I'm definitely an active champion. I'm looking forward to defending my belt as many times as possible.
The UFC want me as their champion. The welterweight division needs me as its champion. It's been static for too long. I'll win the title, defend it a couple of times, and then move up to middleweight.
I'm a champion, I have to defend this belt.
I'm here at Madison Square Garden as world champion and have a world champion's mentality, the pressures on to defend my belt - this is what champions do.
Winning the belt is one thing. But you're not really a champion until you defend it.
I want to become the champion and hold that belt. I don't want to just win a fight and then lose it in my next fight.
I want to become undisputed UFC welterweight champion. I've been so close a couple of times, but I don't want to leave the sport always a bridesmaid and never a bride. I want to get that belt around my waist.
The belt doesn't represent me; it's how you deal with people, how you represent yourself as a champion. The belt is a sign of a champion, but what makes a champion is the things I have just said.
I'm not saying Gustafsson isn't a champion. He's not the champion that I am. He's not a champion at all. I've won the belt seven times. He got tapped out by Phil Davis and lost to me fair and square. This guy gets so much praise. Having a close fight with me was the greatest thing he's ever done.
I'd say for sure though, read the fine print in the contract. Make sure after you defend your belt for however many times and then you lose, you're not making less money than a kid who had three fights in the UFC. That's a shame. That's laughable. That is a shame.
The best part about being a champion is going out and defending your belt, so that's what I plan on doing and doing it many times.
I'm going to win the belt at middleweight and I'm going to go up to 205 and win the belt there after I dominate the middleweight division for a little bit - that will happen.
I've been Intercontinental Champion lots of times, Television Champion. One of my favorites has been the Hardcore Championship because it reflected my favorite style, and I feel that the X Division belt does that, too.
Now that I've achieved my goal to win the belt, I want to be the best of all times. I want to be remembered as the lightweight with most title defenses.
I want to defend my title as much as possible and make magic with as many people as possible.
There's a lot of ways to win a belt, but taking it from a champion is very important to me.