I beat Gilbert Melendez, and he got two shots at the title.
I feel a strong victory over Gilbert Melendez makes a definite statement.
Gilbert Gottfried is famously cheap. I'm impressed you're here Gilbert. You gotta buy new clothes and take a week off work just to do this. But you showed up. You tightened your belt and you came. You're like David Carradine.
Martin Kampmann, that was a war. Jake Ellenberger, that was a war. Then I didn't take damage until Gilbert Melendez.
I love Scott Coker and I love Bellator and I love what we have built together and it's a little uneasy to think that I will no longer be under contract with Bellator after I knock out Benson Henderson and get my hand raised.
When I fought Benson Henderson for the first time, or Jamie Varner, it was always like, 'Oh man... I'm in here fighting these guys. Do I really belong here?' That's all changed now.
Benson Henderson is a guy that I fought before. He has two arms and two legs. He has certain patterns, mannerisms and tendencies that I know I can go out there and exploit.
I remember watching Anderson Silva fight Dan Henderson at UFC 82. I had never really watched MMA, but I looked up to Dan Henderson. He was a wrestler, like me, but also a tough, powerful mixed martial artist.
Benson Henderson is a professional; he's a champion. He knows how to handle himself in the cage and he knows how to win fights.
The underlying foundation of all religion is performance - whether it's a tribal dance around a campfire to satisfy the fire god, or a dead religious activity performed week after week by an evangelical Christian with the intent of impressing his God. It's all religious performance, and God isn't impressed by our performance. What impresses Him is faith.
As a painfully shy kid, my fun time was locking myself away and watching movie after movie after movie. Watching a good performance, to me, was like getting a new toy.
I know people think I'm just the Diego Sanchez from the Gilbert Melendez fight. Hook, hook, hook. A crazy brawler. But I realized the best possible fighter would not get hit. He'd close the distance and minimize the chances of the lights going out. I want to fight as long as I can and be as healthy as I can.
I thought 'Benson' was going to be more of an ensemble show. But it was called 'Benson' for a reason.
Finishing a guy like Benson Henderson, who hasn't been finished since for six years, the guy doesn't get finished and I finished it with a switch-step switch to Southpaw, knocked him out with my left hand.
After seeing my performance in director T.V. Chandran's 'Aadum Koothu,' Cheran was impressed and immediately cast me in 'Maya Kannadi.'