Author: Compiled by Thomas Gerbasi

One of the most polarizing figures in mixed martial arts history, former UFC light heavyweight champion and UFC Hall of Famer Tito Ortiz was a crowd favorite from the get-go. Here, his thoughts on his career as only Tito himself could tell it:

FIRST LOOK (2003)
“I watched the Ultimate Fighting Championship and I was like, ‘these guys are crazy.’ I just couldn’t believe the stuff they were doing inside the Octagon. I was a huge fan of the movie ‘Bloodsport’ and thought, ‘wow, it finally came to America.’ It kinda surprised me. I watched a smaller man choke out bigger men left and right, and that was Royce Gracie. He introduced jiu-jitsu to the United States, and it was amazing. I didn’t understand some of the stuff he was doing, but it caught my eye really quick.”

EARLY DAYS (2006)
“At that time I was working at an adult novelty store (laughs), and I had just quit college. I was wondering what I was gonna eat the next day because I was so broke.  I was living in a small apartment, not really sure of what life was gonna bring to me.  I started training and I got the chance to fight in the UFC.  And within a year and a half I became the world champion.  It just seemed that I pushed my life to where I wanted it to be.”

THE DEBUT (2003)
“My first chance was May 30 of 1997, and I fought Wes Albritton. I was scared. I was really intimidated and I wasn’t sure exactly what could happen. He was a second-degree black belt in karate and I really wasn’t sure what to expect. What do I need to do to become the victor in my fight? Well, he was a standup fighter and I’m a ground fighter, so I used my wrestling to my best ability. From then on, I was hooked. That fight lasted 22 seconds and I think it was the building of a star. I set my mind to it, tried to achieve as much as possible, and kept working and working.”

KEN SHAMROCK I (2003)
“There were so many people saying how close the fight was gonna be, and that Ken was really tough and strong. They were just saying so much stuff and giving him so much credit that they didn’t realize how hard I worked and how good I became. At UFC 40 people saw a whole different side of mixed martial arts. They said, ‘man, you really dominated. You picked him apart.’ If he wanted to be the champ, he had to earn it. That night he sure wasn’t going to be the champ and he was not going to earn it because of all the work I put into it.”

THE TRIGGER (2000)
“Once I get locked in that cage, there has to be something in my body to trigger me and make me want to go out and inflict pain on a person. The money and everything, that’s fun, but at the same time, the competition, it can work wonders for somebody to win. The feeling of losing, there’s no worse feeling than that. There is a difference between Tito Ortiz in the ring and Tito Ortiz outside the ring, because once I get in the ring, the light switch turns on. It’s like a red light and it’s time to go as hard as I can and try to break this guy. Break him mentally, physically, his arms, his legs. Not literally, just trying to take my opponent out, because that’s what his job is, to take me out. But once I step out of the ring, I’m all smiles. My job is over, and hopefully I did my job.”

ON COACHING THE ULTIMATE FIGHTER (2006)
“I’ve been a high school wrestling coach for three years when I was in junior college and I know how to coach kids and push them. I was part of Team Punishment and I was one of the coaches for it.  I helped the guys and I know what it takes to win in the Octagon – I know the different types of submissions to defend, how to use elbows, how to use knees on the feet, striking positions, clinches.  There are a lot of things that I’ve worked on that I bring to the table as a coach.  It’s kinda scary because they’re gonna be a lot better than me. (Laughs)  They’re gonna know all my secrets, but I’ll give them all my secrets.”

ON COACHING II (2006)
“I think they see the real Tito Ortiz when I am a coach and I’m around them, and not when I’m in the Octagon competing.  Those are two separate people – there’s the person that’s in there fighting for his career inside the Octagon and there’s the person who’s fighting for his life outside the Octagon who’s willing to help people out, and who’s always giving.  I’m an Aquarius to the tee – I’m always willing to give to those people who are around me; I would pretty much give my left arm for them, and I really want to see the guys on ‘The Ultimate Fighter’ excel, I want to see the guys become good fighters and great people.  I want to see them excel in life.”

RESPECT (2006)
“People have been paying more attention to all the smack talk I talk and they don’t really watch my fight game. They pay more attention to the stuff I do after the fight compared to the fights themselves.  I beat some really good guys, and it seems like every time I beat somebody, I either end their career or they don’t fight the same after the fight. Wanderlei Silva may be the only one who went on to excel.  Having fights like that and winning fights like that, I’m still young, I’m 31 years old and I feel I’ve got a solid five years left in me to compete.  The book is barely on its fifth page, and I’ve still got about another 100 pages to go.”

THE ROAR OF THE CROWD (2007)
“I don’t think there’s a word to describe it.  You’ve got to be the person in the Octagon fighting when it happens.  It’s overwhelming almost.”

THE APPEAL OF TITO ORTIZ (2007)
“I think it really comes down to the fact that I try to entertain.  That’s my job.  When I first started fighting in the UFC, it really came down to entertainment.  A fight was a fight, but there was entertainment value.  When I stepped into the Octagon, I gave my whole heart and soul and it’s very personal to me.  I take training very seriously, so when the fight comes about, I have no doubts in my step.  I make sure that I’m fighting 100%, and when Tito Ortiz fights, it’s an event in itself, so I try to entertain and try to beat down my opponent.  I try to make it exciting for the fans that buy pay-per-views and the fans that are sitting in the front row, all the way up to the fans in the nose bleed seats.  They’re always gonna get a great fight out of Tito Ortiz, no matter what.  I just don’t take this as a payday – this is very personal to me.”

GETTING “IT” (2007)
“Those guys who are just here to fight, they’re the ones that are gonna be forgotten. I’m building a foundation, I’m here to build a castle, and I want to make sure I’m the king standing in that castle.  You see a lot of fighters, all they care about is fighting.  They’re gonna come in and say ‘oh, I’m gonna knock the guy out and that’s my job.’  That’s all they care about.  To me, there’s entertainment value involved.  You’ve got to make sure you’re known beyond just the fighting.  You have to do the extra stuff.  I do a lot of charity work, and to me, it’s not just fighting.  If it was just about fighting, I would have kept my mouth shut and just fought.  But I want to go on to other things.  Being a personality and being an inspiration to a lot of kids who want to find role models to look up to is important to me.  Maybe a lot of the things I do aren’t role model-type stuff, but I speak my mind no matter what.  I came up from nothing, I’ve tasted dirt before and I never want to taste dirt again, so I have to make sure I’m a name that’s recognized always and forever in the sport of mixed martial arts.”

FIGHT NIGHT (2003)
“Mindwise, as soon as I get in the arena, that’s when it sets the tone of ‘all right, now it’s time to fight.  Now it’s time to get serious.’ I put my running shoes on and do a light jog.  I’m warming up, hitting pads, and then it comes to the point of 10-15 minutes before the fight and I always vomit and tears will come out of my eyes.  I don’t know what the reason is. It’s just emotion.  People see me fight and I fight like no other fighter in the UFC.  I have so much emotion and so much aggression.  I never stop moving.  In my mind, it’s just don’t stop moving until the match is over and you’ll have no problem with it.  That’s the whole idea.  So when I step in there and you see the ferocity I go in there with, no one’s gonna stop me.  Whoever’s standing on the other side of the Octagon, I have to go through that person because I’m fighting for my family, my fans, and that’s what really matters.”

