With his wrestling pedigree, there's no wonder people are keeping an eye on Josh Janousek.

The former four-time collegiate All-American (twice in junior college and twice at Division II power Minnesota State, Mankato) has compiled a 4-1 record in mixed martial arts.

Injuries slowed the early part of Janousek's career, but he's healthy now, and he said he's 100 percent devoted to taking his MMA career to the "big show."

Janousek will make his second appearance at a King of the Cage event on Saturday at Shooting Star Casino in Mahnomen.

The Badger/Greebush-Middle River graduate is set to take on veteran Travis McCullough in a 205-pound showdown. Janousek expects to have a big home-crowd advantage as his hometown is less than 90 minutes from Mahnomen.

With a victory, Janousek is hoping he'll earn himself a spot on the KOTC card in October at Jackpot Junction, which is rumored to be an HDNet fight card.

But McCullough stands in his way first.

JJ, thanks for the time. What do you know about Travis McCullough?

JJ: He's got like 50 fights. I know his record isn't great, but he's fought a ton. He's been in there with like Dave Menne, Charley Lynch and Jeremy Lang, I think. He's a guy who fights all the time. I think he's more of a boxer. He's done some pro boxing.

In the past, you've moved all over for your training. Have you picked a gym yet?

JJ: Yeah, I've mostly been at Revolution with Brock Larson for this fight. I've been doing my boxing with Rich

Miller. Rich is also my roommate, and we coach wrestling together at Anoka. But yeah, I've mostly been at Rev for this fight.

Are you coming in healthy?

JJ: Yep, I'm real good. Health is great. And my weight is lighter than normal.

What are you at today (Monday)?

JJ: I'm 217 today. The fight is at 205, so I'm ahead of where I need to be.

Are you still hoping to fight at 185 some day?

JJ: Yeah, maybe in the far future. Maybe a year from now. I couldn't do it right now. It would take some work. But if I get in a bigger organization, and they wanted me at 185, I'd do it. We've talked about it a bit, maybe trying to get in the Bellator tournament at 185.

Finally being healthy, do you plan to stay busy the rest of the year?

JJ: Yeah, I want to keep fighting as much as possible. I'm hoping to get on that October King of the Cage event at Jackpot. I've been working with Gavin (Rydell) a lot more, and we're working on having me fight more often.

So this is your second fight with KOTC and you're already looking forward to fighting with that organization again. What do you like about KOTC?

JJ: It's a really professionally run organization. It's a lot different than what I'm used to. It's more organized, and I definitely appreciate that. Some of these organizations, you show up for weigh-ins, and the scale isn't even there, so you stand around for an hour and a half starving. I appreciate that KOTC gives you an itinerary, and they stick to the schedule. It's run how they tell you it's going to be run.

You said your weight is better than it's ever been before. Are you doing anything differently?

JJ: Well, I guess I'm trying to watch it a little further out. I'm watching my diet a little better. I've got it under control a lot sooner now. Before I was always focused on the water I was going to take off. But now I have things in order.

You've been training with Brock Larson a lot. Is there a better guy in MMA?

JJ: Yeah, I've been going with Brock at least three times a week. He's a great guy. You can't say a bad thing about that guy. He's going to be cornering me for this fight. He's a great guy to be around. Brock is always willing to hlp anyone out.

Where are you seeing the most improvement in your game?

JJ: I think my jiu-jitsu has improved a lot. It's really coming around. I roll with black belts all the time, with Brock and with Damian Hirtz. So I think my jiu-jitsu has gotten better because I've had no choice but to improve rolling with those guys.

Do you think you'll use your jiu-jitsu more offensively now?

JJ: I hope so. I've never really done that before. But I've been able to hold Damian and Brock down, so I don't see too many guys getting up if I'm on top of them. I'm a lot more comfortable on the ground now. As a beginner, when you see a submission open up, it's usually too late for you to do anything. But as you get more experienced and more comfortable, you see those openings a little earlier.

How's the standup coming?

JJ: It's coming along good. I mostly use boxing. I don't do a lot of kicks. Being a wrestler, I like to keep my feet on the ground. I do use knees quite a bit. But mainly I'm just looking to close the distance and look for takedowns. I do feel more comfortable on the feet now, so I might test that out a bit and try to stand more.

Have you gotten caught before in a fight? In other words, how's your chin?

JJ: Yeah, I've gotten caught a couple of times. Against Gabe Hobbs, I got clipped pretty good. But I don't even remember it. I didn't even know until after the fight. My corner was telling me I got hit hard, but I didn't remember a thing. Then I watched the video, and yeah, my head went around pretty good. I guess I can take a punch. I try not to though.

Anybody you want to fight?

JJ: No, not locally really. I'll fight whoever Gavin wants me to fight. I really don't care.

Are you looking to take a step up, though, as far as opponents in the near future?

JJ: Yeah, that's something we've talked about. We'll probably look at a better opponent for the next KOTC event. I'd like to keep stepping it up higher and higher. It's a bigger show with more exposures, so we'll see.

Is there anybody you'd like to thank?

JJ: Yeah, I'd definitely like to thank Damian Hirtz, Brock Larson, Jeremy Lang, Rich Miller and my mom. And there's this girl who has been helping me a lot, too. She's been kicking my butt. Her name is Heather Hirmer, and she works at Lifetime with me. She's been helping me with my cardio and with my weight. She's been making sure I'm doing the things I should be doing. And I think that's it.