I didn't know that I would be the UFC champion. Did I intend on being the UFC champ? Yeah, absolutely. I didn't exactly see myself doing this as a full time job or career but I certainly intended for it when I started down this path.
I'm very comfortable in Bellator. It would be interesting to have superfight between a Bellator champion and an UFC champion. I wouldn't have to necessarily migrate to the UFC. We could just have one duel. When it comes to the best fighters in the UFC, I think I'm better than all of them.
When I got into the sport and wrote down my goals, it was never to be a UFC main event or to be a on a UFC main card. It was to be the UFC champion.
Henry Cejudo is going to become the greatest combat athlete of all time, being an Olympic champ and a two-division champ in the UFC.
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.
Bellator offered me a job. UFC never offered me an opportunity to fight. There's no question that UFC is the top. It's a machine. A lot of people, including myself, have helped build the UFC to where it is today.
Brock Lesnar, he did a pretty darn good job. He was a WWE star. He came to the UFC and won the UFC belt.
Fighting in the UFC means that I'm at the top of the sport, and it means that I'm able to pursue my goal of being a champion in the UFC.
I made a good living in the UFC. This isn't a negative thing. I'll always love the UFC. I still do 'UFC Now,' and I love breaking down the fights, and I never miss anything, and if they need anything, they know who to call.
Before I got in the UFC, I wrote down on a piece of paper a goal that I was going to make it to the UFC in 2015 and then I'll be the world champion before 2017 so I'm right on track. I pull out that piece of paper all the time and look at it. It's motivation.
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.
When I started fighting I've always thought about being a UFC champion.
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 have no problem with Brock Lesnar being a part-timer, because he's earned that spot. He's a multiple time champion in WWE, a former UFC Champion, NCAA amateur wrestling champion, so his accolades speak for themselves.
The UFC are doing a tremendous job of promoting the sport worldwide. The views about the sport haven't always been so positive here in the Holland, but it's nice to see change and to see the UFC come to Holland, and everyone been really enthusiastic about it.
Look back at my career - I was 19 or 20 years old when I started fighting those guys. As soon as I got into the UFC I was willing to take on the number one guys. I fought Carlos Condit in my second appearance in the UFC.
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.