A Quote by Michael Chiesa

I don't classify myself as a wrestler, I'm a grappler. — © Michael Chiesa
I don't classify myself as a wrestler, I'm a grappler.
When I was scheduled to fight in Japan, and then I would come back to the United States, I would have to train, but there was nobody to train here. There was no such thing as a striker going with a grappler, or a striker going to the ground with a grappler, or a grappler standing up and fighting with a boxer.
I want to be eventually be the best wrestler out there, be the best grappler out there, along with being the best striker - be all of them at one time.
There is this great, great wrestler, who never really got an opportunity to be a star, named Len Denton: he was a masked guy called The Grappler. He was one of my favorite guys to ever wrestle, and it was just a tremendous pleasure to step in the ring with him.
OK, if he's a grappler, good for me, I know what to do. If he's a kickboxer, I gotta get in a clinch and move a certain way. If he's a karate man, he moves a different way, but I'm still going to have to clinch. So, a sumo wrestler, I have to clinch. It's just, how I get there, how I move it.
My favorite wrestler growing up was Dean Malenko. He was a very technical wrestler, and when I trained with Shawn Michaels, he wasn't that kind of a technical wrestler. So, when I finally met Regal in 2001, he was that kind of a wrestler, and all of a sudden, I could ask him things, and he would know what I was talking about and how to do it.
I would classify myself as an individual. That's what I try to stay true with - being myself, 100 percent.
For younger athletes - women, especially, if it's a male-dominated sport - I'd say be very careful to just be true to yourself. I spent a lot of time trying to emulate how a male wrestler was. They're tough, they're very confident, they don't show a lot of emotion, and they push through everything. That's not me at all. I'm a wrestler but I have emotions, I'm sensitive. When I stopped trying to be something that I wasn't, I felt like I was freeing myself up to find ways to make it work for myself.
I'm in the loners' society. I don't want to classify myself as anything.
I guess if I had to classify myself, I'd say I'm straight.
People want to classify and say, 'OK, this is a gangster film.' 'This is a Western.' 'This is a... ' You know? It's easy to classify and it makes people feel comfortable, but it doesn't matter, it doesn't really matter.
Being married to a wrestler has its unique challenges, being a wrestler married to a wrestler is next level.
I'm not just a grappler.
I do realize the impulse to classify people by the food and art they consume is strong - sometimes I have to remind myself not to do that.
You can call Roy Nelson a wrestler, but he's never fought a dynamic, explosive wrestler.
The only film I've enjoyed starring a wrestler was Mickey Rourke in 'The Wrestler.'
I knew I wanted to be a wrestler, so I became the best wrestler in wrestling history.
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