REGRETS (2011)
“I actually had two huge regrets. My biggest regret was that I wish my parents were never drug addicts and my other regret was that I wish I never turned my back on Dana (White) and (UFC Chairman and CEO) Lorenzo (Fertitta). I feel bad for doing that. My whole life I was always in survival mode. I was trying to survive and I could never trust anybody. I couldn’t trust my mother or my father, I couldn’t trust any of my family around me. I never had anybody to look up to besides people like Muhammad Ali or Hulk Hogan. I never had a father figure, and I never had any type of family at all. All I knew was how to survive. And throughout my fight career I’ve always been like that.”

ON BEING INDUCTED INTO THE HALL OF FAME (2012)
“It’s recognition and I’m thankful. It’s always been my goal in life to be the best athlete that I could be and that ever graced the Octagon, and not only inside, but outside. I wanted to be an inspiration in a lot of people’s lives, so they could look at this sport and not see it as barbaric human cockfighting, but see us as well-trained athletes that compete against each other to see who the best athlete is. And I’ve done that, I think. I helped break the mold from the 90s to 2000 and now 2012.”

ON HIS ACCOMPLISHMENTS (2012)
“I fought in three decades, and it’s crazy to even imagine that. I gave my heart, soul, and body to this sport and to the UFC like no other,” Ortiz continues. “I could have quit a long time ago, but there’s no quit in me. I think about everything that I’ve done throughout my career, and it’s been a really, really long road.”

On November 17, UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre will step into the Octagon at the Bell Centre in his home city of Montreal to defend his crown against interim titleholder Carlos Condit in the main event of UFC 154. It’s the latest chapter in GSP’s storied career, one that you can read about in his own words below.
    
On his first fight with Matt Hughes (2005)
“I gave him too much respect. I was going into that fight to survive, but I have no excuses – he beat me fairly and squarely. Next time it’s going to be a different story because I’m a different fighter now.”

On early perceptions of MMA in Canada (2005)
“We’re in a very rough sport, and a lot people, especially in my country, don’t consider me to be a real athlete. They look at us as street fighters or brawlers. So it’s important for us to give a good image of the sport and to be gentlemen outside of the Octagon. This way we show the teenagers a good image and we’re role models for these people. It’s important to walk the straight line.”

On training in his home country (2005)
“It’s very cold and when I do my sprints and it’s raining I have no choice but to do them. Some of my workout is outdoors, so even if it’s snowing or raining, I still do it. When the weather is very bad outside and I do my sprints, I have a hard time breathing, I have to deal with the cold, the ground is not solid and it’s full of water so I slide and slip sometimes. But when I go into the Octagon, it’s a beautiful place.”

Origins (2005)
“When I saw Royce Gracie in the first Ultimate Fighting Championship, it was like the Super Bowl of mixed martial arts. You can be a karate champion, judo champion, or jiu-jitsu champion, but when you’re the ultimate fighting champion, you’re the champion of everything all mixed together. And when I saw Royce Gracie beat everybody and he was one of the smallest guys in the entire competition, I decided that that was what I wanted to do for a living.”

On his job (2006)
“I love my job. It’s the best job on Earth, and when I’m going to fight, I really like my job. The only time I didn’t like it was when I fought (Matt) Hughes. It was too stressful and it was not fun. But if you talk to some of my training partners, they’ll tell you I like to laugh and I like to make jokes in training, because I really like my job. For sure it’s a little bit stressful because it is a full contact sport, and there is a lot of risk when you go in to fight, but I try to forget it and just think about the fact that I’m doing what I like to do and just do my thing.”

More thoughts on the first Hughes fight (2006)
“The first time I fought him, I was fighting my idol. It was the first time I had done something like that, he was in front of me, and for me in my mind, it was impossible to do anything to him because he was too good.”

On the first round of the first BJ Penn fight (2006)
“That first round (against Penn) was the worst round of my life. Actually, if you look at my career, I had never lost a round against anybody. Even when I fought Matt Hughes, the judges thought I was ahead – I asked them if they would have given me the round. So this round (against Penn) was the only round I lost.”

Coming back from adversity in the Penn fight (2006)
“It just proved to everybody that I’m a lot stronger mentally than when I fought Matt Hughes. I’ve been able to come back after a beating and get the victory. I think that’s the difference between a champion and a guy who will always be tough, but will never be a champion. You can be as skillful as you want, but if you don’t have the mental toughness, you’re not going to go anywhere, and in our sport, sooner or later, you’ll need that to win a fight.”

On being a martial artist (2006)
“I consider myself a martial artist, and it’s like being a doctor – a doctor keeps studying all his career, and it’s the same thing for me. Even if I reach a good level of fighting, I have to keep my mind open, keep studying and keep learning new stuff.”

On going five rounds (2007)
“I’ve never been five rounds, but the way I train, I train with the best boxers and the best wrestlers in my country, and I train for a long-distance fight. I’d be ready to do ten rounds if I needed to. The reason why I always keep working hard is that you can win the title but you can not win the respect – you earn the respect. Right now, I won the title but I didn’t earn the respect and I need to earn it. When I do, I’ll have to challenge myself with something else.”

On winning the title (2007)
“It was a dream coming true. My mom helped me so much in the beginning of my career so it was very important for me that she was there for the biggest night of my life. She knew that I made a lot of sacrifices and she told me she was very proud of me.”

Skill’s not enough (2007)
“There is something to have the skill, but I think you have to have more because skill is not enough. You need to be ready to sacrifice. I think that’s what helped me – I was very skilled and athletic, but I’m also ready to make the sacrifices that it takes to reach the top.”

On experience, in and out of the Octagon (2007)
“If I was more experienced in fighting and in life, I would not have made the same mistakes I made. I don’t think it’s a mental weakness, it’s more a lack of experience in life. I’m 26 years old and I’ve learned from the mistakes I’ve made. I only have 17 fights and I’m almost always fighting guys who are over 30 years old and most of the time have over 30 fights. Of course those people have the edge in experience on me. So I have to be smart and use my athleticism and my skills to beat those people because in experience, I always come short because they have more fight and more life experience.”

On life before the first Matt Serra fight (2007)
“It’s tough. I had a lot of issues in my life, and people had no idea what had happened in my life. I got through a lot of stuff and a lot of bad stuff happened all at the same time. And when these things happen, you feel like you can’t explain it. I didn’t want to do it, because I respect Matt Serra and I want to give him all the props that he deserved. He beat me and beat me well; I was humiliated.”

Post-Serra (2007)
“A lot of people let me down when I lost that fight, but the only person to blame for that mistake is myself. I lost, I don’t have any excuses, and I got beat that night by a better man. I’m a human being. I made a mistake in my life, I made bad choices, I forgot who I was and my number one priority, and I lost that fight. I paid for it, and now I’m back on track and better than ever. Right now, I’m not even close to how I was that night – I’m a way better fighter.”

On the belt (2007)
“I’m not a material guy at all, and the belt is just a symbol. Yes, it’s very precious, but all the memories of when I won the title and all the people who helped me to get there, that’s inside of me.”

On giving back (2008)
“It’s important for me because it’s time for me to give back to society. I want to use my name, my credibility, and my stature as a professional athlete in mixed martial arts to help the young kids. I’m going to focus on the kids and the teenagers because growing up I had problems, and if I can help somebody who was like me when I was young, it will make their lives better. We’re also gonna help the sick children and be involved in a lot of causes. My foundation will not just be for something in particular; we’re going to be global and we’re gonna give to a lot of causes.”

On being a role model (2008)
“It’s important for me to show a good example and it’s part of my job as well, so I consider being a role model very important. Plus, in life you should not be selfish. When you have an opportunity to give, you give. By giving to people, you will get back so much more, so it’s a good exchange. You attract what you are. If you’re a selfish or negative person, you will attract negative and selfish people to you.”

