If you look at UFC champions: BJ Penn - terrifying! GSP - terrifying! Anderson Silva - terrifying! But I'm not terrifying. I am not the super-submission guy, I am not the one-punch KO guy, so I am not the most feared guy in the worldBut I will not quit, I will not break and I will fight you like a dog for every second of every round. I am not a super-talented guy, I'm just a dude who will fight you tooth and nail.
I don't want to be one of those guys who says, 'No, I won't fight that guy' or 'I won't fight the guy there; I need to fight him here,' or that sort of stuff. The UFC says, 'This is who you're fighting next,' and I say, 'Cool. Let's do it.'
A Division I college wrestling team has so many guys at such a high level it'd be like having every single guy in the gym being a top 10 UFC guy, and that's who you're competing against every single day. Most everyone has been wrestling since they were 5 years old. It's been their dream to wrestle in college. There's such a high level of intensity.
In the UFC, you are only as good as your last fight. It's really a fight-by-fight type of career in the UFC.
Whoever has lost a fight in the UFC and hasn't wanted to fight that guy the next day shouldn't be in the sport.
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.
You can't take a single day for granted in the National Football League. Every single day, you need to earn your spot on the roster.
Lacy was a pleasurable fight. It wasn't my hardest fight because I won every single minute of every single round.
I signed a contract to fight at UFC 187, so I'm going to fight at UFC 187, whoever it is against. It's the same thing.
UFC is UFC, and God bless them, they have the largest roster and some amazing fighters, but there's amazing fighters everywhere. That's why I am impressed with what Bellator has attempted to do with the tournament or with Aaron Pico and some of the younger talent.
After the Ronda fight, I wasn't sure what the UFC held for me. I think coming out of that fight, I didn't know if losing that fight meant that I could get cut because I knew the rumors at the time was how easily fighters could get cut from the UFC.
I don't want to fight in UFC just because I was a champion in UFC. I'm gonna have to earn it. It's gonna have to be how I fight.
I've pretty much been in every situation in terms of the roster... like roster spot 1-15.
I produce the most exciting matches with pretty much any person on the roster. Pick any guy on the roster, and I can tell you a match I had with them that people can still remember.
I train every day but Christmas. I'm not the guy who gets a contract signed and then trains for a fight. I'm at practice every single day, whether I've got a match or not.
I think that every single fight you have is to prove yourself. Even if you're the world champion, the UFC champion of the world, you're still proving yourself; people are coming to beat you.