I'm just really not even that huge of a UFC fan. If you go on my Instagram or Twitter, you will notice ... people that I've actually met and hung out with, you know, I'm not like a huge UFC guy.
I'm a giant UFC fan. Huge. I watch UFC all the time.
I need that name in Rashad Evans, a name that UFC and the fans respect. They know his skill set. They know what he can do. You go out there and beat a guy like that, you've proved yourself to the UFC and to the fans.
Rampage Jackson came to the UFC with a brain. He came to the UFC with a huge following from being in Asia with Pride. He was a personality before he came to the UFC. You don't see them putting marketing money behind him to blow him up.
I'm a huge fan of [Elijah Wood] work and a huge fan of him, as a person. What's great about getting to know him is that he's just a really lovely, regular guy.
When I couldn't sign with the UFC, I think my goal of being Number 1 in the world went out the window. There's just no way of doing that at Welterweight without being in the UFC. I could go 50-0, and as long as it's outside the UFC, I'm not going to be Number 1.
I'm a huge UFC fan. I train. I do jiu-jitsu, taekwondo.
I know more about UFC than the wrestling circuit. I think everybody's a pretty good guy in the UFC.
I don't know anything about CM Punk. I'd never even heard of him until he was mentioned in UFC. I wouldn't know him if I walked past him in the street, I don't know... he might be a good wrestler but there are people in the UFC who are just good wrestlers.
I love Instagram - I don't actually go on Twitter and tweet; I just connect it through my Instagram account. I think it's a good way of getting stuff out there and connecting with people.
J. G. Ballard is just an example of the writers I like. Philip K. Dick is obviously one of them. I'm a big fan of William Gibson as well. He started cyberpunk with 'Neuromancer.' I've come to know him a little bit over Twitter, of all places, and I was always a huge fan of his. It's very cool to know he even knows I exist.
I made promises to myself and my family that I'd be in the UFC before my first daughter was born, that didn't happen. I was almost at breaking point a week before I got that contract, I was going to go back to concreting - that weekend I get my major sponsor, which was huge, and I end up getting my UFC contract the weekend after that.
I'm just tired of the unethical people, the scumbags, all that. Maybe that's how all businesses are run, but in MMA, I've been in the UFC, Legacy, and Bellator. The UFC was the best, and even they didn't treat you that well.
For me, it was just a huge honor to fight in the UFC.
At first, whenever I first got into the UFC, I was like, 'oh my God, I'm in the UFC.' When you come from where I came from, being in the UFC basically meant I was on top of the world.
I don't follow the UFC as closely as some of my peers do. Obviously, Conor McGregor is a super talented guy. He is the best at what he does; he's a huge personality.
To stay in the UFC while fighting top opponents... tell me one easy fight I had in the UFC. I have a history in the UFC.