Not just me but everybody in the WEC was dreaming of fighting in the UFC and become a champ. Thank God I went there and became a champion. I root for the WEC guys. I do.
The UFC and WEC didn't give me anything. Everything I conquered was my merit and from my team.
I've had people say I'm inconsistent, and sure, I've never held a UFC or WEC title.
After 'Avatar' ended, I spent a lot of time watching MMA and kickboxing fights on UFC, WEC, DREAM, and K-1.
I know more about UFC than the wrestling circuit. I think everybody's a pretty good guy in the UFC.
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 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.'
Becoming the guy with most submissions in UFC history at age 28, breaking Royce's record, will definitely give me more leverage with the UFC. I'll get more attention and more sponsors. It helps a lot.
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.
I want to have longevity with the UFC. It's a dream come true to be with the UFC, so I just want to have longevity with them.
It's not like I was saying, 'Oh, I want to make it to the UFC one day,' because the sport wasn't big enough then that a guy could have this as his job.
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.
UFC, definitely not - I do not think that is a fit for me. I am looking forward to seeing CM Punk's UFC debut, and I hope he does really well. But it is not something that I want to do.
Honestly, I just think I'm getting better and better, and it's great that I'm in the UFC, but the hard part is staying in the UFC, and that's what I want to do.
If you're a UFC guy, if you're a company guy, if the company likes you, they're gonna do the right thing, in terms of promoting you. They're gonna promote who they want, they're not going to promote the people they think can't get to that next level and can't help bring the company a lot more money and bring them into other avenues.
I really didn't want to enter the UFC in a fight that nobody really cared about or where people thought I was just going to whoop some guy.