On winning the title a second time (2008)
“It will be way more important because I know what it takes to be champion and I know what it takes to stay champion, and I’m going to stick to it.”

Looking back at his first reign (2009)
“When I beat Matt Hughes, I didn’t realize what I had in my hand. I was champion and I became a victim of the fame a little bit. I was pretty young, and I was too young to have that kind of fame and power. So what happened was, everybody was telling me how great I am, so there was this delusional box around me that made me think I was different than the other fighters and that nobody could touch me. But the thing I had forgot was that no matter how great you do, or how great of a fighter you are, you make one mistake and you can lose the title. That’s what I learned when I lost to Serra.”

A lesson learned (2009)
“I will never underestimate my opponents. I always want to feel like the guy that I’m fighting is the most dangerous guy that I’ve fought in my entire career. And that’s how I’ll take every one of my fights.”

On his first teacher, Jean Couture (2009)
“He told me to always respect my opponent. When somebody in my school tried to be arrogant, he got kicked out. He also influenced me to always work hard, to never give up, and to always work to do what I want to do.”

Talent vs Work (2009)
“I think everybody has a talent. Everybody in the UFC has a talent. Just to be able to fight in the UFC, you have to be one of the best in the world. I don’t think I have a particular talent more than others – I just work hard to make my mark, and that’s what I do best. That’s my mentality – that’s how I grew up and those are the values I’ve been attached to.”

Pre-fight jitters (2010)
“I’m afraid, like it’s the end of the world. Of course, I get nervous. I always have doubts, I’m always afraid, but that’s what makes someone courageous, when he does something when he’s afraid. When you do something when you’re not afraid, it’s not courage.”

On trash talk (2010)
“If he says bad things about me, I’m gonna answer, I’m not a victim. But I always respect my opponents. It’s my mentality that to do this job you have to go through a lot of obstacles to reach where you are right now, and I have a lot of respect for that.”

On working with Manny Pacquiao and Freddie Roach (2010)
“He’s obviously the fastest boxer that I’ve seen in my life and he’s the best boxer that I’ve seen in my life as well that I’ve been able to interact with. He gave me some tips, and I learned a lot from (Pacquiao trainer) Freddie Roach and I can’t wait for my next fight. I think it’s gonna be great. I’m going to be able to use some of the things that I learned from them and put them into practice.”

On being a fan (2010)
“Being a fan depends on how you look at it. For me, it’s to recognize the work of someone and appreciate the work, and try to learn from what he does best and try to incorporate that into your game. Of course Manny Pacquiao has a lot of stuff that I want to bring into my game, like Anderson Silva does, like BJ Penn does, like Matt Hughes does, Like Shogun (Rua), like (Lyoto) Machida, like Fedor Emelianenko. I’m a fan of all these guys.”

TUF 12 with Josh Koscheck (2010)
“If I don’t want to break, you’re not going to make me break. Koscheck was trying to be arrogant with me, but it was not smart the way he was doing it. He didn’t get into my head; he just wasn’t fun to be around. I was disappointed in his personality, but that was a good thing because it just made me train harder.”

On life in the spotlight (2010)
“It’s hard. The bigger it gets, the more work I need to do and there are some periods where I wish I could go back and be like a normal guy. There are some good things and some bad things about being a celebrity, but I can assure you that the principal reason why I’m doing this is not because I want to be a celebrity. I spent so many years without money and without fame and I kept doing it. Today, the money is there the fame is there, and I can build up my security for my family in the future with it, so it’s a good thing and I take it as a positive.”

On motivation (2010)
“When I step into the Octagon I imagine the guy in front of me is trying to put me back into the situation that I was before, and I need to take him out, to break him, and to not go back there.”

The ultimate goal (2009)
“I have a goal in my head that when I retire I want to be known as the greatest fighter in the sport of MMA of all-time. That’s how I want to be known and I want to be known as the guy who made the difference, not only in the Octagon, but as a spokesperson (of the sport). To reach that goal, I have to beat some of the best guys in the sport.”

 

One of the UFC’s most popular competitors, Rich “Ace” Franklin, returns to the middleweight division he once reigned over on November 10th when he takes on Cung Le in Macao.  Before the bell rings though, we’ll give the floor to Franklin for some “Ace” quotes gathered over the years.

SHAMROCK AND THE TURNING POINT (2005)
“Prior to the (Curtis) Stout and (Jorge) Rivera fights last year, I had given some serious consideration to quitting. I was going to go back to my job and teaching, and I wasn’t making bad money, but I wasn’t making great money, and I thought if I can make X number of dollars a year teaching and make the same amount of dollars fighting, it makes no sense to me if teaching is more of a secure environment. So with my degree and everything, I really thought about going back to teaching and just hanging the hat up here. But how quickly things turned around. I prayed about it, asked for some guidance, and God gave it to me.”

A RETURN TO TEACHING? (2005)
“Don’t get me wrong, I love teaching and I love working with the students but I can’t imagine, having experienced what I’ve experienced in life, going back to just a normal 9 to 5 job. But we’ll see. If you asked me five years ago what I thought I’d be doing now, I would not have had any of this in mind. So I don’t know what I’ll be doing five years from this point in my life either.”

THE MENTAL EDGE (2005)
“I train hard and come into the fights well prepared, but mentally, by fight day I’m ready to go. And if I do everything that I should have done up to that point – and I always do – I don’t feel like I can be beat. There’s no reason why I should lose the fight. Granted, something can happen and there’s always a puncher’s chance, but skill for skill, I feel that when I’m stepping into the ring, there’s nobody stepping into the ring who’s better than me. I’ve convinced myself of that, and because of that I’m capable of taking the fight where it needs to go so it’s favorable towards me.”

LIFE IN THE SPOTLIGHT (2005)
“At this point it’s not that tough. My true private life I can keep private. I don’t have paparazzi following me around and taking photos. I can walk out to my mailbox and get my mail without being concerned about what I’m wearing that day or whatever. I don’t live that kind of lifestyle. And I think at the level that I’m at, with the notoriety I have, so to speak, this level doesn’t bother me. And I’m here in Cincinnati, so I don’t get it a lot. My wife and I may go out to dinner for an evening and between dinner and a movie we might get stopped two or three times by people that recognize me and that’s not all that bad. It’s not like being in Vegas the week before a fight and everyone knows who you are. That’s a bit overwhelming, and if life was like that every day, then I would have to take some different measures to be able to cope with that. And I just can’t imagine life being like that yet, at this point.”

THE PERFECTIONIST (2006)
“I don’t like to use the word perfectionist. I can look at freeze frames of a fight or anything else and find slight little things – maybe my hand was down two inches lower or four inches lower than it should have been, or off of a break I didn’t react as quickly as I should have, I wasn’t explosive as I should have been – and even if it’s just minor details that most people wouldn’t even think about, I still pick up on.”

FIGHTING HURT (2006)
“Any time you have a major injury and you’re aware of it, you can feel it. But it’s not like the kind of feeling I would get if I were to break my hand in a car door and then had to sit there with it. I’m in the middle of a fight, so most of that pain is masked. But you know it’s there and it hurts a little bit. What else am I gonna do? Punching is a big part of my game, so the only option I have is to kick and keep throwing punches.”

THE ESSENCE OF RICH FRANKLIN (2006)
“I don’t know what it is, I just have this drive. I was a kid that didn’t have a whole lot growing up. I was from divorced parents, kinda poor, and we had to make do with what we had and fight for what we got. And I think the Lord kinda put me in that situation, so I grew up with that kind of mentality that you’re willing to do whatever it takes to get what you need. This is the path that I’ve chosen in life, God’s granted me with the talent to fight, so I’m willing to do whatever it takes to get what I need, and in Saturday’s case, that was a victory.”

