Sage Northcutt Quotes

The day I step in the cage with Cyborg, I will be 100% prepared.

You have 20 fights, you should know what it takes to get yourself ready. If you don't feel like you're ready, you let your coach know 'hey we need to work on a little bit more of this.'

When I prepare for a fight, I never expect it to be easy. I believe that that would create a chance for me to not give my best in the Octagon.

The learning curve, and the things that you have to adapt to on a daily basis in the UFC, is pretty crazy. It's a huge burden for anybody to have: not just the fighting itself but learning how to deal with the other responsibilities.

I had Jake Ellenberger. I trained very hard for him; then I was able to get Carlos Condit, an excellent fighter. That's what it's all about.

From the very beginning, every time I trained for a fight, I didn't train to beat the guy I was fighting. I trained to beat Anderson Silva.

When I was competing in Muay Thai I used to fight every month.

I know since my first fight in the UFC I can beat Ronda Rousey, but of course I have to take my time and put everything together.

In the future, I want to have super-fights.

Anytime you think about ring rust and travel and camps back-to-back, it helps not having any bad injuries and being able to train consistently.

When I face an opponent in the cage, it doesn't really matter who they are. Whether they're my buddy, like Scott Jorgensen, or someone I don't like, like Dominick Cruz, I'm going in there and realizing this guy is trying to hurt me, and that's what I'm going to do to him. I try to keep it real basic.

I want to fight a UFC fighter.

I've actually picked up a lot of good habits from just watching film from Demetrious Johnson.

I don't believe in ring rust. I used to believe in ring rust, but I talked to my buddy Dominic Cruz, who's a bantamweight, and he basically said it's a mindset. What you do in between in your time off determines how you're going to look when you come in there.

I'm training and preparing because nothing is predictable in boxing. I'm preparing for those rounds, and if it happens that I get a shot, whatever advantage I have, I will be ready for 12 rounds.

I want to be more than prepared for the game, for the preseason, for the season.

There are so many variables that go into a fight, you shouldn't waste your time worrying about the other fighters.

I understand everything Ronda Rousey is gonna bring that day. I don't think she's gonna be able to deal with my striking. She's gonna be really surprised when I touch her, when I connect on my punches.

It's not an excuse, but I'd say I didn't perform well in the big fights because I wasn't prepared properly.

You know, I'm never really 100-percent in any of those fights, because it's so hard to have perfect preparation for fighting and cutting weight and making 170 pounds, and being in the best shape for training camp and to make that cut.

You do have to fight different when you might have to fight three times in one night. I really like fighting just one time a night, this lets you do more things.

If I could have had the opportunity to be a full-time fighter while I was one of the best in the world, what could I have done then?

I don't prepare myself for a specific fighter. I don't choose a fight to prepare myself for another fighter.

Every day I wake up and go to sleep, I'm thinking about beating Cub Swanson

How you run the race - your planning, preparation, practice, and performance - counts for everything. Winning or losing is a by-product, and aftereffect, of that effort.