DEREK BRUNSON

I'm not like hurting by any means, but I'm not really, you know, let me say, I'm not really cool with doing fighting just to break even.

MMA in my opinion is the hardest sport in the world, no doubt.

Jacare, he has power. We're two strong guys. He relies on being aggressive and coming forward. He looks to get the takedown. He's punching and he's shooting. I've never been taken down in a fight. Now, I'm not disregarding that I could be taken down, but I just know that I have a little bit more when it comes to giving up takedowns.

I'd say I just fell in love with trying to knock people out really quick instead of letting the fight develop.

MMA is a sport. We go out here and we do battle. Everybody has family, friends, they train really hard.

Henri Hooft is a master on the feet when it comes to striking.

Uriah Hall is on the level of Anderson Silva's striking.

When you're talking mixed martial arts, to have a win over a guy who is by many considered the greatest of all time, is definitely going to take your career to the next level.

I'm a straight animal.

And honestly, I'm not being cocky, I'm not talking trash, but anybody who beat me would have to get lucky. Nobody is just going to out-technique me.

I know what I'm capable of when I'm prepared and dialed in.

No disrespect to Whittaker, I know I can beat him.

I'm always looking for those knockouts but I'm looking to do it in a better fashion. Not rushing, not blitzing, not putting myself at risk. Not just being too greedy.

When you have a fighter who's been punched a lot and been knocked out a lot of times, they're not going to be able to recover. They're going to look like they were knocked out.

Obviously, you've got to go out there and focus on each fight before moving onto the next one.

I've been through Strikeforce, UFC now, but I never leave fights busted up.

I don't think too many guys are raising their hands trying to fight me.

So I've definitely had a crazy career, but I'm starting to put it together and starting to take my time and know that I can really do some damage if I just slow down just a little bit.

I messed up my eyes. It's funny, I was training and we thought I had a mild concussion. But you know, I was out in Albuquerque and I would train from 9:30 to 11:00 and then I would rest all day long until 5:00 and I'd be playing on my phone, so I was playing on my phone and it scrambled my fore-vision.

I'm a dangerous guy.

I still wanna keep my aggressive ways and let my skills be on display.

I've got good jiu-jitsu skills, good wrestling, good ground and pound, good power on my feet, good strikes.

I've changed up my training over the years; I don't lift weights as much as I used to, so I'm built for the cardio now.

My striking is on a different level.

My fight against Chris Leben was a war, and I was fulfilled with that victory because that guy has a ton of experience fighting in the UFC.