The best feeling in the world is a hard workout, a shower, and a protein shake.
Mirko Cro Cop
Win or lose, just stay calm.
Nobody should underestimate me. When you have a self-made fighter like I am with the Pride belt I earned, it's not good to underestimate him.
I think the best thing to say is that I was born to fight.
K-1 is the sport where I started. This is my first love, and I find K-1 more attractive and more suitable for our Croatian fans than MMA.
I'm not angry or anything at Sonnen, but I will say one thing - I hope nobody gets offended; I don't wanna sound disgusting, and I am certainly not fan of any anthropologic theories - but you can see on that guy's face that he is limited and stupid, and his IQ is not higher than the size of the shoes he's wearing.
I wish you could see a new Cro Cop, 15 years younger. I wish it was possible.
Even the biggest heroes turn into cowards when they get tired.
I might be the first fighter who has ever been suspended after retirement.
Training is not the key. Head is the key. For me, it's head. How aggressive you will be. Who will attack first? But you need to be good in your head, and there will be no problem.
People ask me if I'm going to open a school. Why not? I think I should. Maybe not a typical school where anyone can come but with young fighters definitely one day. I don't have the nerves for amateurs.
First I'm a sportsman and then a politician.
Of course I will submit if I have a chance, but I always prefer to finish a fight in a stand-up position.
When I came to UFC, I was treated like a king.
I won a lot of money in UFC. I earned that money. The money wasn't given to me as a present. I earned every dollar of it.
I've heard that I could be facing Randy Couture. That would a great.
I had it on my mind that I will fight in Cologne, because UFC is coming to Germany, where the biggest and largest Croatian community lives there. It was my big, big, big wish to participate. Even my doctor didn't believe I will make it, but I did.
I'm not the kind of fighter who just hates each other before the fight. I can talk to you until one minute before the fight, and then I will take your head off if I can.
It was a mistake of mine to train like that, with friends, at home. It was a handicap I should not have given myself. In Croatia, we do not have big camps like in other countries, but I was not willing to go away to train.
I was training in an old garage - just a roof. And when its snowed, it would cover the floor, so I would have to clear this first. I didn't have a punch bag. There was no place to buy it, so I managed to get a speed ball, but it didn't have the swivel mechanism, so I just nailed it to the ceiling and started kicking.
I never liked to say any trash talk about anyone, and I never go low on that level.
Training, and every morning I have to take my dogs out into the forest. That's all I'm doing. I'm staying out of everything else. All other things that can take out my concentration and my energy from the training.
This fire in me will last forever.
The biggest shock was the first fight. I didn't know what to expect. I fought Fujita. At that time, he was one of the most dangerous PRIDE fighters. He was a complete beast and with 130 kilograms of pure muscle.
Some of my fights in PRIDE, I felt tired. I would train on the punching bag and feel great but then get tired in my fights.
In 1993, I joined the Croatian army. I was a radio telegraphist.
Conditioning is the most important thing in MMA.
Everything was good when I was in Japan, and then, unfortunately, the injuries started.
I broke people's bones, tore muscles, ribs, faces, inflicted some serious and heavy damages to my opponents, etc... I got hurt myself, too, from serious attacks.
I'd most prefer to be a free agent and fight up to six times a year, but that is unlikely.
Saying that fights in Japan were fixed and that me, along with other guys like Silva, Minotauro, etc., did not win those fights legitimately is an ultimate and absurd nonsense.
Low kicks, you need to throw at least 20 to finish the guy, and he has 20 chances to block you, and you can break your leg.
I really think me and my family live humbly. I've secured my life, and I won't have to open the newspaper and be looking for work.
I've made some investments during my career that I'm happy with, so my life, talking financially, is definitely OK.
The only 'special supplements' I'm using is two hard and bloody trainings per day, five days a week.
For my whole career, I didn't have sparring partners. I was frustrated when I came to the UFC because, after a few minutes of the first round, I would feel dead because I had no sparring partners.
I'm not allowed to be woken up under any circumstances except if my house starts burning. Then my wife is authorised to wake me up, but only if fire gets to the door of my room.
I want to beat all the opponents who have beaten me before.
All of the people I have lost against, I always want to fight again.
Frank Mir is gonna be my toughest fight in my UFC career. It won't be easy.
I have to be honest: when you have 70 fights under your belt, your priorities change.
Of course I could keep fighting, but every man comes to the point when he asks himself, 'Do I need it anymore?'
Sooner or later, the time comes when a man has to think on the health. I had a really long and great career, and I believe I left a deep mark in the martial arts. I have no regrets.
I am aware that I have come to the end of my martial times, but training with pain I want no longer. My body is battered by countless trainings. I collected nine operations; the body has become prone to injury.
I usually train twice a day, and Thursdays and Sundays are supposed to be my days off. But even on those days, I'm training at least once. I have to do at least one session each day to be happy.
People don't get it. Martial arts is my life.
I'm not old. I'm 37, but I can do things that fighters 10 years younger cannot. I will prove that, or I will die trying.
I was free on the market, and I wanted to go to the UFC, the only global organization.
I train in the cage all the time. I have my own cage in my gym.
I don't want to think too much about the future. I want to go step by step, and we'll see what's next.
