Brian Stann: UFC Fighter, Twitter Advocate

Former WEC light heavyweight champion and current UFC fighter Brian Stann listens to the fans.

A big advocate of Twitter, the "All-American," who has more than 800 followers, says he owes everything he has to the fans and they deserve every bit of what little he can offer.

"I'm trying man, I'm trying," he said of his recent Twittering accolades.

"Some of it's forced, but I try not to go too much into politics on my Twitter because I don't want to upset people, but I'm getting there.

"This sport -- anybody that's in it, were only going to last so long," said Stann.

"We're really the lucky ones that we even get to do it. We put up with some stuff, we got some smack talked about us, but they're really the best fans in the world that follow us on this thing and that pay attention to this sport and its fun," he added.

"It's fun to respond back to them. It's fun to keep them updated. I'm just really honored that anyone is that interested in my career that they would follow me and I really thank them for that.

"The sport has blown up. I used to leave my WEC fight, go to Lucky's and have a bite to eat and meet 10-15 people that came and were rooting for me during the fight and that was great to spend 15 minutes with them. But now, being in the UFC, the sport has gotten so big," said the 29-year-old Marine.

"You hit the lobby of the hotel and there's just a lot of people there and I think it's part of our job to stop and talk to those fans. The ticket prices are so high that people save all year long to watch us fight and that means a lot to them and they deserve that.

"We're not better than any one of them and they're basically paying our salaries. So they're paying for that time with you and you better give it to them."

You can follow @BrianStann on Twitter. And don't forget @MMAWeeklycom, @KenPishna, @JeffMMAWeekly, and @DamonMartin.

Change of Opponent Moves Cantwell Out of Hostile Territory

Steve Cantwell was the World Extreme Cagefighting light heavyweight champion, having defeated fan favorite Brian Stann a few months ago. After defeating Stann, he got the call that we would face the Marine again in the WEC.

At first, Cantwell wasn't too thrilled about the fight, but understood that the fight would need to happen again since they each hold a win over the other.

"I thought it was fair under the circumstances because we're 1-1. I wasn't too happy about it because I thought it was too soon. I didn't think the fans would want to see it that soon," Cantwell told MMAWeekly recently.

After finally getting that coveted belt, the 22-year-old got the news that he was going to be facing Stann not in the WEC, but at the UFC Fight for the Troops card. Cantwell was happy to be fighting on the card, but the fact that he was fighting Stann was definitely not going to make him the most popular fighter on that card.

"Then when they switched venues, because I was supposed to fight Brian Stann in the WEC, they called me a week later and told me I was fighting Brian Stann on the UFC Fight for the Troops. That was kind of throwing me into his backyard. But whatever, that got me more pumped up for the fight."

Unfortunately for the fans, Stann was forced to pull out of the fight due to an injury. However, Cantwell believes that they will still fight again soon.

"Another week went by and then he pulled out for the fight," he said. "It would have been a good fight. I'm sure we'll fight again."