Author: Compiled by Thomas Gerbasi

There’s not much to be said here in the way of introduction that will top what is to follow, so we won’t attempt to. Here are some of the best quotes from the UFC’s number one middleweight contender, Chael P. Sonnen, before his UFC 148 rematch with the 185-pound champion, Anderson Silva, on July 7th.

The Fighting Life (2006)
“It’s not too hard.  Fighting takes up about as much time as anyone else’s hobby.  Guys that play golf probably spend more time a day playing golf than I do on fighting.  As far as athletically, it takes about 45 minutes to work out in the morning and about an hour and 30 minutes in the afternoon, and that’s it.  Then you’ve got drive time, but other than that, you’re inside less than three hours a day, so you can fit it in as a hobby.  I don’t have time for any other hobbies, but I certainly have time for plenty of other things.”

Full-Time Fighter? (2006)
“I went to the University of Oregon and I got a minor in business (Sonnen’s major was in sociology), and the very first day in Business 101, they tell you to have a job, you must provide a good or a service to the community.  Fighting doesn’t provide either.  I don’t want to leave my mark by the people that I beat up; I want to give back to society and I want to help people reach their goals.  That’s what a job does.  So it’s a hobby, not a job.  There’s no way to spin it so that it’s not.  And you’ve got a very short life expectancy in it, and for good reason – your body can only take it for so long and who wants to do it their whole life?  But I have guys who act like it’s their full-time job and they can’t do anything else, and I’m scratching my head, going, ‘well, jeez, it’s three hours a day.’ (Laughs)  If it’s all you want to do, just say that, but it’s not a full-time job.”

The reason to fight (2006)
“It’s nothing about the sport, and I don’t particularly even enjoy the fight itself, but I like to be involved.  It’s a different way to stay in shape and be one of the guys, hang out at the gym, and that’s like my social club because my friends are there.  So that motivates me to do it.  I like this, doing an interview – I like the attention.  And I find those things to be more valuable than the actual enjoyment of the sport.  I don’t want to get punched, and frankly, I don’t want to punch anyone else.  But the rules call for it, and if you want to win you’ve got to follow the rules.”

Becoming Champion (2006)
“I see these fighters come on and pretend to be tough guys, you put a microphone in front of their face and ask them who they want, and anybody who calls out anybody other than the champion should just go retire.  There’s no other reason to be in this sport than to be the champion.  I don’t think of myself as a fighter, I never tell anyone I’m a fighter, I don’t want to be a fighter.  I do want to be the champion, so if I’m delusional, then let’s find out now and I’ll move on to the next chapter of my life.  If I’m not, then I’m gonna take whatever steps and whatever opportunities they put in front of me to lead me to that one goal.  That’s the only thing I’m here for.”

The First Fight with Paulo Filho (2008)
“It hurts. I don’t know what a moral victory means. If the shoe was on the other foot and I got handed one that I didn’t quite earn, I’d feel just as good about it. I’d be completely content and proud of myself. At the end of the night, it’s whoever gets his hand raised, and so it hurt a lot. It kept me up at night. I got right back into the gym, but I was going through the motions and it was really difficult. I didn’t know how it would play out and whether I’d have this void forever. I’ve had a lot of disappointments in athletics over the years and they hurt a lot. But that’s the risk you take. It’s a two-man sport and only one guy’s gonna win.”

On the Rematch with Filho (2008)
“Strategically, I’m gonna do the same thing. I’m gonna throw him down and punch him in the face repeatedly.”

The Truth – Part I (2008)
“The only thing that I do that’s different than anyone else is I tell the truth. Fighters just lie and lie and lie. I don’t know if they’re lying to themselves or they’re just trying to do what they perceive is a good interview.”

The Lying Game (2008)
“I’m at the top gym in the world, and I’ve been to plenty of other gyms. I watched Randy Couture train for nine title fights, I’ve watched Dan Henderson and Matt Lindland train for title fights as well, and there’s nobody in the world who’s training more than three hours a day. But you’ve got these fighters who come out and lie – it takes so much time and they’re doing so much work, and I don’t know why they do that. Another thing they lie about is wanting to fight the best. ‘I want this guy at a hundred percent.’ Why? That’s not true. You don’t want the best. If they would hand you tomato cans, you would line up and fight ‘em one after the other. I just got asked yesterday, ‘do you hope Paulo’s a hundred percent? Do you hope he brings his ‘A’ game?’ No. I hope he wakes up with the flu, I hope he has to be helped to the ring because he has some injury and can hardly stand, and then I’ll clean him up. The last time I fought Paulo he was probably at 70 percent and he was a monster. Why would I want him at a hundred percent?”

Honor (2008)
“There are only a couple of fighters out there, myself included, that will really fight anybody. So not only will I bring honor back to the middleweight division, but I’ll also bring a lot of honesty back.”

Motivation (2008)
“There was a gentleman that won a world championship in wrestling named Les Gutches, and he was a hero of mine for many years. And Les told me that after he won that world championship that the next day was one of the most depressing days of his life because he worked every day for that, and he no longer had a goal. Fortunately for me, when I win that (WEC) middleweight championship, there’s gonna be another guy on the other side of town named Anderson (Silva) that’s claiming to be a champion in that same weight class. And this isn’t the BCS college poll where we identify two champions. The term ‘champion’ is very exclusive, and it’s exclusive to one. And if I’m not the champion, I don’t want to be called it. So my intention (after the Filho rematch) will change to finding out who the true champion is.”

On Returning to the UFC (2009)
“UFC’s got the tradition, and when I was a young man and went to bed at night, it was the UFC I was dreaming about. You always want to be satisfied and happy with your situation, and I always was, but in the back of the head, there’s no way to deny or pretend that this isn’t exactly what I was hoping to happen.”

On Strategy (pre-Demian Maia 2009)
“You’ll even hear veterans in that old mind frame saying ‘I want to take him where he’s not comfortable.’ I’m more of the strategy of ‘I don’t work on my weaknesses, I work on my strengths.’ So I don’t know where he’s comfortable or where he’s not – I know I don’t mind fighting on the ground, and I prefer it. So if he wants to be there and I want to be there, I don’t see why we’re reinventing the wheel.”

On Competition (2009)
“I came from a wrestling background, and at a wrestling tournament, you don’t pick your opponents; you don’t take the call that says ‘hey, will you take on this guy?’ You show up and you take on whoever weighs in. And I came into fighting with that same mentality. I fought Jeremy Horn when he was the number one guy in the world three times and the reason I got to fight with him three times is because nobody else would do it. When I first got into the UFC, I got in there against a guy named Babalu (Sobral) because at that time nobody else would fight him, and I volunteered. So I got in a little bit over my head, but it also provided me with my opportunities to get me to where I am now. I’ve got a few losses on my record where I jumped in and wasn’t quite ready, but over time, my abilities have caught up with my confidence and my goals and I am kinda starting to catch a stride.”

On the Yushin Okami Fight (2009)
“You don’t want to get beat by anybody, but especially him. I gotta prepare for a guy and try to hype a fight with a guy that doesn’t even understand what hyping a fight means. I’m a one man band in this thing. I’m going at it alone, and when we get in the ring, if he backs up like he likes to always do, there’s just no end game here – there’s no way to win. So anyway, I’m just gonna go and beat the guy up because it’s the only thing that he and I can do together in friendship.”

The Truth – Part II (2009)
“There are some guys who will get their feelings hurt here and there, but I’m not a big name caller. I don’t pick on guys very much. I’ll just point some things out and make them take a little look at themselves. I’ve even had guys come and go ‘hey man, I read an interview you did on me and you were right about that. I didn’t even realize I was doing that.’ (Laughs) So I don’t know if it’s gotten me in trouble too much, and at the end of the day, this is the fight business. We aren’t fight friends. This isn’t Eminem insulting 50 Cent during an interview from across the country. If somebody’s got a problem with what I’ve said, well, let’s go fight. We can settle this. We don’t have to do this through the media and sing songs about it, we can also just go fight. So anytime this gets me in trouble, the solution to the problem is very evident – it’s an eight-sided cage called the Octagon – I’ll see you there.”

