Former UFC lightweight champion and WEC featherweight title contender Jens Pulver will blog his thoughts and experiences leading up to his MMA Fight Pit “Genesis” showdown with Coty Wheeler for Sherdog.com readers.

Before I get into this, there’s something you need to know about me: my mind is usually going a thousand different directions at once. I thought that as I got older that would probably change. I’m 35 now and -- nope, at least not so far. So when I write these blogs, keep that in mind. You’re probably going to read a lot about a lot of different things. I’m going to do my best to rein in my writing. We’ll see how it goes.

My next fight is a little less than two weeks away. It’s with a new promotion called MMA Fight Pit, which is running its first show on Aug. 13 in Albuquerque, N.M.

It’s going to be on pay-per-view, which is always exciting. My opponent is a fighter that will be familiar to a lot of MMA fans: Coty “Ox” Wheeler. Like me, he fought in the WEC, and, like me, it didn’t go how he probably hoped it would have. So far, the MMA Fight Pit people have been doing a great job, but to be honest, I’m not focused on any of that. I was telling one of the publicists the other day that I don’t care where I’m at on the card. I don’t want to be the main event, and I don’t care if I’m the first fight. I just want to get in there and fight. I’ve been training, and I’m ready to get in there.

Training has been great. I’ve been spending extra time on the ground, which makes sense since I’m at one of the best jiu-jitsu camps around: Curran Martial Arts. We’re just outside Chicago. Jeff Curran, his cousin Pat Curran and Bart Palaszewski are a few names you might recognize. I’ve been working with Jeff a lot more on one-on-one jiu-jitsu fundamentals. It’s basic stuff, but it’s stuff I obviously need to brush up on. For me, it’s not a lack of knowledge that’s the problem. My problems, my losses, can all be summed up in one word: confidence. I lack it.

Trust me, I’ve got the skills, I’ve got the tools on the ground. The problem is that once I get in the cage and it goes to the mat, I freak out. You see, when you get in enough car wrecks, you start worrying every time you drive. So I became a gym fighter. What I mean is that I do well in practice. In fact, it can be tough to coach me because when I’m relaxed in practice, I do most things right. I’ll do the moves right a thousand times. However, in the fight, my confidence is so low because I’m too busy hating myself for so many losses. I’m a very mental fighter. How do I turn the practice into the reality in the cage? That’s what I’ve been working on at Curran’s. I have spent almost a year working on remembering all the abilities I once possessed and lost due to the lack of confidence and the overwhelming amount of doubt I place on myself.

Anyway, I have to run. I’m scheduled to write three more blogs for Sherdog, so be sure and check back for my new posts leading up to MMA Fight Pit’s “Genesis” on Aug. 13th on PPV. In the meantime, look for “Jens Pulver: Driven,” which is out now on iTunes, Amazon and many other providers. I wish you all the best.