USADA tested me, and I came back positive for hard work and beast-like characteristics.
Tyron Woodley
Certain athletes show themselves as marketable, and the UFC gets behind them; they help push them. I'm a husband, a father of four, a gym owner, an actor, an analyst, a stuntman, a Christian - every avenue you can take it, I have those layers.
I think a kid from the inner city, if I had to recruit, is the ideal person for MMA. They'd be less likely to be affected by hard work. They'd be less likely to not appreciate something when someone is helping them out, because they probably don't have a ton of stuff.
I've really valued each area of MMA.
My nickname, T-Wood, came from football because I was so small, but I used knock people's helmets off. All I wanted to do was hit. I didn't care about interceptions or touchdowns.
I don't think I'll get the credit I deserve, but I didn't get into this game for credit. I got into this game to be the greatest welterweight ever. If I keep knocking them out one by one, I think that will happen.
I fight with a game plan, but sometimes you have an audible.
Legacy is really important to me. It's more important than dollars to me. So with that said, I try to find the fights that would solidify my legacy.
Let's put the cards on the table. Real is real. If I was a different complexion, I think people and fans would treat me a different way.
Wrestling is second nature: I've been doing it for so long, so if it looks like someone's leg is available, it made sense for my first three fights that I would shoot for legs.
I know when you do things systematically, non-stop, and repetition, that's how you make things happen in your life. It's the same thing in faith.
I think the elements to shock the world is either the ability to wrestle and grind somebody out or the ability to knock someone out.
I've beaten Jordan Mein. I've beaten Tarec Saffiedine. Some people might have said I beat Stephen Thompson. I beat Robbie Lawler. These are the greatest strikers in our sport, but I'm the only one out of all those guys that outstruck the best strikers, and I still don't get the credit for being the best striker in our division.
If I'm straight outta shape for a fight, I might need 12 weeks or more to get in shape.
Rampage Jackson came to the UFC with a brain. He came to the UFC with a huge following from being in Asia with Pride. He was a personality before he came to the UFC. You don't see them putting marketing money behind him to blow him up.
I'm a successful individual and maneuvering in a culture where there are some racists. I still find a way to get to the top, whether I go around or weave through.
To be just straight up honest, Conor McGregor is a guy that fought at 145 - ever in his life. I haven't weighed 145 since my sophomore year of high school.
For me, I'm going to try to do the same thing to you no matter if I like you, no matter if I hate you, no matter if it pops up. You're not going to be able to say one thing, and now I really want to kick you.
Why wouldn't the police officers be on edge? Why wouldn't they be alert? And why wouldn't people in the community trust police officers? Because they are consistently harassing them, and they have experience with police officers doing awful things.
Nick Diaz is in the top five welterweights of all time in my eyes. Georges St-Pierre is the number one welterweight in my eyes.
Amanda Nunes - I've been telling people that forever - she could compete with a lot of the male bantamweights in American Top Team.
A lot of people don't understand my reasoning behind wanting to fight big fights and big names. Knocking off these big names in fights really solidifies me as the best welterweight that's ever done it.
I'm gonna fall back, do my thing, but goddamn, I'm going to be a tough dude to deal with.
I've physically seen profiling. I've seen me walking up the street with my friends, and the police officers get out of their car and bust the hell out of my friends. And they can't do anything about it, and the cop gets back in his car and drives off.
There's some ignorant people in the world, and if I spend time trying to convince people to think like me, I'll be wasting valuable time I could use to be growing my business, perfecting my craft as a fighter, watching film, studying, or just enjoying time with my family. Or just sleeping.
The second I bring up race in the sport, I'm immediately race-baiting. But I can point out clear facts, where no other champion has been treated like me.
I don't say MMA fans are racist at all. What I said is that fans are opinionated, especially because we're the only professional sport to give them that access.
Have you seen any African American athlete that appeals to the urban market actually bring that market to the MMA?
I don't want to be the dude that you just think about with a crazy suit, talking crap, fighting in these super fights and driving a Rolls-Royce.