On Anderson Silva (2010)
“He adds a couple of new dimensions because he’s very long and lanky – he’s got a really odd body type for the weight class – and he’s got an odd style. There’s nobody to mimic him. He fights in a sport called Muay Thai, which isn’t even a real sport, it’s something somebody made up in a garage somewhere. And apparently Anderson got a membership to that guy’s garage because he got pretty good at it.”

On the psychological game (2010)
“As far as psychological warfare, the only ones I’m after are the fans. They’re the only people I care about and I’m out here to entertain the fans. The fans have been really receptive to knowing what goes on behind the scenes and the secrets of the locker room are at the forefront of the fans’ minds. I’ve caught on to that, so I continue to share and it’s been a lot of fun.”

Before the first Silva fight (2010)
“No one tunes in to see Anderson Silva. The guy’s the worst Pay-Per-View draw in the history of Zuffa, and he’s a four-year undefeated athlete with one sponsor. There is one company on the face of the planet that’s willing to put their name on that guy. He walks into a room, he doesn’t have any fans, the media doesn’t want to talk to him, you watch the UFC promotion and it’s the Chael Sonnen show and it might as well be. Anderson Silva is about as entertaining as watching paint dry so if you can keep the mic and camera on me, I’ll sell some tickets. I can drag Anderson Silva outside the hotel any day I wanted to and beat him up, But I’m gonna wait until August 7th and I’m gonna do everything I can to make sure millions of people are watching me do it.”

Hard work, dedication (2010)
“25 minutes is a long time to fight and Anderson Silva has got a real hard time doing it. And that’s why he goes out there and looks like Michael Jackson and dances instead of fights, because he’s got to kill some time. If you go fight like I fight, that when that bell rings you go get yourself in a fistfight, you gotta be in really good shape and you gotta work really, really hard leading up to the event. He’s not in really good shape and he doesn’t work really hard leading up to the event. So he’s found a great way to compensate, which is to just eat up that clock with his movement. I don’t fault him for that. I’ve never done 25 minutes and it certainly is a long time to do anything, but my father was a plumber. He worked hard every day from sun up to sun down and he never once complained about being tired. So I would never disrespect him by complaining about being tired in a 25 minute sporting event.”

Pre-Silva I (2010)
“That whole Black House team has a big bull’s eye on their chest, so I might move up to 205 to slap around (Antonio Rogerio) Nogueira and I might go on a diet to get rid of (WEC featherweight champ) Jose Aldo. There’s no telling what I’m gonna do but I’m not overlooking any one of those team members. So we’ll see what happens. I’ve got other things in mind as well that are a lot more pressing than a couple members of the Black House team that I might move on to, but I have a feeling that beating up Anderson Silva is gonna be like eating Chinese food – 20 minutes later I’m gonna want to do it again. So maybe I’ll beat him up and give him an immediate rematch and do it all over again. But my plate is full right now – I’ve got to get through August 7th and that’s the bottom line.”

Groundhog Day (2011)
“I’m just looking at myself. How fast are my hands, how many punches did I throw today, did I eat the right things, how many hours of sleep did I get last night? I only look at myself. The Octagon’s the same size, Herb Dean’s hair is just as bad, Bruce Buffer’s in the shark suit either way. Nothing changes for me. The rules are the same, the rounds are the same, and my life is the exact same. My money’s the same, I wear the same t-shirt, I’ve got the same cornermen, and they can call it a title fight, they can call it a main event, they can call it an undercard – my life is no different. When that same music hits those speakers, I’ll make that same walk, put that same mouthpiece in, and do everything I can to win, regardless of what’s riding on it.”

Vacation? (2011)
“I didn’t need any breaks, I never need a break. You only do this three times a year anyway. It’s like you’ve got all these crybabies out there talking about ‘my wife really wants me around more.’ What a ridiculous statement. What do you mean ‘around more?’ It’s three hours a day and three weekends a year. There is no around more. You couldn’t possibly be around more. So no, I definitely don’t need a break from three hours a day and three weekends a year. I was just the opposite. I was like a good cowboy that just wants to jump back on the horse.”

On the first Silva fight (2011)
“I expected more resistance everywhere from him. From the grappling to his striking, his strategy, I just expected more resistance everywhere. So yeah, I was surprised at his lack of resistance.”

On Silva (2011)
“He’s a punk and a bully, he really is, and now he’s out there trying to be me. He’s doing everything he can to copy me. He’s wearing masks to weigh-ins and yelling at guys at press conferences, and doing everything he can do to be me. So good for him. It’s like Marshall Mathers once said: ‘they may walk like me, talk like me, dress, act, not give a dang like me, and they just might be the next best thing, but they’re not quite me.’”

On respect (2011)
“People like respect and I’m the only respectful fighter in the whole sport. A lot of other fighters have a real misunderstanding that lying and dishonesty is respectful. They love to bow to your face and stick a knife in your back the first chance they get. I don’t. I’ll tell you like it is to your face and then I’ll stick the knife in your back because I told you that if you turn around I’ll put a knife in your back. And that’s the difference with me. I’m honest and I’m respectful. And these guys love to say ‘Chael doesn’t have any respect.’ Well, check your dictionary at the local junior high that you flunked out of. I’m absolutely respectful and absolutely honest as well. You guys are a bunch of liars.”

On retirement (2011)
“I don’t ever want to be done. I’ll never quit this sport. I’ll never be done with this business, but at some point, this business will be done with me. I’ll be one of those last guys that hangs on past the time that he should. I like it, it’s what I want to do, I do it because I choose to do it, not because I have to do it, and there is no life after this. This is what I want to do with my life.”

On title shots (2012)
“I’m not after a title shot, and this is the big thing that separates me from everyone else. I’ve never asked for a title shot and it’s not about a title shot – it’s about the title. And for so many guys, they want that title shot and they sit and they argue and they go to the media and they politick for these opportunities, and I’ll fight my way through. And if somebody can beat me, then I don’t deserve it; if somebody can beat me, then they should go have it. I don’t need politics or the media or anything else to propel me. If my skills and my ability won’t do it, then I don’t want it. It’s not about the shot and these fake opportunities because you politicked your way through the system. I will punch my way through the system, and if it fails me, then I shouldn’t be there in the first place.”

On the title (2012)
“The title’s the goal, not Anderson. He can go off and do what he wants. But he will be remembered the same way Mike Tyson is – as a phony. I had to grow up hearing Mike Tyson was the best fighter in the world when he was never – not for one day of his life – the best fighter in America. He never won a national title as a kid, he never made an Olympic team as an amateur, he could never beat Evander Holyfield, he never was the best fighter in America, but for 10 years they told us he was the world champ. It’s the same with Anderson. He’ll be remembered the same way. His pocketbook and his bank account will look really good, and he’ll be remembered as the wimp that he is.”

On Chael Sonnen (2009)
“I will take on whoever, and a lot of guys say that because it’s got a nice ring to it, and then behind the scenes, when Joe Silva calls, all of a sudden their arm hurts, their knee hurts, or their shoulder’s sore. They need to get their tonsils removed or they need to play in a movie when they really don’t know how to act. Guys come up with a lot of reasons not to get in there, and I have a lot of reasons too. I’ve never felt good when it comes to fight. Not one time have I walked in the ring feeling good. But when that music comes on, I will make that walk every single time, regardless of the opponent. I never think about who’s across from me.”

WHY FIGHTING?
“I just really love to fight. I’ve always been a fighter, but I fell in love with the sport after I graduated from college. I met some guys who were doing it, and ever since then I’ve been in love with it.”

WINNING THE ULTIMATE FIGHTER 2
“I surprised a lot of people, including (UFC President) Dana White. A lot of people thought that I didn’t have any talent at all. See, I always had confidence in myself, but the better I did, people would say ‘wow’ and they just couldn’t believe it. I knew my own potential, but they didn’t know, so it was a big surprise to them.”

