lot, though its different since I am used to fighting taller people.

DCMMA:  He most likely hasn't trained in the level of wrestling you train daily.  Do you think this is going to be an advantage for you?
Justin:  Yeah, if I can get inside, which might be hard.  I hear he is a good Thai fighter, my wrestling is good enough for him.  I don't think he has fought anyone with the wrestling I have and I think I have good enough stand up to stand with him long enough to take him down and use my wrestling.

DCMMA:  How did you end up transitioning from wrestling to MMA?
Justin:  I always enjoyed boxing.  Where I grew up we didn't have a lot of sports so we would just throw some gloves on and box.  Then I started wrestling in middle-school and got really good at it, made State and a few other things.  Then 2 teammates of mine started doing MMA.  One day I went to their gym to just mess around and got into it and thought "Man, I can do this".   So I just started coming in and I was part of the team.

DCMMA:  Two of your other teammates have title fights this weekend, does fighting at the same time and in important fights help you guys prepare better?
Justin:  Yeah, it helps a lot.  It helps when we go through it together as a team.  Then we are all cutting weight, all getting prepared at the same time and we can push each other and make sure each other is ready.  Especially if one of my teammates fights before me, it just fires me up.  And if I fight first it just makes me want to go in there and handle my business and fire them up.  You get so much motivation out of seeing your friend and teammate win.  We are all really close, growing up together, hanging out outside the gym, its really like a family.

DCMMA:  I appreciate you letting us talk to you before your fight and good luck at Operation Octagon on Saturday.

DCMMA also conducted an interview with Justin's teammate Kris McCray.  This interview can be seen at www.bloodyknux.com.  For more information on Operation Octagon, you can visit, www.operationoctagon.com.  For more information on Justin and Gold Medal Grappling, visit www.goldmedalgrappling.com.