I walk around at 150-152 pounds to weigh 147 pounds. Other boxers weigh around 160-170 before coming down.
In my case, I never really thought about what it would be like in the WWE. I never thought I could make it to the WWE? especially being a Black man who is 5-foot-6 and 160 pounds.
They say that most airline seats on planes today are meant for 170-pound passengers. The last time the average American weighed 170 pounds, the Wright Brothers were flying the plane.
I don't want to go that route where I'm going into fights dehydrated. I used to fight at 170 pounds. I was 10-0 at 170 with eight knockouts. I'm not going to listen to somebody from the outside tell me what weight I should be fighting at.
I think I'm the best in the world at 170 pounds, so why would I need to go down? If, at some point, I beat everyone at 170, I'd consider going up. If I've eliminated all my challenges, yeah, at that point I would consider going up.
Growing up the way I grew up, food was scarce. So when you had an opportunity to eat, you ate. When I graduated from high school and went to college, I weighed 160 pounds. So, I knew I had to put on the weight. I ate everything from fried food to fried chicken wings. When I came to Green Bay, I did the same thing because I was 172 pounds.
I'm about a 160, 170 bowler so I feel like I'm pretty good - I'm average, but I don't stink, you know?
You just can't say 'I'll fight anybody.' Some guys do that early in their career, and their careers never have a chance to develop, because they have had five fights at 170 pounds, when they're walking around at 147 pounds. It's not smart.
If I went up there and beat T.J. Dillashaw at 135 pounds, I have no interest whatsoever in staying at 135. People are like, 'Why not?' and I'm like, 'I have no interest in fighting guys who walk around at 160 pounds.'
I fought well at 155, but I don't think I ever came close to my best at 155. I think I'll get to my best at 170 pounds.
That's what I signed up for in the beginning. I was 170 pounds; 155 was forced on me.
You know, I'm never really 100-percent in any of those fights, because it's so hard to have perfect preparation for fighting and cutting weight and making 170 pounds, and being in the best shape for training camp and to make that cut.
Moving forward at 160 pounds, I feel like this where I should have been the whole time.
I'm more vicious in sparring when I am around 160 pounds or coming down from heavier than that.
You can only get away with fighting as the lighter guy in a weight class for so long. That's what I was doing at 170 pounds.
I really liked the transition Demian Maia made from 185 pounds to 170. I plan on doing the same thing as a featherweight.