My strength is my unpredictablity. I can wrestle, I can strike, I can move fast, and I do a good job of covering up. And because of my experience, I'm able to put myself in good positions in the ring. The guys I fight, they have to be ready for anything.
Fighting, especially at this level, is about getting through adversity. You position yourself mentally to go out and take on obstacles that stand in your way. In the Octagon and in life, you face tough situations and have every chance to quit, but the more adversity you push through, the more likely you are to be successful.
I ain't Nate Diaz. Nate Diaz is not a welterweight. He did not do well at welterweight because he was undersized, and these dudes are real gorillas in this weight class.
I love playing Rick Ross' 'Port of Miami' album. Jeezy's 'Thug Motivation 101' is a classic in my opinion, and I still listen to that album to this day. I'm a big fan of OutKast, so pretty much any album they put out is great in my opinion, but I find myself listening to 'Aquemini' a lot. Anything Kendrick Lamar does is great.
People don't realize how sick Amanda Nunes is. She beats some of the UFC bantamweight males in the gym.
When things get you in the corner, and it feels like you can't go on, you can fight back. You're never out of the fight.
What's on my playlist when I'm fighting is not so much hip-hop. Sometimes, it's something more inspirational. I get a chance to think about what I'm fighting for, like, my family. It takes me to that state because a lot of times, it's a spiritual warfare for me.
I guess you could say I fell into it. The main goal was to be successful and to make my family proud. Back then, MMA was just getting started, and there didn't seem to be a ton of rules. It seemed pretty brutal, and I was still pretty focused on wrestling. But I decided to give it a shot.
For me, it's about the legacy, being the best fighter and a champion who takes all comers. I'm going to make more money outside the Octagon, after my career, than I make in it. But it's making it difficult for me to achieve my goals when I have unnecessary stumbling blocks like my promoter saying damaging comments about me.
If I have a chance to make a larger amount of money in a legacy fight against the No. 1 welterweight in history, it makes sense for me to want that fight. You have a lot of pay-per-view money coming to this company. Why shouldn't the champion partake in a piece of that pie?
I hate seeing it; I hate watching it. More importantly, I hate people that don't understand the environment - how small Ferguson is, how it's really a sense of community, and, you know, it's a good place. We shouldn't have been looting and rioting, tearing up our own city.
Nobody criticizes The Rock. Nobody criticizes Randy Couture when he goes over and did 'Expendables 3' or anybody who's a crossover.
I remember recording over my mom's cassettes and putting on 'Thuggish Ruggish Bone,' and my mom be like, 'What the hell?' Being that I was born in '82, I've been listening to all of the classics throughout my years.
What got me into MMA first was that I was a wrestler, and I was a gangbanger getting into trouble a lot and getting into fights. I grew up in a family of 15 in a four-bedroom house. It was dysfunctional, so that alone made me want to be an MMA fighter. It's really the only sport where you gotta basically depend on yourself.
Growing up as a kid, in elementary and middle school, I was always getting in trouble. Always getting suspended. I got suspended for 90 days for fighting beginning my freshman year, so I missed Homecoming, and that's when I turned the page. I went on honor roll and had good grades after that. It was the changing point.
My end goal is not to break the record for cashing in the most. I want to be treated fair and what I feel is fair, but that's not my sole purpose; that's not my purpose.
For me, it's just being wiser, finding my opportunities, and really fighting a smart fight.
My goal is to go out there and dominate. We all know if I'm in a position and I see my opponent hurt by landing good striking, I'm going to try to get him out of there. If I'm in the top position or in the position to finish by submission, I'm going to look for that. I don't feel the need to prove the haters wrong.
I don't believe in ring rust. I used to believe in ring rust, but I talked to my buddy Dominic Cruz, who's a bantamweight, and he basically said it's a mindset. What you do in between in your time off determines how you're going to look when you come in there.
I've had five submissions in the first round. I have 3, 4, 5 knockouts. I've had decisions. I've had grinding fights.
I used to be in a street fight at least twice a week, so locking me in a cage with somebody, with a set of rules and a referee to jump in if something get ugly, and a time limit, like, it don't scare me.
