If you get into an armbar and someone locks it down on you, it's easy for you to tap out, but sometimes dealing with certain things, fighting through certain adversities, and being that I've been in some of the toughest situations in life, it just gives me an edge on my opponent that I'm going to torture him and beat him up.
People don't realize how sick Amanda Nunes is. She beats some of the UFC bantamweight males in the gym.
Amanda Nunes - I've been telling people that forever - she could compete with a lot of the male bantamweights in American Top Team.
Nobody criticizes The Rock. Nobody criticizes Randy Couture when he goes over and did 'Expendables 3' or anybody who's a crossover.
The true game of mixed martial arts is putting your wrestling in there, putting your striking in there, but also being deceiving - hiding behind your punches if you're wrestling and hiding behind your wrestling if you're punching. It's just a matter of blending it all together.
Guys in our sport bump their gums quite a bit, and they get you to think they're these huge tough guys... they're these gangsters, that they'll fight anybody, anytime. And then when you get in front of a person like me... the crickets start to come out. They don't really wanna fight.
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.
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.
If a guy isn't in a position to fight for a world title, or if he's not in a place where I can intercept his road to the title, don't offer him to me. I'm not in this to just fight guys for the sake of fighting. I'm not in this to make friends with the people who work in the organization.
I used to fight every week. Me and my friends used to fight each other, bare knuckle, but then we would be friends that same day. That was our entertainment, though.
You look at the top five right now and see guys like Kelvin Gastelum, who I've beaten, Carlos Condit, who I've beaten, Robbie Lawler, who I've beaten. How are those guys more notable than I am, and I'm the champion of the world?
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'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.
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.
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.
I'm a huge fan of the Diaz boys. I'm a huge fan of what they've done for our sport. I feel like it's not about the rankings anymore. Sometimes the rankings are a little shaky.
I think people that came out originally, like 2Pac, Biggie, Snoop Dogg,, and even T.I. and Ludacris, they were original with their vibe, but at the same time, they were classics.
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.
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.
I want to be compensated. If I'm working at the post office, and I'm sorting the same mail as the person to the right, and they're making $25 an hour and I'm making $21, I need to know what is this person doing so much better that he's getting $4 more than me. That's just knowing the market and being a smart businessman.
