By Josh Stein, FightTicker.com Special Contributor and MMAOpinion.com writer

After last night's episode of The Ultimate Fighter 8, everyone is wondering about one character: Shane Nelson. I got to talk to Nelson this afternoon, and he told me that his phone is ringing off the hook. Here's what he had to say about the fight.

FightTicker.com: You're listed as having trained for six years -- is that about right?

Nelson: Yeah, that's about right.

FightTicker.com: What's the training regimen like?

Nelson: In the morning we do our strength and conditioning and muay thai training. At night we do our jiu-jitsu training and sparring and what not. There's a handful of professional fighters here that train at BJ [Penn]'s gym. For the most part it's me and BJ and BJ's brother Reagan and a few other fighters. That's pretty much the professional team. We do all of that strength and conditioning together in the morning and muay thai, and then at night people just sort of trickle in and we do a jiu-jitsu class, BJ teaches a class, and we do some MMA stuff here and there, pretty much that's just how it works.

FightTicker.com: Do you hold any ranks?

Nelson: I'm a purple belt under BJ in jiu-jitsu, right now, but I haven't trained with the gi for about two years. So I'm stuck at purple belt for a while, until I get that gi.

FightTicker.com: I thought we saw a pretty good representation of your fighting style in your first fight (in episode two). How would you characterize your fighting style?

Nelson: That's usually how I fight. I usually come forward, apply pressure and try to make the fight go at my pace. As you could kinda see in the last fight, I was a little more hesitant, held back a lot and didn't really get to showcase my full potential.

FightTicker.com: It seemed like Nogueira was impressed with your game.

Nelson: Yeah, Nogueira had some good things to say about me. I appreciated that.

FightTicker.com: For those who don't know what it was like, what was the audition process for getting on the show?

Nelson: You know, I didn't make it to the tryouts, so I just sent in a video. I guess they liked what they saw in the video so they gave me a call [and] they flew me out to Vegas to meet with the Spike TV staff. They put me in a room with five or six of the producers and they just drilled me with questions and then the medical stuff. The MRIs, the drug test, the eye test and all of that other good stuff, and then they fly you back home. So I was in Vegas for about three days, I think, for the medical and the interviews, and at that point you just sit back and wait for the call. When I got back, I talked to BJ and told him that I was trying out for the show, and I think BJ put in a good word for me, which I think helped me get on the show. They called me back about three days before I actually had to leave, to tell me I had made it on the show. So at that point I had to quit my job and make a lot of sacrifices to go on the show.

FightTicker.com: You work with a lot of notable TUF veterans. Did they give you an idea of what to expect on the show?

Nelson: Yeah, when I was trying out for the show I called Kendall [Grove], I called Troy [Mandaloniz], and tried to ask them what they thought about the house. They pretty much told me how it was and they were pretty much on the money. They said it's gonna be the worst days of my life and it's gonna be miserable living in the house, and that's how it ended up being.

FightTicker.com: What was the atmosphere like in the house? Obviously it had some crazy moments, but what was it like during the time they didn't air?

Nelson: Well, you know, there's no time when we were off camera. The whole house is rigged with cameras. We're wearing mics 24/7. And there's cameramen there the whole time. So, you know, there was never any downtime when we could just relax while we're not on camera. They filmed every second of every day, and they just pick and choose what they want to use. I guess that's where the alcohol comes into play, you know. For the most part we got along; there were no incidents except when alcohol was involved. Then there would be arguments, you know, these kind of things. Other than that, you're living with fifteen strangers with no phones, no magazines, no radio, so you rely on each other to entertain you. I just tried to make the most of it.

FightTicker.com: How was training with Frank Mir?

Nelson: Training with Frank was awesome. Frank's a really cool guy. He brought in some great staff for us to train with. We had Demian Maia, Robert Drysdale, Ken Hahn. You know, training with those guys who were all super friendly and we got along great with all of them. There was nothing wrong with the training aspect -- that was probably the best part of being on the show.

FightTicker.com: Do you have any thoughts about the loss to Escudero? Did you learn anything from it?

Nelson: I believe that loss was the best and worst thing that ever happened to me, at the same time. The worst, obviously, is being eliminated from winning that contract, but it was also a good lesson for me and my motivation is at an all-time high. That loss really helped me as a fighter. It's the first time I've ever been finished in a fight, so I took that loss kind of hard in the beginning, but now I'm super-motivated, I'm hungry and I think everything happens for a reason. We'll see how things play out from this moment on.

FightTicker.com: How has life been since the show?

Nelson: It's been cool. There are a lot of fans, a lot more fans, so we're under the microscope a little bit more now, so we have to make sure that we're behaving good outside of being on the show. It's been great, it's been an awesome experience, and right now I'm just enjoying the ride. I don't know how people are going to feel about this past episode. We'll see if I get bashed a lot, but it's been a great experience and I'm just going to enjoy the ride and see what happens.

FightTicker.com: Are you still under contract with the UFC?

Nelson: I am, and I hope they decide to use me in the finale. Usually they use guys from the show and if you win you get to stick around, so I'm hoping to get that opportunity.

Thanks to Shane for doing the interview. Any emails for Joshua Stein can be sent to josh@mmaopinion.com.