Ed Herman sends a warning to the middleweight division: “I feel like I’m back and better than ever”

UFC middleweight prospect, Ed Herman has been giving his thoughts on his latest success inside the octagon, submitting Kyle Noke on the UFC on Versus 5 card this past Sunday night in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, explaining he feels like he’s back and better than ever.
Speaking via Heavy.com, Herman said:

“I feel like I’m back and better than ever. I think mentally coming into fights I’m stronger because there have been some times in the past where I have questioned myself mentally, and that’s a big part of this game. I’m going into every fight mentally prepared and firing on all cylinders, and I feel I’ve figured that part of the game out. I think that is going to help me tremendously in my run at the middleweight title.”

“I felt great. I told Joe Silva that I wanted to get back into the Octagon as soon as I could and I had some catching up to do after being off so long. I was happy to get the call to take this fight.”

On the fight itself with Noke, Herman said:

“It’s never my game plan to fight off of my back, but I feel confident there. I watched some tape on Kyle and I felt that he makes quite a few mistakes in the guard and I felt that I could catch him there. I’m kind of feeling as if I took the easy way out, fighting off my back, looking for the submission.”

“My coaches didn’t want me to do that and I could’ve defended that takedown a little bit better, but I felt confident. He’s a dangerous guy and he threw some big old elbows that barely missed, so it was scary there a couple of times. He is a big, strong athletic kid. I’m stoked to get out of there with the win.”

“I’m going to prove to people that I’m not done and I’m back. There are a lot of doubters out there. I feel like I’m back and hopefully I can get a shot at a main card my next time out and show the people the kind of fights they want to see.”

Herman has now picked up back-to-back wins inside the octagon since returning from long-term injury, defeating Tim Creduer and now Kyle Noke in quick and decisive fashion. Can the man dubbed “Short Fuse” pick up another win before the year is out and become one of the surprise stories of 2011?