FIGHTING FRIENDS (2006)
“You see the marketing that’s put into these fights, and especially in the boxing world you see two fighters shove each other at the weigh-in, and it really doesn’t make for a better fight. I don’t think you could have asked for a more exciting fight than Saturday’s fight (against David Loiseau), and that’s coming from two guys who like each other and consider themselves friends – as much as you can be friends in this business and in the same weight class – and yet we still put on a good show.”

THE FANS (2006)
“I love the fans out there and any fan that has met me could probably vouch for me and say that.  I’m usually the last guy to leave and the first guy to show up to sign autographs and I always have to have somebody pushing me out the door saying ‘Rich, we’ve got to be here’ or ‘Rich, we’ve got to be there.’  And I love the fans in that sense.  However, I don’t thrive on the fame or anything like that.  I just understand that from a fan’s perspective, if somebody waits around to meet Rich Franklin, and they put a lot of time and effort into meeting me, then the least I can do is sign an autograph, be cordial, and make the most of that particular encounter.”

THE DIFFERENCE (2007)
“Most people in this country, they participate in team sports, and a lot of people don’t understand the difference between team sports and individual sports. For me, when I walk into the cage, it’s kinda like that feeling of having two seconds left on the clock and I’m at the free throw line and I have to make both my free throws to win the game. Or it’s the bottom of the ninth and I’m the last batter and we need a run driven in to win the World Series. You have that kind of feeling of pressure on you where you have to be the one to perform. You don’t have four other teammates on the court that you can blame it on when the game is lost. When the fight’s lost, it’s your fault. People look at you and want to know what you did wrong, what you did right, and how you’re going to fix things so that you can win next time.”

MONEY PLAYER (2007)
“I think that individual athletes and fighters like myself, these are the guys that would be the playmakers on teams. You’re the guy that wants the ball in a pressure situation. You’re the guy that can say, ‘You know what, I can make the difference between winning and losing in a game.’ I do believe it’s that mentality.”

DEFENDING THE GAME (2007)
“I get tired of the misconceptions. I honestly get tired of doing interviews that constantly use words like ‘barbaric’ and ‘bloody’, and just those kind of adjectives to describe what you do. In reality, I feel much safer doing what I do than I would riding a bull or driving NASCAR or doing flips on a motorcycle at a motocross event. That’s just my choice. I have a good referee in the ring at all times to keep watch on me and I have the ability, if I want to, to tap out of a fight. That keeps me safe and I know it. The misconceptions of just how brutal this sport is just gets irritating after a while, to constantly defend yourself.”

WINNING THE TITLE AGAIN (2007)
“There’s no quarterback in the NFL that ever won one Super bowl ring and didn’t want to win another one. One of my favorite posters that I had growing up was a poster of Joe Montana. He was holding a football and he had a Superbowl ring on four fingers. Just to see that picture and know that not only is he a good quarterback, but he was dominant. And I think every kid dreams of that. You don’t go into sports and say ‘well if I could win one Superbowl, that would be great.’ If you’re gonna play ten years, you’d want to win ten, and that’s the same way here. After I win my championship belt, I don’t want to lose it. If I fight ten more fights in my career, I want to defend my belt ten more times and that’s what I’m trying to get back to.”

GOING HOLLYWOOD? (2008)
“The movie work that I did, I had been talking to my business team about it, and it seemed like an opportunity for something that was just kinda fun to do. I don’t really have any acting experience and don’t necessarily think that I have a future in acting as a career. When I talked about doing a small part in a movie, I said something about having three or four lines and more or less like a cameo appearance. So here we are, we find ourselves in a smaller budget action film and it was a good opportunity. But never once did it cross my mind that ‘yeah, this is something I can do when I’m done fighting.’ I’m just not sure that I enjoy acting that much. It’s hard work, its long hours, and it’s a slower pace of work than I’m used to. Being in front of a camera when you’re acting is much different than when you’re doing an interview, commentating, or any of that stuff. Would I do another movie? Yeah, possibly. I had a good time doing it. Would I want to do it as a career? I’m not quite sure.”

FAR FROM FINISHED (2008)
“People in this world assume that once you’ve earned the title, been the main event, and been in the limelight and then lost it that now you’re done. I’m not done. I can still put on exciting fights, the fans love watching me fight, I love to compete still, and I can move to 205 and see what I can do there. I don’t mind not being the main event, I don’t mind not having to do 5,000 interviews – now I only have 4,999 because I’m not nearly important as I once was. (Laughs) To me, it’s all the same – I have fans who still love me and critics who hate me. It will be that way whether I’m a titleholder or not, so in between now and then, I’m just trying to put on good fights, entertain people, and enjoy doing what I do.”

HATERS (2008)
“Everybody has haters. I was watching (comedian) Katt Williams. He said Jesus only had 12 friends and he had a hater, and he (Jesus) was perfect. Judas threw him under the bus. So it doesn’t matter what you do in life, there are gonna be people who don’t like you.”

REINVENTING RICH (2009)
“It’s easy when you get to the top and you’re winning and to say to yourself – here’s the equation that got it done for me – I’m gonna stick with this. But once you lose and you’re not on the top anymore, a lot of guys are just comfortable saying I was there, I was world champ, and I’m happy with that, so let me just skate through here on my own coattails and make the money I can make throughout the rest of my career. And they invest all the time, work, and effort that they need to in getting to the top, and once they’re there, they’re sick of putting that work in and they don’t want to have to go back to the drawing board and say I need to change myself as a fighter. For me, I’m not satisfied being on the top and then beginning my downward descent into retirement. There are still things I’d like to accomplish in this sport.”

BURN OUT (2009)
“I’d be lying if I told you that I didn’t get burned out occasionally. There are days when I come in the gym and I ask myself why I do what I do. It happens all the time, but every fighter goes through that. Whether it’s gonna be physically difficult, where you don’t want to go through that hard workout, or it’s gonna be mentally difficult, where you’re constantly focusing on things but you don’t feel like putting the attention span in on something, you have those days from time to time and you just have to work through that stuff. I keep telling myself that in this profession, I have a short window. It’s not 30 years and then retire. I’ve got maybe 10 or 11 years in this and then I’m done. So even when I have days where I don’t feel like doing what I need to do, I’ve just got to suck it up, do my stuff, and remind myself that this is a short-lived amount of time.”

THE STORYBOOK ENDING (2010)
“It’s the classic Cinderella story – any athlete, or anybody in any kind of job in life, that’s what they want to do. I want to try my hand at going for the number one spot again and if I can make it there, that would be great to get back on top, and once I get there I’ll figure out where to go from there. So I would think that fights with some of the big names in the sport are what’s going to take me there, and obviously these fights with guys like Chuck Liddell are gonna put me in a position to start stepping me towards that.”

THE COMPETITOR (2010)
“I love competition and this is what I’m good at. At this point in my life, I can’t imagine doing anything besides this. If you were a doctor and you came to me and said ‘Rich, you could never fight again,’ I would sit here and wonder what I would do. There’s nothing I really enjoy doing like I enjoy fighting and training. I do what I love and I really need to thank God for the fact that I’m not stuck doing some job that I hate.”