EMBRACING THE SUFFERING
“My mindset is, I’m gonna try to go where my opponent doesn’t want to go – we’ll see who can suffer the longest. That’s basically it, and if he can outlast me in suffering, then he wins the fight. But it’s a mindset to drive yourself to suffer. My wrestling coaches used to call it mental toughness. They would dog us out in practice and make us do things that we possibly couldn’t do, but they made us feel like we had to do it. They’d say ‘mental toughness, mental toughness’ and you learn to like the suffering – you learn to welcome that feeling when it comes. A lot of people run from it because they want to start feeling okay again, but when you embrace the suffering, you just ride it out, and pretty soon, you’ve outlasted your opponent.”

DON’T SLEEP ON “SUGA”
“I definitely think people sleep on me. They don’t quite understand how I do the things that I do – some people respect it, but they don’t understand it. They say, ‘I don’t see how this kid can win, I don’t see what he does that people haven’t beat him yet.’ And they’ve counted me out many times, and they continue to sleep on me. I don’t know what I have to do to break out of it, but I’m not gonna worry about it anymore. I’m just gonna do me and just let my work speak for itself.”

ON BEING A ROLE MODEL
“I’m very comfortable with the fact that I bring an African-American face to the UFC. It’s excellent if black kids, or any kids for that matter, see me and are inspired by what I do. I’m very excited to be a good representative for black people and a good role model in general. I enjoy it because I know it’s not gonna be around forever and who knows how long it can last. I know everybody doesn’t always have this chance to experience this, so I feel like I’m experiencing a once in a lifetime thing and I’m just enjoying it as long as I can.”

ON RESPECT
“I think it’s kinda messed up that sometimes I’m just passed over, but that’s what I call soul food. It’s food for my soul and it helps me grow to be stronger than I normally would if everyone else had been behind me the whole time. But I definitely believe that if I keep going in there and showing people what’s inside of me – what I can do and what I’m capable of doing – it will definitely let them say ‘wow, I was wrong about him.’”

ON LOSING
“To lose is a very humbling experience. You’ve got to break yourself back down to see what happened, and ultimately you just try to move forward. When I was younger I would cry and get upset, but as I got older and matured, I understood what it meant to lose and I got a better handle on it. I said ‘okay, I lost, this is why I lost, and I’m never gonna let that happen again.’”

FIGHTING ADVERSITY
“Sometimes when you’re down in a fight, you just gotta say ‘I’m gonna go for broke and whatever happens happens. If he’s able to withstand this or dominate me in any fashion, then he’s the better man this night.’ But you know what, he’s gonna feel me. That’s my biggest thing; when I’m down and out, he’s gonna feel me. And then from there it just comes together.”

HIS REASONING FOR TAKING THE LIDDELL BOUT
“I’ve always said that I wanted to be the best and that I wanted to leave my mark in this sport. The only way you can do that is by facing the best. I’m not a fighter who wants to fill himself with false hope that I’m something that I’m not. I think I’m the best, so I’m gonna go out there, fight the best, and test myself.”

ON FIGHTING AND BEATING LIDDELL
“There was no pressure to take him down. I was confident enough in my standup that we could go blow for blow and I was not gonna be afraid to take a hit from him and just do it. You hear people talk about his punching power, and you try not to let it really resonate in your mind because the last thing you want to be doing is going out there afraid of your opponent’s punch. Then you’ll be fighting a scared fight.”

ON THE SHOT HEARD ‘ROUND THE MMA WORLD
“My intention when I threw the punch was to throw it as fast as I can. And I threw it, it went through, and I was gonna follow up with the left hook, but he was already going down. And after the left hook went by, I was like ‘oh no, he fell down. I’ve gotta hurry up and finish him.’ But it seemed like it took forever for me to come out of that left hook to turn around and get on him. It was so quiet in there, I could hear a pin drop. The fight was over, Herb Dean had stopped it, and I was in shock because everybody was so quiet.”

POST-LIDDELL
“I’m definitely able to enjoy the moment, and everybody’s so excited about it, but I try not to live in the moment. I don’t want this to be the only thing I’ve ever done when it comes to my career. I want this to be the beginning stage, where people start to really see my capabilities. I’m trying to walk a fine line – yeah, I enjoyed it and it was a good experience, but I’m not truly satisfied, because satisfaction is something you get once you’re ready to be done because you have fulfillment. If you don’t have that fulfillment, you’re always able to go on and reach new heights. And that’s what I want to do.”

ON HIS TITLE SHOT
“It feels like it was a long journey, but it’s a wonderful thing and it feels great. I can’t go ahead and make it too big of a thing though. It has to be just another fight for me. And that’s how I’m gonna approach it. I’d love to be a title holder, and whether I go out there and win this time or not, I’m gonna be a title holder. It’s a matter of not putting too much pressure on myself, enjoying the moment, and going out there and trying to have fun with it.”

ON WINNING THE BELT
“Even when I won the belt, it was a strange feeling because I thought that I would have that euphoric feeling – like you see people dropping to the ground and crying, they’re so super excited, and I didn’t feel that. It was strange and I’m kinda disappointed because I didn’t genuinely feel like that. It just felt like another fight. I’m very proud that I’ve achieved what I have, but at the same time, I didn’t feel anything different. I thought that by winning the belt I’d have super powers or something. (Laughs) But nothing happened – I didn’t gain any special knowledge or anything.”

ON GETTING THROUGH THE TOUGH FIGHTS
“In my mind, I say ‘there’s no way that I’m losing this fight. No matter how bad I’m feeling, I’m just thinking the whole time that I’m in a fight and getting pushed that ‘I’m not losing, I’m not losing.’ I just say that over and over to myself. When things are getting hard or I’m fading out, I just say that and it works out.”

THE FINE LINE BETWEEN THINKING AND ACTING
“There is a fine line and you can’t be all in your head. You can’t be so in your head that you’re thinking ‘oh, what if this don’t happen, what if this happens?’ You have to let go and relax enough to take some chances. When you’re so much in your head that you’re worried about winning and losing, you don’t pull the trigger sometimes when you should because you’re thinking ‘well, what if I get caught?’”

ON LIFE AS THE UNDERDOG
“I always keep in my mindset, no matter what, that I am the underdog. And being the underdog comes more from a training perspective than as how others view you, because if you train as if you are the underdog, then you’re doing the little things. You’re doing the stuff when you don’t feel like doing it and that’s what being the underdog really means. Because when somebody says you’re the underdog, it’s more a motivational factor to say ‘oh yeah? I’m gonna show them. Let me go do this extra work or make sure I do this a little bit better.’ As long as you take that mentality of doing that extra work or doing the things that you feel that you need to get to that next level, then I think you can still fight from that position.”

IF THIS IS THE END…
“In this game, you’re always one fight away from your last fight. Each and every time I go to training camp, I train as if it’s my last fight because one of these times it very well may be, and who knows if this is gonna be the last time. So I enjoy myself the whole way.”

ON THE FANS’ MISCONCEPTIONS
I think sometimes that once the fans have their mind made up about you, that’s it, and I think a lot of it comes from that Matt Hughes thing (during season two of The Ultimate Fighter), where he said I was cocky and that I like to showboat, and I think that stigma has followed me. No matter what I do, they see my personality as concrete, and there’s no changing it for a lot of people. A lot of people are very lazy with their opinions, and once their mind is made up one way, they either refuse or it’s very hard for them to go another way. But I take the good with the bad, and the good thing is this – I’ve never met a fan that didn’t like me.”

REALITY CHECK
“Even though I was winning, I was losing all along, and the reason I say that is because the way I was winning was not really my fighting style. It’s good to be able to mix it up and be able to exchange and go toe-to-toe with anybody, but at the same time, you should never get away from your base and what you are. If you do, it’s just a matter of time before you get found out and you lose. I’m a wrestler for the most part; why am I trying to extend my game to go way past where I feel comfortable and where I can excel?”

COMING BACK FROM HIS FIRST LOSS
“Coming back you always have questions, questions about your ability to fight still and about the things that led up to you losing. So I had a lot of those questions answered (against Thiago Silva) and it was positive because I felt like I just had a bad night (against Lyoto Machida). And that may happen in this sport, but I was able to move on and move forward, and by having that fight I was able to get a lot of those things out of the way. Going back to the same exact Octagon that I got knocked out in, in the same exact place, same exact everything, it was kinda like I had a lot to overcome but if I overcame it, I should be ready for anything.”

