When you are a player, a footballer, or a manager of a great club like Chelsea, you must play to win. To win. To win the title. Or to fight and, at the end, to compete with the other teams to win the title and reach your targets.
I'd like to fight and get close to that title shot - that's all I'm interested in. My whole purpose is to fight for the world title.
Seeing the fight game and seeing the way things have worked out, a guy could be on a seven-fight, monstrous win streak and not get a title shot. There's no rhyme or reason to it.
No one is guaranteed a spot at the top, no one is guaranteed a title shot, but all you can do is win your fight, keep training, and then maybe somewhere down the road you'll get your opportunity.
Sometimes guys will come out and just barely squeak by to get a win and then wonder why they don't get a title shot. Who wants to see that?
I'm working hard and I think I'm where I should be at by now but I'm in no hurry at all, I'm taking one fight at a time, I want to win my fights. With the title shot I don't know yet but if I get the chance someday, I will be more than ready.
In MMA it’s a lot less intimidating because it’s not like you get one shot at a title every four years. You get a title shot every couple of months ... With the Olympics, you don’t always have this, so there is so much more pressure involved.
In MMA it's a lot less intimidating because it's not like you get one shot at a title every four years. You get a title shot every couple of months... With the Olympics, you don't always have this, so there is so much more pressure involved.
It's great to win the British title. I wanted to control the fight behind my jab and then land the right hand.
I purposely lost a fight to Billy Fox because they promised me that I would get a shot to fight for the title if I did.
An interim title is just a guarantee at a title shot. If I'm going to fight the best guys in the world, I want a guarantee that I'm going to fight for the title.
It took me 10 fights to get the damn interim title shot and then 11 to get an undisputed shot.
I don't think we can fully understand just how much pressure is on these fighters' shoulders once they win the UFC title. It's a grind just to get to the title fight. You're not earning a lot of money, and the sport takes a real toll on your body. And then once you get the belt, you've got an army of fighters coming for you right away.
I'm just not into the whole begging for a title fight, managers try to get a whole campaign going... If you want to give me the title shot, then just give it to me, I'll show up and I'll perform, but for me, my fighting speaks for itself.
I got to a point I was so focused on getting a title shot all the thought in my head was to go out there and win at all costs, so maybe it made me fight a certain way, maybe take a lot of risks and stuff like that.
On my way to winning the title, it was great for me, but once I won the title, it was tough for me to get fights.