FIGHTING HURT – PART II (2011)
“You’re standing in the cage and you’ve got two options – you can quit or you can continue going, and I’m not a quitter. At the end of the day, if I had turned around and looked at the ref and said my ‘arm is broken, I can’t continue’, I think I really would have been kicking myself for something like that in the long run. So basically, you keep going and keep going until you can’t go anymore. In every human there’s the fight or flight syndrome, and you come to a crossroads often in life where you have to make a choice as to whether or not you’re going to continue pushing through something or if you’re going to fold the cards. Some people fold more easily than others, and that’s a situation where I know that even though my arm was in some pain, I had the adrenaline going and all that stuff, so it’s a manageable pain. And when you’re in the moment, all you’re thinking about is that I need to win this fight. And you say well, my arm’s already broken, so what more can possibly be done.”

NO REST FOR THE BEST IN MMA (2011)
“I remember watching boxing growing up and you have these champions and they would fight a big fight and then after that they would get a couple tomato cans. And in boxing, a lot of these guys are only fighting once or maybe twice a year. In MMA, when you get to the top of the heap, you’re consistently fighting the top contenders. There is no ‘let’s give him a newbie or a nobody’. In MMA, people wouldn’t even watch a fight like that. So it’s been that way for me since before I fought Shamrock. My first fight in the UFC was Evan Tanner.”

THE BAD GUY? (2012)
“It happened all the time before I was in the UFC, when I was fighting as a lower level professional fighter making my way up. Initially, there were not a whole lot of fight promotions here in Ohio, so oftentimes I would have to travel from one place to the next to just fight whoever to get that experience under my belt. And anytime you travel, you’re typically fighting the hometown hero. So the whole first half of my professional career, I was never the crowd favorite. So it’s been a while, but at least it’s a feeling I’m familiar with.”

THE PROBLEM SOLVER (2012)
“If you’re fighting a wrestler, for example like when I fought Matt Hamill, he was a puzzle that you’re trying to solve, so to speak, and then you move on and you fight a guy like Wanderlei Silva. He’s a different kind of puzzle that you have to solve. So I have that mindset pretty much every time I go into fight prep anyway. And even though I’ve seen this puzzle with Wanderlei before, it’s a new puzzle. The core of Wanderlei will remain the same from fight to fight, but he can pick up new tips and tricks here and there, so on any given night, they basically pose a new threat or become a new puzzle for you to solve.”

With Chael Sonnen gaining heroic status for accepting a short notice fight with light heavyweight champion Jon Jones a few days ago (a bout that ultimately went to Vitor Belfort), the title of most polarizing UFC fighter may be heading back to middleweight contender Michael “The Count” Bisping, who certainly has a love / hate relationship with the UFC fanbase.

That’s not really a fair assessment of Bisping (who faces Brian Stann at UFC 152 on September 22) though. And I hate to kill his reputation as the fighter fans love to hate, but Bisping isn’t a bad guy at all. Yes, he’s a straight shooter who likes to stir the pot, yet when all is said and done, he’s really just – as folks in his native England would say – one of the lads.

But we’ll let you judge for yourself with a few memorable quotes uttered by Bisping since he arrived in the UFC.

ON CARRYING THE FLAG FOR BRITISH MMA (2006)
“I suppose it is quite a lot of pressure because people have always been quick to write the English off and say, ‘ah, they don’t know what they’re doing over there and they’re not too good. So I hope to fly the flag well and change people’s opinions on that.  So far I’m doing a good job, but it’s still early.  I do take that responsibility seriously though and I definitely want to do the UK proud.”

ON LIFE IN VEGAS FOR THE ULTIMATE FIGHTER 3 (2006)
“There were little things here and there, but it wasn’t a huge culture shock. In the house there were certain slang words and dialects that people struggled with, but on the whole, everyone was pretty cool.  Sometimes the sense of humor – people use a lot of sarcasm in England – they wouldn’t understand it in America, and they kinda look at you a bit funny and wonder what the hell are you talking about. (Laughs) But there wasn’t a huge culture shock – it was just like England, but with better weather and no rain.”

SCHOOL DAYS (2006)
“Careerwise, nothing ever grabbed me, so I went to college and I ended up doing a course for advanced electrical engineering.  It just bored me to tears.  I did it for three months and just left because I was falling asleep in the classes.”

WORKING MAN (2006)
“You name it, I’ve done it. But they were all the crappy jobs though, nothing too flamboyant.  I was a slaughterman, builder, and laborer.

HARD LESSONS (2006)
“You always think you’re going to be great and you’re going to do things, but then I got in my early 20’s and I was quite disappointed. And if I was being realistic, my life was going nowhere really.  And it was going nowhere fast and I wasn’t getting any younger.”  

A LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL (2006)
“I had never been happy in anything I did. So when I started training full-time for mixed martial arts in the summer of 2003, it was the best thing I’ve ever done in my life.”

BEHIND EVERY STRONG MAN… (2006)
“My girlfriend couldn’t be any more supportive than she has been. She knew I wasn’t happy in the jobs I was in and she always wanted better for me and always knew that I was capable of much more.  So when I took this move, she was right behind me and was confident that I could do well.  And ultimately, she knows that I’m doing this for myself and for my family.”

EDUCATING THE MASSES (2006)
“You tell them what you do and they look at you a bit strange or think you’re a thug.  They have no idea of the technical aspects involved.  But I bore people to death at great lengths to educate them.”

COMING UP THE HARD WAY (2006)
“I never had anything handed to me, and everything that I’ve had, I had to work for. My mum and dad never had much money and I had a humble upbringing.  I’ve done the crappy jobs, I worked 12 hour days in the middle of the winter, getting up when it’s pitch dark and going home when it’s pitch black.  Now I’ve left that all behind for the moment, and fingers crossed I won’t go back to it.  That definitely gives me a little extra drive.  I’ve moved on from that and I don’t want to go back.  It keeps my feet on the ground, keeps me working hard, and keeps me training and focused.”

AFTER WINNING TUF 3 (2006)
“You’re not gonna see me in any factories for quite some time.”

JUST ONE OF THE LADS (2008)
“I’m just a normal guy and I will always be just one of the lads. I’m just fortunate enough that I get paid to do a job that I love and that I’m passionate about.  With that job, a few people know who you are and I’m earning good money now, but I’ll always be the same person, and I’ve got a lot of people to keep me grounded – my family and my friends – so I don’t live the Hollywood lifestyle. Between fights, I’m just training in the gym, and when I’m not in the gym I’m just at home with my girlfriend and the kids, so it’s just usual stuff really.”

HOW HAS LIFE CHANGED? (2008)
“I love what I do now, and in interviews, people always ask what’s changed about my life, and the main thing that’s changed is that I’m happy.  I’m happy with what I do and I never want to go back to working the long days for next to no money.  That’s what makes me train so hard.  When I’m training for a fight, I don’t mess around, I’m there for business.”

ON BEING A ROLE MODEL (2008)
“I’m absolutely comfortable with that, and it’s a great honor. I’ve never really given it that much thought, but I do get quite a few emails from kids through my website and recently I went to a home for boys and had a talk with them about the future and things like that and they seemed to really listen to me and I think I connected with them. I’m very happy about that and if I can make some kind of difference and maybe give kids inspiration to stay on the straight and narrow, train, and do good things in their lives, then that’s great that I’m in the position to do that.  It’s something I welcome and take seriously.”

ON COACHING TUF 9 (2009)
“I really don’t see what I did that was so bad. I was supportive of my team and tried to get them to win their fights? Isn’t that what I’m supposed to do? I got into a couple arguments with (Team US’) DaMarques Johnson, but I don’t really see what the big deal was.”