THE ULTIMATE GOAL
“I want fans to get that feeling you get when you’re on the edge of your seat, you can’t quite get up, and you’ve got the butterflies in your stomach, and you’re not even out there. I want them to feel that, I want them to feel the passion from watching me fight. That’s the most exciting thing I think we, as fighters, or anybody in the entertainment industry, can give to the fans. That feeling that they are there.”
 

 

ON HIS UFC DEBUT AGAINST ANDRE GUSMAO (2009)

“I definitely wasn’t nervous. The only time I had the jitters was backstage. I couldn’t really get a warmup like I wanted to. Usually I’m screaming backstage, I’ve got a crazy sweat going, I’m pumped up, I’m amped up, (Laughs) and now I’m sharing a locker room with guys like Matt Serra and the Gracies and so many big stars, guys that I looked up to, and I kinda felt out of my zone and I wasn’t really able to warm up like I was used to. I was trying to stay low-key and composed. But once I hit the arena and they locked that gate, there were no jitters. Gusmao was my first fight that went the distance. He definitely had a chin on him and he wasn’t going down, but I don’t believe in standing around and waiting. I think when you step into the cage, you’ve got to take the cage and make it your zone.”

ON FIGHTING STEPHAN BONNAR (2009)

“I think fighting Stephan Bonnar is a win-win situation for me. I’m a young fighter and everyone knows that I’ve only been fighting for one year. It was just one year ago that I didn’t know how to throw a proper kick and no clue how to throw a punch, and now I’m fighting one of the bigger names in the sport. I really have nothing to lose in this situation – I feel ultra-confident and I’m really hungry. I’m on fire, and I plan on shocking the UFC organization and letting those guys know that I’m ready to be here for a long time.”

ON YOUTUBE (2009)

“All the crazy spinning back fists and back kicks, spinning elbows and all that crazy stuff that I do while competing have strictly come from moves that I’ve seen on youtube. It’s been working for me and I guess it’s what’s separated me from the rest of my teammates. Those guys never know what to expect when they see me fighting. The move where you drop down, touch the leg and try to do a spinning back elbow, I actually learned that from a (action movie star) Tony Jaa youtube video. I said ‘That looks like it could work, and I just went for it.’”

DON’T BELIEVE THE HYPE (2009)

“People say I’m the future of the sport and the next champion, and I never asked for any of that stuff. But people are saying it for a reason, I guess, and it motivates me to work harder and live up to those expectations. Those are big expectations. I’m only 22 and I haven’t even been training for three years, and to get that type of recognition definitely adds a lot of pressure. I just try to train hard and do that extra pushup or go train one more time when I have no strength left, and hopefully I can make myself happy and provide for my family. Ultimately that’s the only reason I’m doing this.”

ON TRAINING AT JACKSON’S (2009)

 “I literally get my butt kicked every single day, which is new for me. I come from a school where I wouldn’t even get hit. I would never get a black eye, a bruise, a bump, or a nick, and now, I’m icing every night because these guys are kicking the snot out of me. I’m getting tapped out, taken down, punched in the face, and it’s just a reality check. There’s so much work to be done. In a sport like mixed martial arts, a real black belt doesn’t think he knows everything; he pays attention to how much he doesn’t know. I’m really not anything. I’m a young guy who’s had some impressive fights, and when it comes to proving myself, I really haven’t done anything. There’s a lot more talent out there besides me, a lot of other guys that are looking great, way more well-rounded, and until I get to that level where you can find no holes or weaknesses in my game, I’m gonna continue to be a grinder and continue to work hard, improve, and keep my head on straight. I’m not resting until I’m officially Anderson Silva status.”

ON HIS LONE LOSS TO MATT HAMILL (2010)

“Outside of the Octagon I’m a pretty relaxed and mellow guy and I’m pretty level-headed. So once the fight was over and the decision was made, I wasn’t gonna cry over spilled milk. There was nothing I could do about it, so I took it in stride. Things happen for a reason and I just continued to move forward and continued to work on my game. I’m not worried about a win or a loss. I think all this stuff is just experience, and ultimately I’m looking at the big picture, so you’re gonna have to take your bumps, keep on moving forward, and worry about that big picture.”

ON CLASS IN DEFEAT (2010)
 
“It was just the way I was brought up. My wrestling coach in high school, Mr. Jack Stanbro, he always taught us to act with class no matter what happens. I’ve taken losses before in my wrestling career, and he was the type of coach where every time we showed up at a meet we had to dress up in a suit and a tie and if we lost he would never want to see bad sportsmanship shown. It’s who I am, it’s embedded deep within me, and it’s what I’ve been raised around.”

MORE ON THE HAMILL AFTERMATH (2011)

“I got a lot of mail from parents, and even today, a lot of people say ‘the reason I became a Jon Jones fan is because I saw the way you handled that fight and the way you conducted yourself after the fight. In every way, shape, and form, it was a blessing in disguise. I don’t want to be that perfect fighter because I’m not perfect at all. It’s good for me to have a blemish in my career because it shows that I can make mistakes. There’s a kid out there who’s looking at us fighters as being perfect people, like their perfect super hero, and it’s good for me to show that I can make mistakes and still bounce back.”

STUDY JONES AT YOUR OWN PERIL (2010)

“Guys who study my fights, I try to give them an evolution, and they’ll see a totally different style in every fight. So it’s kinda hard right now to predict what I’ll do in my next fight because every fight is very different and I’ll come back a completely different fighter for a completely different opponent.”

ON LIFE IN THE SPOTLIGHT (2010)

“Everything is exactly the same to be honest with you. I try to keep myself grounded and keep myself around the same friends, and life is the same, it really is. There’s a little bit more publicity, but that’s something I expected when I got into the sport and my goal is to make it towards the top, so I realized that being towards the top more of it’s gonna come, so I try to just appreciate it, realize that it’s God’s blessing, and just keep it moving and keep things the same.”

MMA’S ALI? (2011)

“Hearing things like that just motivate me to do better in interviews, in training, with the fans, and do everything to make things like that accurate. It’s just motivation and I’m honored that he (Bruce Buffer) gave me that kind of compliment because that’s what I’m looking for – I’m looking to be remembered and I’m looking to be great at something. Compliments like that reassure me that my hard work is paying off and that people are noticing, so I tell myself don’t worry, just keep working.”

ON BEING REMEMBERED (2011)

“I think being remembered for standing for something is a lot more important than just for a cool move that you did. Right now I’m standing up for Christ, and if I find something that I’m passionate about as I learn more about myself and the world, I definitely want to step up and help. Being great is one thing, but being remembered is another thing. To be great, magnificent and remembered, you have to stand for something and change the world in a way. I want to change the world. Ali stood up for the Muslims and for not going to war and he made an impact. People don’t remember Bruce Lee as “that Asian guy.” No one cares that Bruce Lee was Asian, they love him all over the world, and I want to have that same impact. I don’t want me being African-American to ever play a difference in anyone’s mind. I don’t want anyone saying ‘I like that black fighter.’ I want people to love me because of me. I’d rather be known as that Christian fighter or that peaceful fighter or that fighter that’s spreading positivity and kindness and confidence and way more than tactics. It’s important.”

BUT WHAT ABOUT HIS CHIN? (2011)

“My answer to that is that I’ve earned the privilege of not showing that to anyone. For everyone who says I’ve never been hit and is wondering how I’ll react to it, the reason why I haven’t been hit is because I’m literally obsessed with what I’m doing and I’m in the gym every day, three times a day, six hours a day. And when you dedicate your life to it, hopefully you guys will never see me do the chicken dance. That’s the way it works. But for people who are wondering how I’ll react, I’ve been hit several times throughout practice and I react just fine. I’ve been dazed in wrestling – I remember a few times in high school I would throw people and land on my own head and almost knock myself out, but I kept wrestling through it. So I’ve seen those white flashes before and I’ve always fought through it. If it happens in this fight, I’m definitely prepared to fight through it and I know I can fight through it.”

