If you want something, you gotta fight for it.
Urijah Faber
I've held the title for years and years.
I don't want to be the guy who, 'Oh, he's falling apart. He's a little punchy. Maybe it's time to stop.'
Ribs are a real tricky thing: you don't really know when they're going to heal, especially when mine weren't broken. I don't know what it was, exactly - either a deep bruise or cartilage.
This is a mean world, and everyone likes to jump in and kick people when they're down.
There's only a certain amount of times in my life where I'm going to get to experience every single person directing their energy and focus on you, screaming at you.
It's kind of a weird thing when you've been at the top of a division you've been in your entire career to kind of take a backseat because of friendship.
Kid Yamamoto is a guy that has star power.
One of the guys I've always said was one of my favorite fighters to watch was Sakuraba. He's always been really creative. He's got a great attitude, and I think he has the right approach of just going in there and letting it all hang out.
I'm poised to take any opportunity, I'm poised to keep myself in tip-top shape because that's what I love to do.
Dana White's awesome. He's an emotional guy, but I feel like he's a good guy. He's an emotional guy. He's like Donald Trump. He says whatever the hell he wants.
I'm a passionate guy.
I work my butt off and have a positive attitude.
The cheaters are going to find way to cheat over and over again.
For me, Sakuraba was my favorite fighter when I first got into the sport.
This is why I go into this sport: to fight the best guy in the world.
I'm a guy who has put my heart and my soul into something, into everything that I do.
Our team is the best team in the world, and I'm going to maintain that, and I'm not going to let anybody break that up.
I need guys who are dangerous to go out and have my best performance.
My first reaction to any fight opportunity is yes, just out of instincts. That's why I'm in this sport.
For sure, I'd fight B. J. Penn. He's one of my buddies, also, but I think we could fight each other.
I've never been knocked unconscious in my entire career.
Everything in life that is good, I have.
I didn't get into too many fights when I was younger. I think I got into, like, one fight when I was in high school, and that was because someone was being rude towards my mom, and that was it.
Fighting Raphael Assunaco isn't that exciting to me. I have nothing against him; he's a good guy and a good fighter.
There's some weirdos out there, a few stalker fans out there, but nothing I can't handle. People are just going out of their way to hunt down information and get a hold of me. People call obsessively or things like that.
I'm kind of - I guess you could say - a momma's boy.
I was 133-pounder all through college, and that's probably my natural fighting weight, but if it isn't broken, why fix it? I've been a champion at 145.
I've had plenty of fights where the guy's virtually unknown and very tough. I mean a lot.
After a loss, you have to reassess a little bit and be realistic.
If someone gets into the Super Bowl, should they stop trying to get back into the Super Bowl? You gotta be kidding me.
I've kind of lived the same lifestyle I've had since I was a little kid. Basically, working out and hanging out with my friends and competing. I feel like a really lucky guy. I haven't had to do anything I don't want to do in life, and that's not the case with everyone.
This is the one sport you don't want to be one foot in one foot out.
I've had a great run. I've been a world champ. I've been a top contender. I've been a poster boy for the organization, for sponsorships, been able to do a lot.
I'm a big fan of 'The Last Dragon' - Bruce Leroy and Sho'nuff - that's one of my favorite movies growing up.
I'm not really good at worrying. I think I get that from my pops. He can be in some really dire straights and be a real optimist, so I don't sweat the petty stuff.
You look at teams in college, the MMA world, and beyond that allow bullying, where guys get jealous during training and stuff like that. You need to have a space where everyone feels like they have an equal opportunity - like they have support, people watching out for them.
The Jens Pulver fight was one that was on a massive level: I was a world champion fighting a former world champion, and a guy that I looked up to. We had a great fight.
When I face an opponent in the cage, it doesn't really matter who they are. Whether they're my buddy, like Scott Jorgensen, or someone I don't like, like Dominick Cruz, I'm going in there and realizing this guy is trying to hurt me, and that's what I'm going to do to him. I try to keep it real basic.
As a kid, I loved contact sports, especially American football and boxing.
There's guys who train hard. There's guys who believe they're real tough. But there's only a certain amount of guys who believe - like, really believe - they should be the champion. I know I have that mentality, and I know other guys who have that mentality.
The most important thing in a fighter is his mentality. Do you really believe that you're the baddest dude on the planet?
When you're at world championship level, you're fighting other guys who are at a world championship level.
Things change when you're fighting the best guys in the world.
I'd be down to go to 135. I've competed most of my life at that weight.
You can't make mistakes against top guys.
This sport is not very forgiving.
The longer you stay out of this sport, the less sharp you are, and I've been aware of that; that's why I've stayed and haven't wanted to retire and come back - because you skip a beat.
I know in my heart that I can compete at multiple weights.
I want to be remembered as just basically somebody who fought with a lot of passion.