I AM WHO I AM (2009)
“I am who I am. I speak my mind, but a lot of what I say sometimes is tongue in cheek and I think sometimes people don’t get that and they just think I’m being arrogant and cocky. I don’t class myself as arrogant. I’m still learning my trade, but you have to have confidence. What do the people want me to say? Do they want me to say I’m fighting someone really tough as Dan (Henderson) and I’m gonna get my ass kicked? I can’t say that. I believe I’m gonna win the fight and sometimes it upsets people. I don’t know what to say to those people; I’m just trying to go about my business and take care of my kids. As long as the people closest to me in my life are happy, as long as I’m doing right by my kids, my team, and everyone close to me, then I’m doing a pretty good job. Obviously there are fans out there who are fantastic and really support me. Some of the messages I get through my website are pretty incredible. People say how I’ve changed their lives and really inspired them to get fit, and how my success has inspired them to change their lives. That’s amazing and I answer every single email. But not everybody feels that way and I think The Ultimate Fighter did it even more. The people that like me liked me even more, and the people that hated me hated me even more.”

ON THE DAN HENDERSON FIGHT (2009)
“Obviously my last fight didn’t go as planned, and that’s a bit of an understatement. To be honest I don’t have any excuses. I got hit with a good shot and I got knocked out. I thought I was doing pretty well in the fight. I lost the first round. I was winning the second up until I got caught, and if I didn’t get caught I could have gone on to win that fight. It’s not like I was getting completely manhandled and destroyed and being punked. But I did get caught and knocked out.”

COMING BACK AGAINST DENIS KANG (2009)
“Mentally for this fight, I’ve got to come out there and push the pace. My best performances in the past have been when I’ve come out and been the aggressor. So I’ve got to go back to that and back to my old self, if you will. If you’ve seen my old fights, I’ve come out there and I’ve just gone straight through guys, finishing most of them in the first round. My first ten professional fights, I only went past the first round once, so that’s what I’ve got to go back to – I’ve got to find that fire inside me and just get that ruthless killer instinct back.”

TRASH TALKING 101 (2011)
“I’ve got a rep for talking smack, and I’m not saying I don’t talk crap here and there, but I’ve never started anything first. Look at my career and you’ll see guys like Dan Miller, (Yoshihiro) Akiyama, nothing but respect all the way.”

ON JORGE RIVERA (2011)
“I think he’s got a big carried away with himself because he’s knocked out a few bums here and a shot fighter or two there lately. All of a sudden he thinks he’s a top fighter and something of a tough guy smacktalker. Oh, okay Jorge. But before he makes a proper arse of himself I think he needs to look closely at the people he’s been beating, and ask himself why he’s been beating them. Seriously, out of his last three opponents, I only knew of Nate Quarry. I had to Google the other two. I’m not saying Rivera’s not dangerous; he can obviously punch and can have a war, but I’m surprised he’s been talking the way he has. We’re talking about a guy who got tapped out by a welterweight kickboxer (Martin Kampmann in 2008).”

RIVERA PART II (2011)
“The name Jorge Rivera didn’t exactly send a surge of excitement through me, put it that way. After three good wins over (Denis) Kang, Miller and Akiyama and a very close loss to Wanderlei Silva – which I think to this day I just about won – I was hoping to have earned myself a bigger name opponent again. But I have never, ever turned down an opponent offered me by the UFC. I don’t do that and I don’t expect special credit for being like that. I’m a UFC fighter and I fight whoever they want me to fight. So, Rivera it is. I feel like even if I win, I don’t move forward, but I plan of smashing him and making as big a statement as I can.”

THE FIVE YEAR REPORT (2011)
“I’ve been in the UFC for five years now. A lot of good fighters don’t last that long. And I’ve had to go from pretty much a UK-level striker to a well-rounded fighter while competing in the UFC. A lot of TUF winners have struggled in the UFC. Compare their records to mine and you’ll see while I’ve not achieved all I want to in my career, I’m not doing badly overall.”

PROMOTING THE SPORT (2011)
“I must have given a thousand interviews since joining the UFC. I consider it a privilege to be asked, and to be asked to represent the UFC and the sport by talking to the media on their behalf. There are fighters who try and mess the UFC around and not do PR stuff, but it is part of the job. It’s actually in the contract that you do this stuff, and really, why wouldn’t you want to promote the sport we all make a living out of?”

FIGHTING ANGRY (2011)
“In my opinion, I think I fight better when I’m – for want of a better word – pissed off. So for me, that does help. I’m emotional in and out of the ring, and before and after a fight I’m emotional, but generally when I’m fighting, I’m very, very focused and I’m focusing on what needs to be done as opposed to doing anything silly because of letting my emotions get the better of me.”

THE MMA POPULARITY CONTEST (2011)
“If you go on the internet and believe everything that’s said there, I’m not too popular. But in my experience in day to day life, people are very, very kind to me. I live out here in California now, and people always have nice things to say. Obviously when they’ve got a keyboard to hide behind, they say something differently. When it comes to some of the hardcore fans and the guys who do talk about me, I think they see some of my antics and they do look past my skills. If you go on the Underground (forum) and look at the things they say, you’d think I couldn’t fight my way out of a wet paper bag, but I lost a split decision to Rashad Evans, I got robbed of a decision against Wanderlei (Silva), and I got knocked out against Dan Henderson. Against Dan Henderson, that was the best thing that ever happened to me. I learned a lot from that fight and I realized a lot of the mistakes I was making. The other two fights were razor-thin. Other than that, I’ve stopped most of my guys, I have something like a 70% stoppage rate, contrary to the idea that everybody has that I can’t punch as well. So I think that (his antics) does overshadow it sometimes, but that is the situation.”

THE RIDE OF HIS LIFE (2011)
“It’s been the best ride of my life. I remember (UFC President) Dana White saying some things when we came off The Ultimate Fighter and it’s fully lived up to everything he’s said and far exceeded it. Being part of the UFC family, I’m so proud and so happy with my life. I’m a lucky man. I get paid well, but I truly love my job. I love being a part of the UFC, I love being a professional fighter, and I love the rewards that it gives to me and my family. So it’s unbelievable.”

For nearly seven years, Brandon Vera has been one of the most compelling figures in the UFC, and as he approaches his UFC on FOX main event with “Shogun” Rua on August 4th, little has changed in that respect. And if you need a reminder of the ups and downs of his stay in the Octagon, read on for a compilation of some of the most memorable quotes uttered by “The Truth.”

2006

ON ACCOUNTABILITY

“Basically, I stated my goals in front of everybody.  If I say it, it makes me accountable for what I said.  I’m not one of those people who just talk; I actually have to work towards those goals.  I’ve always been like that.  I told my parents I wanted to get a scholarship to college, and I was telling everybody that when I was a freshman in high school and they were like ‘yeah, right.  For what, wrestling? You know how hard that is?’  And when I went into the Air Force and wanted to make the Air Force team, and wanted to make the Olympic team, I kept telling everybody, and the more people I told, the more I became accountable.”  

ON PRESSURE

“For me, pressure is a good thing.  It keeps me sharp, it keeps me grounded and makes me want to work harder.”

ORIGINS

“I actually didn’t start thinking about fighting until I saw everyone who was training at the Olympic Training Center stop wrestling and start fighting.  I said, ‘man, if they’re doing that, I can do that.  And get paid doing it?  I’m gonna start training.’ I was still dreaming about the Olympics, but when I saw everybody fighting, that planted the seed for what I’m doing now.  Wrestling for a Gold medal is fine and dandy and it’s some people’s dream, but my dream changed.  I didn’t want that anymore.  I need to start making money, I need to better myself.  In wrestling, you win a gold medal and then what?  Go to the WWE?  No thanks.”