ON “THE COOL” (2011)

“I think it came from my father. I grew up in the church, and my dad would call me up on Sundays to sing in front of complete strangers. And there’s something about singing that leaves you very vulnerable. Singing is such a pure thing – it’s your inner emotion, your feelings, coming out in your voice – and after you’re done, people can judge you in any way possible. I had to sing as a 12 year old boy going through adolescence, my voice was changing, I would squeak a lot, and I’m not the best singer, but the fact that my father forced me to leave myself so vulnerable at such a young age, now that I’m older and I’m just speaking and fighting, I just got used to putting myself out there. Subconsciously it taught me to be myself and speak my mind and not be afraid of a crowd.”

JON JONES, CRIMEFIGHTER (2011)

“I feel as if I have an obligation to do the right thing. I knew my coaches were with me, and I’m surprised that I got so many accolades for doing it, but when you say that 90 percent of the people wouldn’t do it, I just hope that’s not true. And a big part of me feels that I did what most people would have done. I’m from the ghetto in Rochester, and there were times when I wouldn’t protect myself that I regret because I didn’t know how to protect myself at the time,” he said. “I’ve been jumped before and beat up before and it’s kinda like how Mike Tyson said in his documentary, he never wanted to be taken advantage of again once he learned how to fight. I feel the same way. I got jumped when I was a kid, I got beat up, I got made fun of because I was always kind of a good kid, and now that I can protect myself and I have the wisdom to talk myself out of situations and I have the physical power to get myself out of most situations, I feel like I’m obligated to help other people. I feel crappy when I see people who are vulnerable in danger, so I just took action and I’m glad I did.”

ON WINNING THE TITLE (2011)

“It hasn’t really sunk in. In a lot of ways I felt as if I was a champion just because of the way I carry myself as a person and the way I look at life. And even before I got the belt I felt like I was an elite fighter in the world. Anyone ranked in the top ten in the world is automatically considered a champion in my opinion and now I feel as if I’m a champion of champions, and life is pretty much the same.”

ON BEING A ROLE MODEL (2011)

“My outlook is to never do anything that will disappoint kids across the country, never getting caught in a Tiger Woods scandal or anything crazy like that, and just staying where I’m at as an athlete, continuing to win fights decisively. I want to continue to do the things that got me to where I am – I want to continue being a champion in the way I treat people and continue to be a champion with decisive wins, and that’s important to me. (teammate and UFC welterweight champion) Georges (St-Pierre) always says he’s not fighting as a champion; he’s fighting for his legacy. And I’m very young and I guess I don’t have the right to mention a legacy at this point, but in a way I am fighting for my legacy already, and me being aware of that keeps me on the prowl.”
 

If there’s one thing practically every mixed martial arts writer can say, it’s that there’s no such thing as a bad Diego Sanchez interview. When The Ultimate Fighter season one winner and former world title challenger gets rolling (and it usually doesn’t take much), it’s best to just set up your recorder and let him roll, because you’re about to get enough quotes to last you for a week’s full of stories. With his UFC on FUEL main event against Jake Ellenberger approaching a week from today, here’s a sampling of memorable musings from “The Dream.”

THE GOALS HAVE NEVER CHANGED (2005)

“I’m not here to be the fifth best or the second best in the world.  I’m here to be the best in the world, hands down.  If I set my expectations lower than that, I wouldn’t be a champion.
 
NEVER PERSONAL (2005)

“It’s business when I go in there.  I look at this as my career, as my life.  I’ve got my mom and my dad – my dad who works construction – and I want to have money for them to retire.  I want to end all the hard work and I want to be there for stuff like that.  I think about the reasons why I’m fighting and stuff like that.  So a little thing like that – trying to distract me by getting me mad – that’s not gonna throw me off my goal.”
 
THE ART OF WAR (2005)

 “This is my art.  It’s my body, my mind, and my spirit, and when I go into the ring I look at it as war. I look at it like he’s trying to take my job from me, trying to take the money I’ve put on the table for food, and basically trying to take my life away.  So when I go in there, I go in there with the mentality that once they lock that door, I’m going in there and fighting for my life.  And when you’re fighting for your life, what else do you got?” 
 
ORIGINS (2005)
 
“I wasn’t looking for the fight, it found me, and that’s basically the way fighting found me. I hadn’t been in a lot of fights in my life and I got tested in the street fight one time, fighting a big, strong, tough athlete who had strong endurance – he was a football player and he outweighed me by like 70 pounds, and I was able to overcome those odds. And I had wrestled, but I didn’t know jiu-jitsu – it was all heart. And when I overcame that guy, I started to think that maybe I am meant for this.”
 
DESTINY (2005)
 
“I always loved the UFC, I always wanted to be a UFC fighter, but did I think it was gonna happen? I didn’t know. But after that happened, I started to realize. Then it was just one fight after another, building momentum, my confidence grew and I continued to trust in God and believe that maybe this was why I was put on the TV show and why everything is just the way it is. I believe its destiny.”
 
ABU DHABI (2005)

“I took that tournament on two weeks notice, I wasn’t training, and I cut 23 pounds in a week. I was so weak from my match with Jake Shields, a match that I lost, and then I was able to stick with Marcelo (Garcia) a day later in the absolute division and I was stronger because I had a day to recover. We were 0-0 with 30 seconds left and I was getting desperate and I went for a sloppy move with the best grappler in the world and he caught me with the counter move and I was submitted for the first time in competition. But what I had done to my body, I killed myself. I never wanted to quit so bad in my life. I was mentally weak in that sauna, and I felt myself wanting to quit. It taught me a big lesson. After that happened, you will never see Diego Sanchez cutting weight like that again for a mixed martial arts fight. Because if I had been in a mixed martial arts fight, I probably would have been beaten, because my insides were gone. I felt my organs hurting and I never want to feel that in a fight. I did a lot of things wrong to get things right.”
 
CONFIDENCE MAN (2005)

“If I’m not confident, then I’m gonna start to have doubts and start to think about the bad things that can happen to me in the cage – like getting knocked out or submitted or cut. If I think about those things, it’s gonna be on my mind and it’s gonna bring me down. I stay positive, I stay focused, and I think about what I have to do to beat my opponent.”
 
FIGHT LIKE IT’S YOUR LAST (2005)

 “You never know when it’s gonna be your last fight, and I fight every fight like that.  When I’m in there, I will fight with every ounce of blood I have in me, with all my spirit, heart, and mind. And I’ve heard fighters say this, but truly, he’s gonna have to kill me to beat me because I’m not gonna quit, I’m not gonna break.”

THE “0” (2006)

“In my mind all the TUF guys are gonna lose and I’m gonna be the only undefeated fighter and I’m still gonna be the only guy that went through the show, finished everybody, and I’m gonna be ‘The Ultimate Fighter.’ They’re gonna say, ‘that guy Diego Sanchez, he was ‘The Ultimate Fighter’ through all the seasons.’ They’re gonna say that he was the only guy that dominated it, came out after it, stayed undefeated, won the belt, and got out of his contract undefeated.”

JUST BELIEVE (2006)

“Really all it is is a mental state, a way of thinking, and it’s a way of believing in yourself. I believe in myself, and if I didn’t, I wouldn’t be doing this. Anyone can do anything if they believe and I’m trying to get that message across. Everybody wants to hate and everybody wants to doubt, and there are people out there who want to see me lose just to see me lose, and they think I’m cocky, but I believe in myself. If you want to hate me because of that, go ahead. If I didn’t believe, there would be times in fights where I’d be like, ‘okay, I can quit, I’m tired,’ but I feel I’ve got a lot a heart, and though people say every dog has its day and everybody has his time to lose, maybe that’s true but I’m trying my best to take fights smart and fight smart and do my best to keep my record undefeated. When I started this game a long time ago, I told myself I’m gonna be smart about it. I’m not just gonna go in there and be (former UFC contender) Robbie Lawler and say “ARRRGGGGGH, I’m gonna brawl and try to knock your head off and try to be the most exciting fighter in MMA history.” That’s not my gameplan. My gameplan is to be smart, and that means there may be some boring fights, but other fights are gonna be damn exciting, and I’m always gonna push the pace and do what I can to win.”

