I definitely followed him. Coming up, if you wanted to see some fights on YouTube, you pulled up Fedor. His tenacity, aggression and ability to get out of bad positions and bad situations - he used to be in those freak-show fights against guys who were 7 feet - he'd figure it out and get it done.
I think for a lot of guys when they get taken down it's like the end of the world and they freak out about it but training with the team I have here, I have been in a lot of bad positions before and I'm no slouch on the ground either, so if it goes down there, I'm comfortable and can win the fight down there or get back to my feet and end it there.
On the brilliance of James Brown's dancing ? and the frustrations of bad camera-work on dancers:cers: I think James Brown is a genius you know when he's with the Famous Flames, unbelievable. I used to watch him on television and I used to get angry at the camera-man because whenever he would really start to dance they would be on a close-up so I couldn't see his feet. I'd shout "Show him! Show him!", so I could watch and learn.
There is a ferocity to MMA and to the training, but there's such a humanity to it too. It takes so much sacrifice and humility to get into it and to rise through those levels. If you look at the fights as a means to test who you are, every one of these fights is an opportunity to see how far you're willing to go up against yourself - and to find and define your limits.
I had to fight those type of fights which were high risk, low reward and at the start, I never could get the fights I really wanted.
When I grew up Carl Lewis was still running, Maurice Greene was running - he was that figure I see, like Michael Johnson. I really wanted to look up to the fast guys - so those two guys were some of the guys I looked up to.
Hopefully in 2011 the fans will get to see some fights that they want to see. Manny Pacquiao Vs. Floyd Mayweather needs to happen, and so does David Haye Vs. Wladimir Klitschko. The fans deserve to see fights that they want to see and not just the fights that the promoters want to see.
All the screen cowboys behaved like real gentlemen. They didn't drink, they didn't smoke. When they knocked the bad guy down, they always stood with their fists up, waiting for the heavy to get back on his feet. I decided I was going to drag the bad guy to his feet and keep hitting him.
I've sort of always pulled for the heels, like the bad guys. So I think if I were a pro wrestler, first I'd need to bulk up, and second I'll need to get sort of a bad-boy persona.
I get a lot from people who are in oppressed situations and say they were gonna give up. A lot of people have reached out and said they were in bad situations and really need me to be successful.
If you look at my career, towards the end you will see I was fighting like once a year. I was not part of the Don King top heavyweights, so I was kind of kept out. His guys were getting three to four fights a year and I could only get one.
With a television show, it's about fighting to get it on the screen every week. It's like going into battle, and you have to fight these fights. Some are big fights, some are skirmishes, some you can come to detente on, but it's always a fight.
I don't watch a lot of featherweight fights yet some of those fights are the best fights ever.
I can't just keep fooling around every other fight. Have a few good fights and then get unfocused again and have a couple bad fights. I really have to stay the course and stay focused.
We have some bad, bad people in this country that have to go out. We're gonna get them out. We're going to secure the border. And once the border is secured at a later date, we'll make a determination as to the rest. But we have some bad hombres here and we're gonna get 'em out.
You're mine, Angel, and don't you forget it. Your fights are my fights. What if something bad had happened today? It was bad enough when I thought your ghost was haunting me; I don't think I can handle the real thing.
Sometimes my backswing gets long, and I get in bad positions. The club also can get behind me coming down, so I have to flip my hands to catch up to my body.