STANDING VS. GROUNDFIGHTING?

“I promise it’s not the Art of War technique.  I really am way more comfortable on the ground than I am on my feet.”  

THE PRICE OF FAME

“There are a lot of people wanting things now, and before they didn’t want anything.  They didn’t want to talk to me and they weren’t offering money, and now people are.  It’s weird and hard to explain.  For me it’s a loyalty thing too.  People who were there with me from the beginning, I’m down to help them now.  But if you’re just trying to jump on because now you see this great product, it’s like AOL when it first exploded.  You know how the secretaries were millionaires when it first blew up, but everybody else who wanted to jump on board had to pay top dollar for the stock?  That’s kinda what it’s gonna be like now.”

PRE-ASSUERIO SILVA

“My whole training regimen for this fight has been ‘don’t think about the finish of the fight.’  I’m just gonna fight hard the whole time.  I’m gonna be in shape to do five five-minute rounds of Muay Thai, just straight bangin’, and on top of that, another five rounds of Brazilian jiu-jitsu.  So I’m not preparing for a short night; I’m preparing for a long night.  I don’t think I’m even gonna go out after the fight – this is gonna be a long night.”

ON FRANK MIR

“Damn. I want to be that guy. I remember saying that. (Laughs)  I was in a grocery store and it (an issue of Muscle & Fitness with Mir on the cover) was right there in the front by the register.  That’s when you know you made it, and I was trying to be that guy.  Now, I’ve got to fight that guy. Even before I was ever mixed into MMA, Josh Barnett and Frank Mir were my two favorite fighters.  And Frank Mir was the man.  He was making $80,000 to show, $80,000 to win, he had all the cars, the women, he was on the cover of Muscle & Fitness, he was real humble and didn’t talk smack – he just went in there and beat everybody down.  I used to want to be him. I’m looking forward to this fight, but it’s kind of unnerving. Fighting someone that I looked up to before is what I guess I’m having a hard time dealing with.  I talked to my wife and my team about it, and everybody short answers, ‘oh, it’s just another fight.’  I guess they don’t understand where I’m coming from then.  It’s like trying to beat up your eldest brother or someone you looked up to before.”  

THE MENTAL GAME

“A lot of fighters have different motivational tools – I actually need to think I’m going all three rounds and that way when I’m training and tired and down and out, and they’re like ‘get your ass up’, I can get up because there might be an extra round.  There’s never been an overtime in UFC history, but there might be.  (UFC President) Dana (White) might jump on stage and say, ‘hey, you guys need to go into overtime.’ (Laughs)  So I always prepare for the worst case scenario and the pace that I fight at is the pace I’m gonna be fighting at all three rounds, and I get better in the second and third rounds.  I get faster, more agile, and more confident in those later rounds.  I always expect the worst and I prepare for the worst, so when it does end up ending early, I’m like ‘Thank the Lord, let me go home and get out of here.’”

FAME – PART II

“I’m having a good time with it.  It hasn’t interfered with my personal life.  I can only imagine what it would be like to be Tom Cruise or somebody like that.  I’m nowhere near that and I hope I never get like that – well, I can’t even say that because if you want to get the big money, you’ve got to be like that.  But I’m dealing with it.  My head’s still level, my sister jokes about it, and my mom and dad say that if I get a big head they’ll smack me, so it’s cool.  I’ve got a lot of people keeping me straight.”

ON HIS FILIPINO ROOTS

“I love my Filipino roots, they love the fact that I speak Tagalog and that I’m coming back home to represent and that I’m proud to be Filipino. If you go out there, put on a show and show how much heart you have, the Filipino people will back you all the way, no matter what happens.”

2007

THE LAYOFF

“They’re all like ‘don’t let it bother you; you’ve got to deal with what’s in front of you.  They told me you can’t stare off and worry about what happened in the past.  If you do that you’ll never be able to move forward.”

NERVES

“Some people must think I’m this kind of Superman who never gets nervous, but I get nervous – bad.  The other night I didn’t sleep until 4:30 in the morning and I had to train at 10, so for sure I get nervous. That’s why I get up and train in the morning, because I am nervous.  I’m nervous about that ‘what if’ factor.  It doesn’t matter how talented you are or how gifted you are, or how hard you work; this is MMA, and anything can happen.  It’s been proven time and time again this year; people who are supposed to win get smashed, people who are winning, get knocked out, so you can never prepare enough for a fight in the UFC.”

2009

ON COUTURE

“There were so many good guys at the Olympic Training Center, and Randy was one of the better guys. I knew he was an Olympic alternate and good in college, but everybody there was so good. One day he was whipping your ass and the next day somebody else was shipping your ass. The ass whippings were rotational at the Olympic Training Center. (Laughs) I remember that he (Couture) was the first person I had ever seen do an armbar, and that’s before I knew what it was called. It was the arm lock thing with your legs.”

2010

ON THE PAC-MAN

“If you watch Pacquiao’s early fights, when he lost some and won some and when he got dropped, and then look at him now, its two totally different people and that didn’t happen overnight. It took years. I look at him with awe and I wonder all the time how can I aspire to be like that. Pacquiao is a big influence in my career, and when times are hard, I think about everything – I think about family, I think about Pacquiao’s road through hardship in his career, everything.”

ON THE JONES FIGHT

“I was somewhere off in my own world when he was on top of me, just moving him around, just chilling like everything was gonna be all right. I was thinking, ‘This is all the hype, this is what all the people were hyping you up about?’ No disrespect to Mr. Jones, especially not now, but I was thinking ‘man, really, this is all the hype? You f**king suck.’ Before I finished the word ‘suck’, that’s when the elbow smashed my face.” “Mr. Jones is a great fighter and I didn’t give him the respect that he deserved during that fight,” said Vera. “It was a good lesson learned and I thank him for it and I hate him for it at the same time.”

TOUGH LOVE

“My team sat me down when I first started training again and they told me that everybody was pissed at me. They said ‘You’re one of the most talented guys in the world and you could have the world at your feet and you’re not doing the things you’re supposed to be doing and you don’t believe in yourself like you used to. Why? And what can we do to help?’ And they’ve been kicking me in the ass and making me train, and putting it on me and making sure I’m doing the things I’m doing. I’m blessed to have a great team and great coaches that stay on me about that stuff. So after that meeting, I started thinking ‘I am the best 205-er in the world, I’ve just been bulls**tting. Let’s get back to it.”

LOSING HIS WAY

“I forgot who I was for a while and I forgot what I was fighting for. I got lost and I took the easy path. I went and jumped on the path that was paved already with lights and direction signals instead of staying on the hard road and forging my own way.”

GROWING UP IN PUBLIC

“It’s been a blessing in disguise. I’ve grown so much as a person growing up in the public eye. Fans have been able to see me at my highs and at my lows, and they’re about to see me back on my highs again and they’ll be able to understand that I’m a real person and not this super phenom that seems inhuman. I’m just like everybody else and I’ve had to go through my trials and tribulations to overcome my own demons and make this happen. I think that the fans will be able to appreciate me as a fighter and as a human being more because of this.”

2011

ON THE SILVA FIGHT

“It was weird, man. After that fight I just felt confused. Nobody since the sixth grade had ever big brothered me, and that’s pretty much what Thiago did. Guys asked me what happened and I was like ‘man, I don’t know. He was #$%$ing strong.’ That’s the only thing I could think of.”

FIRED AND HIRED AND BACK TO BUSINESS

“I can’t explain it. Being fired and hired back and then driving around the US, 8500 miles, I think I got it back. I think everything settled back into place, and I’m where I need to be.”

