A Quote by Alberto Del Rio
When I won my first MMA fight, I put myself out there for the world to see me.
Related Quotes
I started doing MMA and boxing at the same time - I always wanted to try an MMA fight to see what it was like. I had one fight, and I was hooked.
My first MMA fight was July 2006 here in Brazil. I won a few fights here in Brazil, and then I got a chance to fight in the UFC, but they put me against the number one contender for the title at that time. It was Fabricio Werdum.
There's a reason why MMA is only three five-minute rounds, or five fives when it's a title fight. MMA is so much more demanding on the body - the wrestling, the changing levels, all that takes a lot out of you. Boxing is a breeze for us after MMA.
Back when the UFC first started, I wanted to see what MMA was all about; at the time, I was training with Tank Abbott, and so I went to see him fight. While at the fight, I saw this guy fighting that I just crushed in high school wrestling, and I thought, 'Hey, I'm a street fighter, and I have a wrestling background,' so I gave it a shot.
I will continue dedicating myself to MMA in 2015, but fighting in the ADCC interests me, yes.. The Jiu-Jitsu Worlds does not interest me, I see fighters with a different goal from mine. They want to hold your sleeve, grab you and wait for time to pass. They just want to stall the game. I do not see this as a real fight, I see only as a strategy to win. For me, Jiu-Jitsu is much more than that.
Everybody knows how to get prepared for an MMA fight. Everybody knows what the other person is going to do. Whereas when I did it, MMA was really style against style. Things you hadn't seen before, you'd see for the first time. People didn't know how to train properly for it, and the coaching wasn't there yet, either.
I decided to pursue MMA after training Brazilian jiu-jitsu for about a year and seeing my first fight. I told myself, that looks scary but I think I could do that.
I do MMA, but I feel like a pro wrestler at heart. That's why I fight the way I fight in MMA. That's why I slam people and stuff around.
It's nice that fans want to see me fight. It definitely helps and gets everyone excited. It gets the UFC excited, and they are quick to put me back in there. But I really just focus on myself and getting ready to fight.
In MMA you have to take one fight at a time but I want BJ Penn. The fans want to see it and, while I'll fight whoever the UFC tells me to, I want a shot at BJ.
I don't feel pressure because what everyone expects of me is what I expect of myself anyway. Everyone expects me to win this fight, I expect myself to win this fight. It's not any more pressure than what I put on myself. I don't suffer nerves, I don't feel pressure, I just go out and do what I need to do.
When I went to college, I came across MMA. My first reaction was, 'No, I don't want to fight. I just want to learn jujitsu.' I didn't know what UFC was; in my mind it was this violent, ugly sport. But when I watched my first amateur fight, I fell in love with the sport and thought it was beautiful.
When I fought Nick Thompson, I wasn't experienced enough. That was the first person that put me in a real fight. Before Nick, nobody had put me in a fight where I had to struggle.
The people around me saved my life, not MMA. It was people who said, 'You're better than this,' who told me, 'You don't belong in this world.' MMA and jiu-jitsu and training gave me an escape.
At the beginning, my dream was to become a world-class boxer, but then I stepped into MMA. And when I stepped into MMA, it was to have fun. I reminded myself of what was the purpose, of what was the goal: to have fun.
I will knock out Vernon Forrest in two rounds whether I have a cigarette or not. I know a lot of people want to see me fight more rounds. So, if HBO wants, they can pick two sparring partners for me to fight after I knock out Forrest. That way, the audience can see me fight 12 rounds.
Related Authors
Adam Cole Quotes
American
Wrestler
Bill Goldberg Quotes
American
Wrestler
Bobby Lashley Quotes
American
Wrestler
Bret Hart Quotes
Canadian
Wrestler
Chris Jericho Quotes
Canadian
Wrestler
Daniel Bryan Quotes
American
Wrestler
Dean Ambrose Quotes
American
Wrestler
Diamond Dallas Page Quotes
American
Wrestler
Dolph Ziggler Quotes
American
Wrestler
Gail Kim Quotes
Canadian
Wrestler
Jeff Hardy Quotes
American
Wrestler
Matt Hardy Quotes
American
Wrestler
Randy Orton Quotes
American
Wrestler
Seth Rollins Quotes
American
Wrestler
Shawn Michaels Quotes
American
Wrestler
The Miz Quotes
American
Wrestler