THE FIRST LOSS (2007)

“It was a slow process, but ever since I won the Ultimate Fighter TV show in 2005, even though I had good fights and great wins, slowly, the fame was changing me. And I had to look back, analyze everything and ask myself who I was. I wasn’t that same tiger when I went into the ring with Josh Koscheck that I was whenever I started getting into this game. I was going through the motions and I wasn’t focused. I wasn’t being myself. I just need to be me and not think about anything else. I have to be that same hungry, King of The Cage fighter that was at the bottom of the barrel, that comes from Albuquerque, New Mexico, raised in poverty. That’s the Diego Sanchez that I need to be.”

A CHANGE OF SCENERY (2007)

“I’ve been doing the same thing for a long time. I’ve been raised in Albuquerque my whole life and I was ready for a change. I had been wanting to go out to California. Every time I’d come out to San Diego, for a month or two months to do conditioning camps with Rob Garcia, I’d always be like ‘man, it’s so nice out here. I wish I could run the beach everyday or work on my boxing more.’ But there wasn’t a ground guy out there for me, and of course there was my loyalty to Greg Jackson. I had the Jackson Gaidojutsu team, New Mexico was my home state, and I knew everybody over there, but things happen and it was the right time. Saulo Ribeiro and Xande Ribeiro moved to San Diego and opened up a school, and those guys are, in my opinion, the two best ground guys in the world. I’ve rolled with Marcelo Garcia and some of the best guys, and there ain’t nothing like a Saulo Ribeiro or an Alexander Ribeiro.”

THE MOVE TO LIGHTWEIGHT (2009)

“Fighting at 170 has always been good for me, but I walk around at a little chubby 180, and by the time I’m in great shape and ripped, I’m 172, 173, and not really cutting weight. So where this sport is going, everybody’s cutting weight. When I fought Jon Fitch, he had at least 20 pounds on me, and there was a very big size advantage. So after getting injured before the Thiago Alves fight, I just had to make a decision. I thought about all the options at 170, and what would be the best choice for me, and then I thought that if I dropped to ’55, I’m going to be bigger, stronger, able to focus more on technique and not on how to get bigger. Strength training was a big part of my training at 170, trying to get bigger. Now at 155, I get to work more on maintaining strength, which is a totally different task. I made the decision, and if there’s ever a time for me to do it, it’s gonna be now, while I’m still in my 20’s. When I get into my 30’s it’s gonna be a lot harder.”

THE FIRST TITLE SHOT (2009)

“I’m one to always put high expectations on every fight, so there’s no added pressure on me. For me, I feel like there’s always the same amount of pressure on every fight because every fight’s just as important. But this fight is something special to me. For the first time in my career, I’m fighting for a world title, and more important, against my opponent, BJ Penn. The guy’s probably been the most dominant lightweight in UFC history and I’ve been waiting for this fight with BJ Penn for a long time because all along I knew that fighting BJ Penn was going to bring out the best Diego Sanchez, and Diego Sanchez fighting BJ Penn is going to bring out the best in him. So that night we’re both gonna be pushed to see who has more heart and who is the better fighter – and that’s what it’s gonna come down to because I feel we match up well in all areas of the game.”

GOING HOME TO ABQ (2010)

“I loved San Diego and I still do. I was living really nice out there, real comfortable, but I just felt in my heart that I had to get back to my roots. I asked myself, ‘what got me there, what got me in the UFC, what got me to The Ultimate Fighter, what got me through The Ultimate Fighter, and what got me to the top of the UFC 170-pound division?’ It was just that hard working energy of Albuquerque and having my mom and my dad, and having that love around me all the time.”

GETTING HUNGRY AGAIN (2010)

“I felt very humbled in the BJ Penn fight and in the two months after the fight when I couldn’t train and I was just out and about and doing my thing because I had this big cut on my head, that’s when I felt very humbled. It’s not about the Hollywood lifestyle. It’s really nice to get all these fans and all these people who love you because of what you do in the Octagon, but I had to look back to before all of that when I was just another kid wanting to climb to the top. I don’t need to have the most expensive this or the nicest that. I don’t have to drink bottled water; I can drink some of this Albuquerque tap water and get just as rough and rugged and mean. And I honestly feel like my skills have improved.”

ON ALBUQUERQUE (2010)

“Before Albuquerque was known to the world, I grew up watching Johnny Tapia and Danny Romero boxing and I was a little fighter. I got into street fights, and it’s just a mentality. I call it the ‘Burque. It’s short for Albuquerque but it’s just a mentality, that ‘let’s get it’ mentality, and that separates me from a lot of the other fighters. I could never go into a fight and be thinking ‘okay, I’m gonna circle right, circle left, throw three leg kicks, see how he counters, and then I’m gonna set my takedown up.’ The mentality that I fight with is that I look at two pitbulls and before the fight, those two dogs are just going for the kill and they’re instinctively countering each other and moving synergistically and looking for the opportunity to strike and take their opponent out. And that’s the way I go into a fight. I think that’s probably the reason why I have such a big fanbase. They love that I go in there and put my heart on the line and I risk it. I’m gonna always risk it.”

BACK TO JACKSON’S (2010)

“Greg (Jackson) had told me that the door was always open and they always treated me like a family member, with open arms. And I was just being stubborn. I wanted to try to do a camp myself, but I was still in the process of moving. I went to do my camp in New Mexico (for the John Hathaway fight) because I felt I needed to do that, but I still had my place in San Diego, still had ties to my previous team, and I wanted to do it right when I made my return to Jackson’s. Right now, everything’s perfect.”

GROWING PAINS (2010)

“I want to be the best and I want to continue to get better. I’ve made some mistakes in my career, I’ve made some bad decisions, and there’s been multiple times where I was growing up and I got sucked into the limelight. But right now, I realized in my last fight that when it’s all said and done, it just comes down to earning the W. So my mentality now is, I’m just gonna earn it. I’m gonna earn the victory, work hard, and when I go in that gym, I want to be the hardest worker in there. That’s my whole new mindset on mixed martial arts and my career – be the hardest worker and earn the victory.”

ON FIGHTING (2010)

“It’s my blessing. I feel like I was blessed with the fighting ability and that’s my calling. It’s what I love to do and it’s my passion. You’ve heard me say this way back in the beginning of my career that I feel it’s my destiny to fight and to be champion, so I’m not letting go of that. I’m gonna continue to work hard, and I really feel like I’ve got my head on my shoulders finally after so many trials and tribulations. I’ve got my feet digging down in the ground, I’m standing firm, I’m working hard, and I’m gonna show everybody how hard work can pay off, because talent can only take you so far.”

RISING TO THE TOP AGAIN (2011)

“I’m climbing up the ladder and there’s only one way to do it and that’s to earn it. That’s what I realized after my losses to BJ (Penn) and John (Hathaway). I was going through the motions. I always trained hard and I’m not making excuses, but there’s no comparison between my training in San Diego and what it is here. I was in San Diego basically doing jiu-jitsu in the gi and then going to striking. I was putting MMA together and trying to create this style that wasn’t my own style. And when I came back to New Mexico, Greg said, ‘that’s not you. We gotta change a lot of things.’ He analyzed my fights when I wasn’t with him and he broke me down, and we reinvented me to what my style should be, and I came full circle as a martial artist and found my style. It took some time, but we worked on it.”

EGO (2011)

“I’ve always been able to look at myself and say ‘remember where you came from.’ It’s not hard for me to put my ego aside because that’s the way you get better. You can’t care what other people think because some days you’re gonna go into the gym and have hard days.”

COMING HOME, PART II (2011)

“I look back now and it was a great experience being away, but I never would have appreciated what I have if I didn’t leave it. Me and Greg (Jackson) started out together. I was one of his first fighters, and we were on the grappling circuit and had barely started doing MMA fights. I didn’t know what I had. I didn’t even know what I had in my hometown of Albuquerque. Now there’s such a deep appreciation each and every day that I walk into that gym just knowing that I really have something special here.”

THE PAYOFF (2011)

“I like getting bonuses and going out in the streets and having people just shining at me like bright lights, saying ‘oh, I can’t believe your last performance, it was so amazing, and the fight was so good.’ I want that kind of reaction.”

