Just staying healthy, that is true wealth and true happiness.
Jon Jones
You have to turn the lemons life gives you into lemonade, and you have to take time to sit back and enjoy it.
The higher the risk, the higher the reward.
Fighting is not what I do - it's who I am. It's what I was meant to do, what I was meant to be. I knew that right after my first MMA practice.
The struggles don't define you. It's how you handle them that determines who you are.
I've convinced myself I'm something special. When you do that, man, you're dangerous, especially when you have the athleticism and work ethic to back it up.
I'm extremely confident. I do believe my own hype. And I'm working towards making it true.
I don't believe a champion is the biggest, baddest, meanest dude in the world. I think the champion is like a warrior; it's like the head knight or lead samurai: humble men of integrity, respect, and honor that treat people kindly.
Muhammad Ali was hated, and then he was loved at the very end. Floyd Mayweather was hated, and a lot of people are really coming around on him. So, I'm just trying to stay positive and try not to offend too many people along the way and hope for the best end result.
I notice that I'm full of myself, and I am arrogant to some degree, but it's honestly only when it comes to talking about MMA.
There's never been a southpaw fighter to make it five rounds with me. These are championship fights, and most of them can't even make it out of the normal rounds. Fought Chael Sonnen, TKOed him in round one. Fought Vitor Belfort. He made it to round four when I ended up submitting him.
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.
In my mind, I've never lost a fight.
I often get people that come up to me with the UFC 151 poster with me and Dan on it and ask me to sign it.
It was really tough being in jail. It doesn't get much lower. You're in a filthy room. The food is terrible, and you're surrounded by people who have done all types of crazy crimes. You have nothing that belongs to you, not even your own underwear. It's just terrible.
It's a cold world out there, and this world will pass you by if you give another man anything over yourself.
I've really tried everything in my power to get my life together.
We're all going to make mistakes; they're inevitable. It's what you do after these mistakes that matters.
I have tons of pictures of myself as a kid with my medals, and they were never gold medals.
Muhammad Ali was such an original - his antics, his character, his charisma, his strength, his individuality.
I believe I have the attitude of a champion and a winner, and I'm not apologetic for it.
I just keep my eyes open and focus on the things I'm not good at and what makes other people better than me - technique and things outside the Octagon.
A rough beginning doesn't have to mean there is a rough end.
I don't really deal in trash talk too much. But I show my confidence.
I've come to expect more out of myself - as a citizen, as a man, as an athlete - to reach a better place, a place I've never been.
My friends and family all know me, and that's the important thing.
I feel as if I'm God's champion, and I have a lot of pride in that.
I love Twitter in particular because it allows me to grow and see how people feel about the decisions I make. My followers, they're always pretty honest with me. I love the honesty I get. I also find motivation in it.
One day when I was bored, I just went down to a powerlifting gym, Via Strength Systems in Albuquerque. I knew I needed to expend my energy somehow. I started working out with them four days a week. I became obsessed with lifting and being fit.
As long as I'm taking care of my family and breaking records and continuing to excel and continuing to find new endorsements - everything's working.
Whenever I talk about Christ out loud, or I tweet a verse or say something in reference about Christ, a lot of people lash out and aren't very excited to hear about my love for Christ.
I'm not saying Gustafsson isn't a champion. He's not the champion that I am. He's not a champion at all. I've won the belt seven times. He got tapped out by Phil Davis and lost to me fair and square. This guy gets so much praise. Having a close fight with me was the greatest thing he's ever done.
I'm not scared of anything.
Glover Teixeira is a phenomenal opponent.
My parents always kept us in the house. We weren't allowed to spend the night at other people's houses. We were sheltered kids.
A lot of coaches in MMA focus on MMA wrestling. My coach, his high school team is ranked 10th in the nation. Izzy Martinez is very connected to the wrestling community.
Fitness really changed my life.
When it comes to MMA, there is a big chip on my shoulder. There is a way that I look at myself. I think it's really, really important, and it's something I'm not really apologetic for it. As I get older, and I win more, I start to embrace it even more.
I'm definitely very excited to see Cormier fight Brock Lesnar. I think Daniel Cormier wins the fight. He's just too fast. I feel like, when I fought him, he was quicker than me with certain combinations. I can only imagine he's going to be a lot quicker than Brock Lesnar.
If you do something bad, it doesn't mean you're a bad person. It means you had bad judgment.
College, for me, was more about wrestling than actually going to classes.
My opinion, football is the most dangerous sport there is. After that, I'll give it to probably boxing.
I feel like a lot of my fans hold high expectations of me when it comes to inside the Octagon - not so much outside of the Octagon - but I feel like most of my performances are pretty dominant, so I don't feel like I have the luxury to not perform in an extremely impressive fashion.
I just would hate to have to fight my own teammate. I would never want to.
Call it weakness if you will, but even the toughest individuals need assistance getting back on track.
I was never popular. I always kind of wanted to be accepted with the rich kids, with the cool kids, and I never had that.
I'm a champion, and I believe that if you're a champion, you can't be afraid to go out there and test yourself against the greatest challenges.
I genuinely wanted to be an inspiration to other people and inspire people and be a role model.
Growing up, I was poor. In college, I was poor. I never had anything.
I got in the limelight at a young age. At age 19, people were already comparing me to Anderson Silva.
