Minnesota's Ashkan Morvari has been on a mission lately. He doesn't necessarily want to erase his May loss to James Warfield at Fearless Fighting Championship 4. But Morvari is doing everything in his power to make sure he's a much better fighter the next time he steps into the cage.

In the fight against Warfield, Morvari suffered a badly broken foot. That kept him away from training for more than two months. It gave him a great deal of time to reflect (probably more time than he would have liked) on the loss and realize what he needs to do in his next fight.

Now healthy, Morvari, who trains with American Top Team of Savage, is ready to step back in the cage, and he'll do that Sept. 11 during the Savage Entertainment show at Neisen's Sports Bar in Savage, Minn.

Morvari, who is a native of Anchorage, Alaska, but now calls the Twin Cities home, will bring a 7-3 record into his fight against Team Crazy's Bruce Johnson.

Minnesota MMA News tracked down before his return to the cage.

Ashkan, what do you know about veteran Bruce Johnson?

MORVARI: I've seen him fight a lot. He always shows up to fight, and he let's it all hang out. He doesn't hold anything back. He's experienced and he's fought a lot of the top guys in the state.

I know you were injured in the Warfield fight. Are you healthy now? And how long was the recovery from your broken foot?

MORVARI: Yeah, I broke my foot pretty bad. It was eight weeks of doing absolutely nothing, and then four weeks of limited action. Basically, it was three months before I could go full again. I'm healthy now, though, and I feel

good. I was lifting and doing as much as I could throughout the whole process, so I stayed in pretty good shape. I couldn't grapple or kick or anything, obviously, but I was still able to do some things. I stayed in shape, so once the docter told me I could go, I jumped right in there.

Do you know when it happened in the Warfield fight? I mean, did you feel it right away?

MORVARI: Well, yeah, it was at the end of the second round or beginning of the third. I think I kicked him in the knee. It swelled up pretty good and I couldn't push off it any more. It hurt, but I didn't really know it was broken. Once I got out of the cage, within 30 minutes, it was swelled up the size of a grapefruit. I was still hoping for the best, even the next day. But we went to the hospital, they x-rayed it, and I was in a cast right away.

Warfield submitted you in the third round of that fight. What do you see when you look back at the Warfield fight now?

MORVARI: You know, some good things and some bad things. It was a real eye-opening experience. It was one of those freak things, where I do no think I lost because he was that much better than me, but I just think I made a mistake. However, that loss definitely made me realize I have things to work on. Sitting around for six weeks doing nothing really motivated me. It made me that much hungrier. It gave me a lot of time to think and reflect, probably more than I wanted to. But now it has me working harder than ever. I'm listening to my coaches more than I ever have, and I'm letting them fix all of the little things I was doing wrong.

Where do you think you stood heading into the third round of that fight? Were you ahead on the scorecards?

MORVARI: The first round, I definitely thought I won. The second round could have gone either way. We were both on top for parts of the round, we both had submission attempts. I felt like I had to win the third either way.

Warfield has a reputation of being a smack-talker. He did the fake glove tap at the beginning of the fight; I'm guessing that didn't surprise you.

MORVARI: I had seen him fight before, so no. He was doing a lot of smack talking, at the weigh-ins and even backstage before the fight. So nothing really surprised me with that guy. But I don't think about it during the fight. With the fake glove tap, all it made me do was take a step back and then not tap his glove again.

Warfield, since that win, has landed a spot in the Shine Fights eight-man lightweight tournament. Is that frustrating? Do you feel that could have been you?

MORVARI: You know, honestly, I can't help but wonder. A win would have opened a lot of doors. That's what's really motivated me since I've been back. I've been thinking about all the things I could have done differently, leading up to the fight and during the fight.

Your team had some interesting news recently. You guys now have an affiliation with American Top Team and are now known as the American Top Team of Savage. What's that mean to you guys?

MORVARI: I think it means a lot. It opens a lot of doors for us. We are part of the ATT family. We already had Ricardo Liborio up doing a seminar. Getting to learn from that guy was amazing. He's just another new coach to show you all the little things you can work on. We are planning to go down to (Florida) to train with those guys down there this winter, and that will be exciting. I'm excited about everything this affiliation could lead to. ... I don't exactly know how the whole thing came about, but it's something Eric (Aasen) wanted to do for his guys. Eric's a good guy, and that's why we're with him.

What do you like about fighting for Savage Entertainment?

MORVARI: It's a little like a football game at your home stadium. I get my people there, all the guys from my gym are there. You don't get many opportunities to fight close to home and have everybody show up to see you. I started out fighting in Wisconsin and up in Fargo. Unfortunately, I haven't had the chance to fight in town very often.

You're a wrestler, and that's easily your strength. How is the rest of your game coming along?

MORVARI: It's no secret; I've relied on my wrestling up to this point. That's my background. But I've always thought that if nobody can stop it yet, then why do something else? But I realize now I have to develop all parts of my game. I've been working on my standup a lot; I knew that was something I had to focus on. I think with all the other things I'm working on, it's just more parts of my game that people will have to respect. I've been working a lot with John Rafuse on my standup. He's really picking me apart and breaking things down.

So you have the Savage Entertainment fight coming up. What's next for you? Would you like to return to the Fearless Fighting Championships?

MORVARI: We are working on a couple of things, but nothing is concrete yet. I plan to stay really busy for the rest of the year. Whatever calls I get, I'll look into it. If I can fight every month for the rest of the year, I would. I want to stay that busy. As for Fearless, yeah, I really like fighting for them. They're keeping me involved, too. I reffed the amateur fights on their last card. Austin (Judge) will be the main event on their next show in Minnesota, so I'm sure I'll be there.

I know you're not the kind of guy who likes to call people out. But is there anybody you'd like to call out?

MORVARI: I want to fight all of the top guys in the state. You know, I jumped right into this when I started. Eric threw me to the wolves right away, and that's what I wanted. I'm 32 years old, so I'm not looking to hide or develop. I know I have to make this happen now. I'm not going to call anybody out, but I'm looking for big fights. I want to fight any of the top guys who will fight me.

You are ranked No. 3 at 155 and Travis Perzynski is ranked No. 1. You guys have fought twice before and split the two fights. Would a rubber match do you any good?

MORVARI: You know, seeing him ranked above me, it hurts a bit. I'm sure we both have mixed emotions about how the first fight went down. I won the second one, and there's been a lot of talk about a third one. If people want to make it happen, it will happen. We had a couple of big wars, and I respect Travis a lot. But the thing is we both fought for peanuts the first two times we fought. We can't do that again. If the situation is right, I'm sure neither of us will have a problem fighting again.

Who do you want to thank?

MORVARI: Definitely Eric Aasen for working on everything with me. He takes all kinds of extra, individual time with me, and I really appreciate that. John Rafuse, too. He works on the boxing with me. Everybody at the gym, guys like Austin, Mitch, Robbie. And Melissa for helping me out at home and letting me train as much as I do.