Top 99 Quotes & Sayings by Israel Adesanya - Page 2

I'm smart about the way I move. I'm smart about the way I conduct myself outside the Octagon, like who I associate myself with.

I'm not trying to be one of those guys that's bigger than everyone else in the weight class.

I've done it in kickboxing, I've done it in boxing. After you clean out a division, you move up in weight.

I've already made my own mistakes in this game, even in the UFC. I'm just smart about how I make mistakes.

I don't just think about the belt, I think past the belt.

I'd rather be very well prepared before I move to heavyweight or light heavyweight. That's according to my own schedule - no one else's.

I'm very coachable, I listen. I have these ears and they're big for a reason.

Fighting is worldwide. Fighting is fighting, everyone understands what it is.

That's the beauty of this sport. We're trying to get to the same place, maybe, but we're on different paths.

There are a lot of sports that New Zealand does very well but MMA is a truly global sport and it's practiced in the farthest reaches of this earth.

I can't force a guy to fight.

I don't want to be fighting when I don't want to fight.

I know there are kids who are looking up at me because of what I've done, and see my success and think, 'If that guy can do it, so can I,' then I love that and that's great.

Kelvin Gastelum, there's many ways I can classify his style. I like it. He's improved. One thing I can say is that he's improved over his run in the UFC from 'The Ultimate Fighter' and now being a contender. But his style? It's very Mexican. You have the Mexican style of boxing, and he has a Mexican style of MMA, like smart Mexican style.

I'm not an actor. I'm a fighter.

I've been a heavyweight in boxing, in kickboxing. I'll do it in again in MMA.

My first stadium show was in China, it was a 50,000-seat stadium. I think 40,000 showed up.

I'm like the only Kiwi that can fly, I'm the one with the biggest wing.

A guy like Conor McGregor, one thing I really appreciated when he first got in the game and one thing that really inspired me was his love for fighting.

Kiwis, we love a good one out. We love a good fight. This is part of the culture. Straight up. We're a country of a warrior race, the Maori.

I'm the runt of my people.

There doesn't need to be hatred after a fight, because it's all said and done. I'm cool with a lot of my opponents in the UFC. There's people I've fought who were my friends in kickboxing tournaments and after we were still cool.

I feel like MMA athletes are the best athletes in the world.

I've had malaria damn near eight times.

A lot of guys just can't handle the spotlight and the pressure, so they shy away from it, like 'oh, I don't want to be in it.' That's never me.

I am not going to be one of these guys who doesn't defend his belt. I am going to defend my belt actively.

A fighter walks in the room and people are like 'oooo' because everyone is trying to be a tough guy.

I don't really take punishment from fights; the punishment is from the training, from my teammates.

I want to fight the guys that are ranked above me, even though I don't care about rankings because they're just opinions anyway. Even if a guy is below me and wants to fight, I'll take the fight if it makes sense.

On the feet, on the ground, I have all the bases covered.

The amount of work we have to do to get to that Octagon, we should be getting paid what we're worth.

I just want to fight the best.

I want to defend my belt against all the middleweights that are the biggest threats supposedly before I jump up in weight.

A lot of people say they don't care about the belt, but that's not true. For me, when I say it, I really mean that.

I just have to do what I have to do. I have to defend my belt.

The promoters in New Zealand weren't looking at me, they didn't see the potential. But when I was fighting in China they brought me over there as a journeyman so all their guys could whup up on me. Then they realised that's not gonna happen because I kept whupping up on their guys. Then they decided, 'Let's bring this guy into our team.'

Put it this way, people in my position in the UFC, their coaches couldn't tell them to sweep the mats because some people feel like they're better than that. I'm not one of those people. No matter how I am on camera, people who really know me, who know my soul, know I keep that same energy. So ain't nothing change but the change.

You won't see me on TMZ shaving my hair and yelling at the camera guy.

I fought probably 23 or 24 times when I was over in China, in a year.