MMA veteran Jeremy Horn battles 'tough' Tony Lopez this Saturday night at SCS 25

Jeremy Horn can safely say he's been everywhere and done everything there is to do in mixed martial arts (MMA).

With over 100 fights in his career thus far (and over 90 wins) he could rightly be called a "crafty veteran" at 39 years old. He's aging gracefully and winning decisively, taking a victory in each of his last four fights with a first-round submission.

His next opponent will look to put that winning streak to an end.

Tony "Kryptonite" Lopez finished his last two opponents by technical knockout (TKO) and arm-triangle choke, so he won't be afraid to stand with Horn or follow him to go to the ground, Horn's bread and butter.

MMAmania.com talked to the longtime fight veteran about his upcoming bout for SCS 25 at the Sugar Creek Casino in Hinton, Oklahoma, along with how he maintains his longevity in a sport where young and hungry lions are always on the prowl.

To start, Horn gives his evaluation of Lopez for Saturday night's main event.

"Tony's actually pretty tough. I'm planning on it, I'm always planning on (winning early) but he's a gamer so, it could go into the second or third round."

The Sugar Creek Showdown may be new to some mixed martial arts fans, but Horn will vouch for them putting on a quality event each time out.

"They're a show based just outside of Oklahoma City, and it's a great show. They treat fighters very well. Jeremy Spoon has fought on there a couple of times, he's actually fighting on this one as well, he's fought in Bellator. Josh Tyler, one of my fighters, also fought in Bellator is fighting on it. They've had a handful of fighters who have come from other organizations to fight on this show. It doesn't get a whole lot of press and credit, but it's definitely a quality show."

Josh Tyler is defending his featherweight title at the same time Horn is defending his SCS light heavyweight title, but Tyler is still relatively young in the sport at 6-2 compared to Horn's amazing 91-25-1 record. Horn says the key to his success has been training smarter, not harder.

"That's kind of always been my philosophy. I don't want to train super hard, I don't want to spar super hard, all you're gonna do is get your body banged up and eventually you're going to hit a wall where you have to take a couple days off or a workout off. If you temper those workouts and not go so hard, you can stay consistently training all the time."

Horn is not a man prone to reminisce about his career, especially given how many fights he's had dating back to the 1990's, but he did reveal that there's one fight he's always been fond of.

"I think my fight with Forrest (Griffin) in the IFC tournament was one of my better fights. It was a good night, everything was going well, I think if I had to pick just one, it would probably be that one."

Horn finished Forrest Griffin in the second round of that fight with a head kick. Griffin retired from fighting a couple of years ago, but he's still four years younger than Horn, so the natural question is how much longer Horn can fight.

"No fighter knows when to stop. You never want to stop. If you're winning fights, there's obviously no reason to stop. If you're losing fights, you want one more good fight, and then you'll stop. But then you have that good fight, and you're like 'Well I'm winning fights, so why should I stop?'"

There's no reason for Horn to stop anytime soon.

He'll go for his fifth straight win defending the SCS light heavyweight title in Hinton, Oklahoma, on Saturday, March 28th at the Sugar Creek Casino. If you can't attend live the show is also available for $15 on GoFightLive.tv. The complete audio of our interview with Horn is below.