It’s been a long time coming, but on Friday, December 30th, former UFC heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar makes his long-awaited return to the Octagon to face former Strikeforce champion Alistair Overeem in the main event of UFC 141 in Las Vegas.

And since so much has gone on in the 14 months Lesnar has been away, we’ll refresh your memory of one of the sport’s most compelling figures with a collection of some of his most memorable quotes.

Life after College (2007)
“I was out in 2000, and nothing was really available yet in mixed martial arts. I literally had four cents in my pocket, I was bumming beers off my buddies and bumming steaks off my girlfriends, so for me, it was try out for the NFL, stick around for another year, or here’s a legitimate contract (with the WWE).”

Salad Days (2007)
“I was a kid out of Webster, South Dakota who grew up on a dairy farm and drove a Mazda RX-7 that was a hundred dollar car missing fourth gear and reverse.”

Lesnar’s Philosophy of Life (2007)
“I went from Wrestlemania right to the NFL and the Vikings training camp and was like ‘what the hell am I doing here?’ I should have taken a break, but one thing, if anybody really knows me, they know I dive in headfirst and whatever happens happens. I’ll deal with the consequences later. You only live one time, and what I hate are those people that can’t make a decision. I just go for it. Of course, as I get older and a little more experienced, some of these headfirst things I think about a little bit, but I’m still kinda the same way.”

Early thoughts of fighting (2007)
“I originally wanted to fight when I was in junior college. I took some summer school out in Lassen, California, where I met up with some guys who trained out of the Lions Den. They booked me in a show in Reno, Nevada, and then I had to pull out because once you got paid to participate in something, the NCAA wouldn’t accept me, and I wanted to wrestle. But I had actually started rolling and learning jiu-jitsu back in junior college when I was 19-20 years old.”

Entering the world of MMA (2007)
“I didn’t think anybody would really even be interested in me. But here I am, caught between a rock and a hard place. Everybody on Earth knows who I am because of pro wrestling and because I went through the NFL, so where do I even start? Who’s gonna take me seriously? Do I start in the bingo halls and start all over? I can’t do that because I’ve already got a name. I’m more well known than the first guy that ever showed up on ‘The Ultimate Fighter’. So where do you start? Well, let’s just find a promotion that’s willing to promote you, let’s go from there, and let’s just see what comes out of it.”

Transitioning into the sport (2007)
“There were some transitions to be made. I was out of the wrestling room for almost six years and some of these old aches and pains started coming out, and it took a while, about a couple of months, and at first I wasn’t sure if this was going to work. I hadn’t been in the wrestling room for almost six years – yeah, I pounded the weights and pounded the road and hotels and was in the wrestling ring every night, but its two different things.”

On his debut against Min Soo Kim (2007)
“I was just so happy to put my fist in some other guy’s face. I felt like I was in heaven. It did go fast, 69 seconds, and it felt like it was five seconds.”

On calling out the UFC (2007)
“A lot of people say ‘well, he was just doing that to get attention.’ Well, I got some attention, so I got what I wanted. Now, the bottom line is, I want to fight, and I want some credible people and I want to beat them. What that does for me is, it makes me very credible. That’s why I did it – I want to fight good people. If you want to go with the NFL of the fighting game, it’s the UFC. It was an easy choice for me and I’m glad things worked out.”

On fighting anyone and everyone (2007)
“I’ve looked up and down the entire roster, and I’m willing and ready to take on anybody. In my mind, I feel like I’m ready. People don’t really understand that I’ve been an amateur wrestler since I was five years old. I’ve been through all kinds of athletics and stuck with them, I’ve got an amateur wrestling background of 18 years almost, and some of these guys that are getting into fighting don’t have these kinds of backgrounds. Obviously I don’t think I’m ready for a title shot right away, but I will be there, and I’m not gonna turn down any opponent because I’m here to prove myself. I’m not here to pick and choose my fights. I’ll fight whomever they want. I don’t make the fights; that’s not my job. I’ve got one job to do and that’s to fight.”

On the first Mir fight (2008)
“I’m still disgusted with myself. I got so excited, then for Mazzagatti to stop the fight kinda threw a monkey wrench into my rhythm a little bit, and then you can chalk it up to a little bit of inexperience. I had Frank on the mat and then I stood up, which was pretty foolish of me. I think Frank will be the first one to admit that I had him up against the ropes and I think he was scared s**tless. He was reaching at anything out there and he grabbed it and he got me. But that’s the beauty of mixed martial arts.”

On silencing the critics (2008)
“I’m not here to shut people’s mouths. I’m in a spot where there might be the toughest son of a bitch out there, but nobody knows his name and he’s climbing the ranks, and here you’ve got a guy like myself who is a household name all across the world. From the business side of things, I’ve got to make the right business decisions and at the same time on the fighting side of things, I don’t want any tomato cans either.”

On getting respect from his peers (2008)
“I’m greatly appreciative of it. I think people get their guard up right away when somebody wants to jump into something when they’re not 100 percent serious about it, and I think people understand that I am. At least the people at my gym and in my training camp do. I think that filters through in the interviews that I do – this is my life and it’s taken a while for me to figure out what I wanted to do with myself. Everybody’s going to have their opinion, but as long as I keep my nose to the grindstone, everything will work out. But more importantly, everybody wants to see a winner, and I want to win this fight – not to prove anything to anybody else, but to prove to myself that I’m capable of being in the Octagon.”

On the positive changes MMA has brought to his life (2008)
“Lifestyle wise, this has been great for me to be home every night in my own bed and to be near my family as often as I can. That’s been huge for me. Everything in life nowadays is so material, so for me to be able to be home and be happy is the number one key for me. All the other stuff is really meaningless. We enjoy doing what we do and most people who have the right job enjoy going to work, but the car I’m driving, the clothes I’m wearing, that’s all materialistic stuff and it’s all fake. In the end, we’ve got to answer to one person and look ourselves in the mirror every day.”

Lesnar’s Philosophy of Life – Part II (2008)
“You only live once. In my mind, I think I’m a good enough athlete that I could do just about anything, and I always had a lot of confidence. But young kids today need to remember that, that when you work hard and stay on track, good things usually come. It doesn’t happen overnight, but if you keep your nose to the grindstone, hopefully good things happen.”

On getting ready for Randy Couture (2008)
“The biggest transition was to learn to be patient – in the gym and in the Octagon, but mostly in the gym. You can’t learn this art overnight, and here it is, going on three years for me, and I still don’t know everything and there’s a lot more to learn. I’m just trying to come in Saturday night and be as prepared as I can possibly be for Randy, and I think we did that this last eight, nine weeks. As of right now I can’t change anything. The hay’s in the barn, and I’m just trying to relax and shed a few pounds this week, and come in Saturday night looking for a fight.”

On the Heath Herring fight (2008)
“I didn’t set any goals to take Heath three rounds. We tried to end it early and we almost did (Laughs), but Heath was a tough SOB, and in a fight, whatever happens happens.”

On finding peace (2008)
“I’m just relieved I’m doing something that I find myself very happy doing and I’m relieved that I can be home and spend as much time with my daughter and my wife as I can, and do some of the things that I enjoy doing, like hunting and fishing. There’s more to life than just work, whether it’s wrestling or MMA. I’m not a gym rat. I come in here and put time in and when I leave the gym, I go do something else, whether it’s spending time with my family, or hunting or fishing or whatever. I’m at peace. I’m happy where my career is right now and where my life is right now.”

Before the Mir rematch (2009)
“Nobody likes to lose, and I’m a sore loser, especially when I feel I gave the (first) fight to him.”

On the bitter taste of losing (2009)
“I just think its pure competition. Throughout my wrestling career in college, I didn’t lose too often. But the guys I did lose to, I’ve always been able to come back except for one guy I never had the opportunity to get a rematch with – Stephen Neal. But the other guys I’ve had opportunities to come back and beat, so I’ve been in this position and I don’t see it going any other way really.”

