Chris Arreola Quotes

The reality of this sport is champions make a heck of a lot more than non-champions, so the pressure to keep the title in order to keep earning that money is immense.

It's kind of nice in some ways having an Olympic Trials where I finished second. You can kind of go in more under the radar facing a 2:03 guy and facing a lot of dudes who are faster than I am, whereas, before Beijing, I had one of the top 10 times in the field, or something like that.

Tension is the greatest curse in sport. I've never had any tension. You give the best you have - you win or lose. What's the difference if you give all you've got to give?

I feel pressure every day. It is only pressure that I put on myself, but I would expect all professional sportspeople to feel pressure to perform their best whenever they are at work.

I'm nervous when I play in the Masters or most other tournaments.

Generally speaking, the more money that's involved in anything, the more people are expecting and hoping that it's not going to fail.

I get nervous for any competition. I also get really competitive.

I never expected to win a Grand Slam because, for me, I was not good enough to beat those guys.

A banker can write a bad poem and no one thinks anything about it. But let a poet write a single bad check and he is in trouble.

Sledging makes things interesting. There are no robots playing. They are humans who want to perform well for the country. So when stakes are so high, emotions will take over. Sometimes sledging gets the best out of you.

The night I won at the Apollo, I was only doing it for the $10.

I think watching multi-events is much worse than competing. Especially when you have vested interests because you go through the emotional ups and downs.

When you don't play those big matches for a few years, it's tough to play back-to-back after that.

Too many times I have had to sacrifice a trophy or the chance of winning one because the owners have said you have to stay in the Premier League at all costs.

I had a lot of pressure in my career: when you play at World Cup or Champions League final, there is pressure on your shoulders.

There is always a pressure if you play every game and especially when you are representing your country.

Some people actually pay bills with their win bonuses. If you don't win, there isn't anyone in the dressing-room smiling or joking or saying, 'Oh, there's always the next game.' In those lower divisions, losing actually hurts people and affects lives.

You are under some sort of pressure to win any match. It is natural.

If I'm on my way to play a round of golf there is an anxiety in me, a feeling of 'I can't lose today.'

I need that fear factor in training; otherwise, I might get beat by someone I should never lose against, all because I couldn't get up in the morning.

That's what it's all about in MMA, we're not the highest paid athletes in the world, so when you can get the big money fights you have to take them.

I hope I can make the decision to give up before my legs give up on me. I do not want to be embarrassing on the field and feel one day that I'm not at my best and players can beat me easily in duels.

I cannot see a situation when I won't feel pressure to play well and win.

People gotta realize as a fighter you want to become a champion because you get paid way more money. So the belt is very intriguing for that reason.

When you step foot into your first professional tournament, everything you've done in your amateur career really doesn't matter any more.