Ben Askren Quotes

There are certain things that I always dreamed of, like fighting in the UFC. There's just certain things that I feel like haven't been accomplished there. There's such great women coming up in the sport; seems like a wonderful time to be in women's MMA.

I never fought in my life outside of a ring.

I started doing MMA and boxing at the same time - I always wanted to try an MMA fight to see what it was like. I had one fight, and I was hooked.

I want to be an expert in different fighting styles, new training methods, new ways of thinking.

Even in my first year in the UFC I fought five times in the year.

Back when the UFC first started, I wanted to see what MMA was all about; at the time, I was training with Tank Abbott, and so I went to see him fight. While at the fight, I saw this guy fighting that I just crushed in high school wrestling, and I thought, 'Hey, I'm a street fighter, and I have a wrestling background,' so I gave it a shot.

I quite like thai boxing. But then I'm not surprised because I did taekwondo and karate and judo and all of that when I was a kid, and then just stopped when I got a bit older.

Obviously wrestling is a core component of MMA. And among UFC fighters, my take-down defence is considered quite high.

Chuck Liddell loves to fight. That's his passion. That's what he loves in life. But there comes a day and age - fighting is a young man's game.

Jon Jones is a great fighter.

If you want to prove your worth and prove you're one of the best in the world, you need to be fighting in the UFC.

To say martial arts, or the combative form - mixed martial arts - is not an art form is incorrect.

I went through a training camp; I worked extremely hard. I prepared for UFC 200. This was the big one. This one meant everything to me.

It's MMA. I'm a complete MMA fighter. I expect everything. I'm ready for all of it.

At the end of the day, that's just boxing - it's a different sport altogether. But when I finish fighting for the UFC, there are so many different options I have. Boxing is another option I could take.

For me, being a part of the halcyon days of Pride Fighting Championships and then watching the explosion of the UFC following the 'Ultimate Fighter,' I've been fortunate to be in the right place at the right time.

I've wrestled my whole life, and when I got done with college, I went back to school to become a firefighter. I liked MMA, but I didn't really know if I wanted to get punched in the face!

I've fought tactical fights in a gym, but never in a fight before.

Bellator offered me a job. UFC never offered me an opportunity to fight. There's no question that UFC is the top. It's a machine. A lot of people, including myself, have helped build the UFC to where it is today.

I respect Conor McGregor a lot because this man changed everything in the UFC.

I saw my first UFC fight when I was 15 and figured, 'This is what I want to do when I grow up.'

When I went to college, I came across MMA. My first reaction was, 'No, I don't want to fight. I just want to learn jujitsu.' I didn't know what UFC was; in my mind it was this violent, ugly sport. But when I watched my first amateur fight, I fell in love with the sport and thought it was beautiful.

I was in my junior year of high school and I had been playing soccer and basketball almost my entire life, and I wanted a change of pace. I wanted to do something more, something different. That's when I found an MMA gym about 45 minutes from my house and fell in love with the idea of becoming a professional fighter.

I'm 17-0 in the UFC. I'm unbeaten in MMA.

I started training for MMA when I was 18 years old. My jujitsu coach told me, 'Amanda, you should try MMA.' Since that moment, I got in love with this sport and haven't stopped.