I train with faster, lighter guys, I train with guys from my category. I also train with heavyweight guys.
When you think about the guys who started Twitter, and the Google guys, and the Facebook guys and the Napster guys, and the Microsoft guys, and the Dell guys and the Instagram guys, it's all guys. The girls, they're being left behind.
You can train with heavyweight guys, you can train with 205 guys but this is training. A fight is completely different.
People don't usually have long careers as heavyweights because they mature into the role. Look at amateur wrestling, you don't usually see guys go to heavyweight as freshman. I was just blessed that even though I wasn't as big as some of the other guys, I was able to step in right away at heavyweight.
I'm more attracted to the bad guys. Why? Because in real life, I don't know any good guys. I know okay guys. I know polite guys. I know people who can control themselves.
Leadership is one of sports' intangibles. Guys can score, guys can fight, guys can skate faster than anybody else. But not everybody can say, 'Follow me.'
Leadership is one of sports intangibles. Guys can score, guys can fight, guys can skate faster than anybody else. But not everybody can say, Follow me.
When you're young, you might not be ready to deal with the frustration of playing the big guys and dealing with their power. But we move better, we see the ball earlier, we can play faster. That's why you see smaller guys able to compete. We use the power of our opponent.
For me there is no reason why to go up in weight class, because when you go up in weight class you have to fight bigger guys - then you have to train against bigger guys. The guys are not better, they're heavier, but it means you have more chance to get hurt.
I think there are so many guys coming up that are ready to bust loose. All they need is that one little flame of confidence that starts the inferno. And when you get those guys, once it starts happening, nothing can stop you. And you can tell which guys have it. You always know which guys have it.
My next step is give opportunities so that guys can train. I watch here in Brazil and we've lost a lot of talent just because guys don't have a membership to the gym. I want to make free gyms in the community.
I think any time you bring those guys in, one with a lot of playoff experience, with rings - those guys won - guys in the locker room gravitate towards those guys. Those guys have been there, so there's a lot that they can teach the guys.
I tend to stick to my team guys, the guys I train with here at Greg Jackson's, because when they're in there, I feel like I'm in there.
I don't play bad guys. I think that's why I keep getting cast as bad guys: because I don't want to play bad guys. I want to play human beings that struggle with life.
There's guys who train hard. There's guys who believe they're real tough. But there's only a certain amount of guys who believe - like, really believe - they should be the champion. I know I have that mentality, and I know other guys who have that mentality.
Yeah, I was ready for the NBA. Because I went through a lot of things back overseas. And you know, playing professionally from a young age and then playing against the older guys - guys over 30; older, talented guys - was really tough, but it also helped my game grow and just get me ready for the NBA.