On maturing as a fighter (2009)
“I think I’ve showed some maturity in the Octagon since the first Mir fight. Against Heath and Randy I showed a lot more patience, but it still only takes one punch. I don’t know when it’s gonna happen – we’ve got five rounds to solidify this fight and I might have jumped the gun against Frank the first time – I know I did – but there are times for aggression and times to pull the reins. That comes with experience, and I think I’ve got that now. The first time, Frank was fighting a street brawler / wrestler. The big difference now is that Frank’s fighting a fighter. I’ve had almost two years of experience under my belt and got in the Octagon with a legend like Randy Couture and another guy who’s had over 50 fights and has been very successful, so it hasn’t been a walk in the park.”

On life in the UFC (2009)
“If I had to put it in a sentence, it’s probably been the best year and a half of my life. Not just because of fighting for a great company and that things are going well, but because I’ve had a lot of good things happen to me personally. My wife, my daughter, my son, my family, business has been good, so it’s been a good year and a half inside and outside the Octagon, and I pray to God every day that good things continue. It’s pretty simple out here for me and I like it that way.”

On the illness that has kept him from competing since July of 2009 (2010)
“Everybody’s got life-changing experiences and this is one of them for me. I believe things happen for a reason, and this gave me a different perspective on life and on my family. I’m a young guy – these things aren’t supposed to happen. I consider myself a healthy human being. I’m 32 years old, and for something like this to happen, I definitely had to re-evaluate. When you think you’re doing all the right things and all of a sudden something like this happens, obviously you’re not, so I had to make some changes.”

On his return to the Octagon (2010)
“Let’s make it clear. I still am the UFC heavyweight champion.

Pre-Carwin (2010)
 “At any moment this could be over and I could be Joe Blow serving burgers or doing whatever. Anything can happen at any given moment, and I try to live every day to the fullest, and I really don’t take anything for granted anymore. I never really used to, but this whole setback for me last November was a hurdle in my life that I guess God thought I had to overcome to test me and to make sure this is what I really wanted in my life. There are challenges in your life that are put before you for certain reasons, and this was one of those times.”

Not a social media kinda guy (2010)
 “I don’t pay attention to anything, I really don’t. I don’t buy pay-per-views, I don’t go on the internet. I live, eat, and breathe fighting, but it’s all about me. I don’t care about Who’s Who in Ultimate Fighting, I really don’t. It’s very important to not get too involved. It’s like a job. It’s part of your life, but you’ve got to realize how to separate the two. When you go to work, you go to work, and when you leave the office, you leave the office. I don’t bring the office home with me.”

On his second bout with diverticulitis (2011)
“I’ll tell you one thing: I’m not retiring. This isn’t the end of my fight career. I have a strong faith that there’s a solution to every problem. I just gotta find the right solution to fix this problem. I love this sport and I love what I do. This isn’t the end of Brock Lesnar.”

On Brock Lesnar (2011)
“I was born this way. It ain’t an act, and it’s not a line. There’s nobody out there like me. I was born to do this, and I’ll fight whoever they put in front of me.”

This Saturday, the world heavyweight title is on the line when champion Cain Velasquez defends his crown against number one contender Junior dos Santos. Read on for their thoughts on the stellar careers they have put together thus far.

CAIN VELASQUEZ – UFC HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPION

THE SEEDS ARE SOWN
“My dad wanted me to box, and I wanted to box too. (But) I got into wrestling and that was it for me. It was all wrestling.”

THE MEXICAN HEART
“That’s my fighting style and that’s my wrestling style – to go out there and brawl. I put a lot of pressure on guys, I throw a lot of punches and kicks, and that’s just the way I fight. It’s the Mexican heart.”

MMA
“My junior year, I knew already that I wanted to fight when I was done. I told my coach (Thom Ortiz) and he said ‘worry about wrestling now, and when you’re done wrestling we’ll figure out something for you to do and find a camp for you.’ And when I was done, he hooked me up with AKA and the rest is history.”

MAKING THE TRANSITION
“Between wrestling and jiu-jitsu you have to have different mentalities. Jiu-jitsu is more flowing, while everything you get in wrestling is from work. If you get a single leg, you’ve got to work to get the guy down, and with jiu-jitsu it’s more flowing, and the action is more controlled. That part of it was the biggest change. The striking and all that, I think I made the adjustment pretty easy for myself; I felt comfortable striking so that wasn’t so bad.”

ENTERING THE UFC
“This is the biggest show in fighting and this is what I’ve been waiting for. Those other fights were just like wrestling matches during the season. This is like the Nationals. I had to work my way up the ladder to get to the finals; that’s what it feels like.”

THE NEXT BIG THING
“I’m non-stop, I don’t get tired out there, my game is good all-around, and I want people to see that I’m gonna be the next big thing. That’s what I want people to keep thinking about, that they can’t wait to see me fight again.”

THE PERFECTIONIST
“I’m a perfectionist in the gym. I know my skills all aren’t where they’re supposed to be or where I want them to be. I need everything to be perfect.”

REFINING HIS STYLE
“I’m trying to have more of a controlled style than what my wrestling style was – which was just to go in there and brawl. We’re working on being aggressive, but not getting hit in the process. (In some sessions) the coaches have me just defend while the guys throw everything they want at me 100 percent. Doing that I get to see a lot more punches now than I have before.”

A TALE YET TO BE TOLD
“People can say what they want to say, but the book’s unwritten yet, and nothing is for sure. Anything can happen and I’ve got to keep putting in the work in the gym, keep getting better, and keep winning fights. They can say all they want to say, but if I don’t win the fights, and do it impressively, then all that talk won’t be heard anymore.”

ON THE LESNAR FIGHT
“We knew he was gonna come out with a lot of pressure, but we didn’t think he was gonna come out that hard. It definitely did surprise me and I got into that brawl mode after that, but I just had to tell myself to relax and get back into the fight.”

LIFE IN THE SPOTLIGHT
“At first it was a little difficult. Now, it’s part of the job and it’s gotten a lot easier as time has gone by. It’s no problem; we know what we have to do, and we know why – to get our names out there. It’s normal now and a lot easier.”

MAKING MOM AND DAD PROUD
“Both my parents were real proud of me that we finally did it (winning the UFC title). It was an amazing feeling that we were all able to experience that together.”

***

JUNIOR DOS SANTOS – NUMBER ONE UFC HEAVYWEIGHT CONTENDER

INSPIRATION
“The great Brazilian fighters inspire me. I try to do my work as well as possible, because I believe I can follow the same path and one day become a great champion.”

BIG NOG
“In the ring, Rodrigo inspires me with his determination, his courage and the way he never gives up; he always keeps himself strong. Outside of the ring he is a great influence, a great friend, and he takes care of himself in all aspects; I have always been inspired by him.”

AN IMMEDIATE HIT
“I think it was because I was able to show my work the way I wanted to, and everything played out as I hoped it would. The fans like watching knockouts, and that is always my objective in a fight.”

SECRETS
“I don’t have any secrets, I fight where I need to fight, be it standing or on the ground. If the fight goes to the ground, you will all see my jiu-jitsu skills.”

CLASS
“I was raised to be humble, there is no way to change the way I am.”

THE FANS
“I love what I do and I give my very best in each fight. When I hear the fans cheering for me I feel even better. I want to show them my potential; that’s where I get my satisfaction.”

THE YVEL FIGHT
“My fight against Yvel was challenging for me. Nobody wanted to stand and exchange with him, but I did and came out with a TKO victory. He did land some good shots where I could feel his power, but I am used to it, because to be where I am at today I have taken a lot of beatings and had to keep attacking. To have me back up you need to throw a very powerful shot.”

MMA
“My life has been dedicated to MMA. I am always training and studying my opponents, especially the last few opponents I faced. This last year was great for my career; even though I only fought twice, I was victorious in the fight that I was most worried about in all my career, which was the fight against Cro Cop. I was a big fan of his even before I started training, and I already feared him back then, just watching his fights.”

KNOCKOUTS
“It’s what I train to do; it’s great when I accomplish my goal in a fight.”

MMA PART II
“I love training and I love fighting, and the sacrifices pay off. I am very happy with what I am doing and what I have achieved in the sport.”