EGO

“My ego got in the way. It started getting in the way of me becoming a complete MMA fighter. I stopped going to Master Lloyd’s, and there were a lot of little mental things too. Things started changing from the Jardine fight on and I didn’t go back to train at Master Lloyd’s since the Jardine fight. I had a couple life-changing events happen right before the Jardine fight and during the fight and I honestly believe that MMA fell off the list. It wasn’t number one on my list anymore. It became number three in my life. I’m always down to knock somebody out or go punch somebody, but I wasn’t pushing myself extra. I would go to practice and I’d be looking at the time – oh God, how many more rounds we got? And now, I’m there until coach says ‘time.’ Now, I feel like I did when I first came in the sport, and I realize that I have a lot to learn and I’m open to learning again. I’m back in school and back on the grind.”

HUNGRY AGAIN

“My mouth is running again and I’m back out in the world doing my thing and doing what I should have been doing since Day One. I don’t know why MMA took a backseat to whatever else it did in my life, but it’s not anymore. I understand that this is what I’m supposed to be doing with my life, and there’s no way I could be flipping burgers or selling cars or doing anything else. I’m supposed to be fighting; I’m supposed to have that damn title around my waist, and every time I watch (UFC light heavyweight champion Jon) Jones fight, it’s good motivation to watch him kick somebody’s ass or do his thing in the ring. It’s really good motivation. It makes me so hungry.”

THE STORY ISN’T OVER YET

“Everybody’s seen me at my highs, they’ve seen me at my lows, and everybody wants to see the story continue, and I’m not ready for it to be done yet. It’s been a rough ride, peaks and valleys, but I told everybody, don’t blink and don’t stop believing because I’m here.”

Despite his recent outburst on the UFC 148 media conference call earlier this week, in a war of words, soft-spoken middleweight champion Anderson Silva would likely be on the losing end to his July 7th challenger, the always loquacious Chael Sonnen. But fights are won and lost in the Octagon, and not in the press, and that’s where Silva has reigned over the 185-pound division since late-2006.

Despite this, “The Spider” has had plenty to say over the years about his style, his upbringing, and his place in the MMA history books, and here’s a sampling from the pound for pound king.

On entering the UFC (2006)
“I have fought in Japan, England, and all over Brazil, and I’ve always wanted to fight in the US. I felt the UFC was the most well-known organization in the world and has some of the best middleweights. So I want to fight the best.”

On the secret of his striking – post-Chris Leben (2006)
“It’s training. Everyone has their own talents and their own skills, and this just comes with hard work and training.”

(Seconds Later)

“I’m one of the X-Men (Laughs).”

On the first fight with Rich Franklin (2006)
“That fight was a huge turning point in my career. It fulfilled a lifetime dream of mine and has changed my life in many ways. It has also given me a lot more responsibility having the belt.”

On the Finish of the first Franklin Fight (2007)
“I wasn’t really surprised by anything. I try to be prepared for anything, and I was able to take advantage of some of his mistakes. Like I have said before, it’s like a chess game – you move the wrong piece, and it’s over.”

On Pre-Fight Jitters (2007)
“No nerves. At that moment there’s nowhere to run. If you trained, you trained; if you didn’t, you’re screwed.”

A Moment in Time (2007)
“Basically, having the belt right now is just a moment in time, and you’ve got to stay hungry, stay motivated, and stay humble. I take every fight as just another fight because a lot of times, when you stop fighting, people forget about you. So I know that this is just a moment in time and I’m staying focused on keeping the belt as long as I can.”

On Bruce Lee (2007)
“He (Lee) made you believe in what he was able to do.”

On Family (2007)
“I came from very humble beginnings, but I received a lot of love and support from my family. At first they didn’t want me to become a fighter, but eventually they realized that it was something that I loved to do, and that I was actually pretty good. My upbringing has made me appreciate, and not take for granted, everything that is happening to me.”

On Spider Man (2007)
“I love comic books and I have every Spider Man comic book series since 1984. I listed him as my hero because he was the only Superhero that had bills to pay. Batman was rich, and Superman was from another planet.”

On Practical Jokes (2007)
“The best joke I pulled on someone was when I hid my cousin’s tuxedo on his wedding day and made him stress out and show up late. It’s just the way that I am. I enjoy making people laugh.”

His Biggest Influence (2007)
“Nosredna was the biggest influence in my life (Nosredna is Anderson spelled backwards). He always believed in me.”

On fighting in the UFC (2007)
“Ever since I watched Royce fight in UFC 1, it was a dream of mine to compete in the UFC.”

His Toughest Loss (2007)
“My loss to Okami was the toughest to deal with, because they really didn’t explain to me the rules of the event. I guess it was lost in translation.”

On his unorthodox striking (2007)
“That’s what makes a difference. I don’t think I’m better than anyone; I just like to prove to myself that things I imagine can be done. Expect the unexpected.”

The Ultimate Goal (2007)
“My ultimate goal is to go down in history as the most efficient and technical fighter that has ever fought.”

Don’t Mess with The Spider (2007)
“To be honest with you, I really don’t like to hurt my opponents; this just happens to be our job. But if somebody disrespects me they will pay for it. I promise.”

On Who Wins a Fight between Silva and His Clone (2008)
“That’s a very difficult question and I can’t even imagine the outcome of the fight. It’s better just to imagine it in my head since it’s not reality and I wouldn’t know how to beat myself.”

On being the best (2008)
“I don’t think I am the best. I’m far from being the best in the world. People can say what they want, but I don’t believe I am yet. I can only say that when I stop fighting, I still have a lot to go through, and there are still many great fighters out there. There is no world-best. And no one is unbeatable. We all want perfection but it’s almost impossible and I am after it at every moment. I always try to improve but it’s very difficult. I think that there is still a lot to be done, a lot to be lived and improvements to make. It’s a big responsibility and I try not to think of it.”

His Personal Highlight (2008)
“I don’t think I’ve had my highlight yet. I am still a small star in the constellation, and I think I’m still far from the UFC hall of stars. But I am getting there slowly.”

On the Cote and Leites Fights (2009)
“I went up there to do my job to defend the title, and I can’t really control what the other fighter’s going to do. I have to be prepared for every situation, and it’s just unfortunate that those guys came in with that strategy.”

On Booing (2009)
“Sometimes when you’re standing outside of the Octagon it’s a lot different than when you’re inside the Octagon. You know what I went in there to do – to do my job, and I’ve got my strategy. At the end of the day, yes, I’m there for the fans, but I’m the one that’s putting my body and my life in danger every time I step into the Octagon. So a lot of times, when people aren’t as educated in this sport, it’s really hard for them to understand. But I feel I went in there and did my job, and if people are booing, it’s from a lack of understanding of the sport because I went out there and executed a good game plan. It was just unfortunate that my opponents didn’t fight back.”

His Motivation (2010)
“My motivation is to be one of the best mixed martial arts fighters of all-time. Everyone is always mentioning that I’m the best pound for pound here or there, and having that type of label on me makes me very motivated. So I plan to come out here and show to my coaches and to the world everything that I’ve trained to do in the fight.”

On the Sonnen fight (2011)
“I was thinking of what I had to do to finish the fight, defend my title and go home healthy.”

On MMA in Brazil (2011)
“The sport has grown and matured a lot. A lot of things that needed to change have changed and it created a true sport that has a huge fanbase all over the world and has grown immensely in Brazil in the past few years.  I am grateful to make a living from what I love to do.”

On the future (2011)
“I want to keep defending my belt and writing my history in MMA.”

Special thanks to Ed Soares and Derek Kronig Lee for their translation help.