I don't believe I ever saw an Oklahoman who wouldn't fight at the drop of a hat - and frequently drop the hat himself.
Guys who are my friends, guys who I visit their homes, I don't feel like fighting those guys.
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'm one of those girls that cries at the drop of a hat. I'm oversensitive, if anything. I'm a mom. I'm very earthy, crunchy granola. I compost.
If you break down actual techniques and knowledge of MMA, I am more knowledgeable than the head coaches of all the guys I'm fighting. Forget the guys I'm fighting. Obviously I know more than they do, nobody is going to question that. But I also know more than the guys who are teaching them about fighting. I could teach them.
I got to experience fighting some really good guys, like Demian Maia and Tyron Woodley who are top guys in the division. It was on a big stage, those fights. It gives me experience with top-level guys.
I may not be fighting the most popular guys like Canelo or GGG. But I am fighting real fighters, tough guys who want to prove that they belong and be world champions.
I do feel a kinship for sure. I admire those guys who've won hat-tricks like Andy, and obviously Kelly who's won seven, that's amazing stuff. I think the average surfer thinks it's amazing. The guys who win our championships, they're so amazing.
My favorite is when you go to Afghanistan and you meet the special forces guys, and they look like these heavily armed surfers. These guys are the best. You see guys dressed as full Afghans, but then wearing a Yankees hat.
I'm not one of those guys who has to drop ten pounds in the week before a contest.
Then instead of introducing Dre as the guy from N.W.A., Jerry Heller would say Dre was my producer! Dre would come to my interviews with me - he'd come to all these places that would never have had the guy from N.W.A. Wasn't it genius?
It's the nature of the mind to drift away. The mind is like the Pacific Ocean, it waves. And mindfulness has been shown to drop underneath the waves. If you drop underneath the agitation in the mind, into your breath deep enough calmness, gentle undulations.
Look back at my career - I was 19 or 20 years old when I started fighting those guys. As soon as I got into the UFC I was willing to take on the number one guys. I fought Carlos Condit in my second appearance in the UFC.
Even when I was fighting in China I met some guys on the local circuit that we're fighting, they didn't enjoy it, they wanted to be musicians and do other things, but they're just fighting because it pays the bills and they get money for it.
Some years ago I became president of Columbia University and learned within 24 hours to be ready to speak at the drop of a hat, and I learned something more, the trustees were expected to be ready to speak at the passing of the hat.
I would study the best, the most flashy, the guys that had that flair, the guys that had that wow. I'd study those fighters, and I made up my mind that I'd be all of those at once.