Fight Preparation Quotes

There was a rumor I was walking around at 183 pounds. When I left my room to fight Conor McGregor, I was 179 pounds. That means by the time I walked in the cage, I was probably 175, 174 pounds.

I abstain from any kind of release for six weeks before a fight, no self-pleasure, nothing. Even in my dreams, I'll be about to have sex with a beautiful girl and I'll say, 'Sorry darling, I'm fighting in a few weeks.' That's control, bro, when you're turning down a hot chick in your subconscious.

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.

I had my first professional fight was in 2001 in Venezuela - it was also my first international trip away from Brazil. It was a great experience. Then in 2005, I went to Finland and won. The next year there was a tournament in Brazil with three fights in one night. I was the underdog and won all three fights.

I'm ready for Joseph Parker. The question is, is he ready for me?

I get a pit in my stomach every time I think of that last attempt to make 155 for the Anthony Pettis fight. I just get this nasty feeling in my stomach, because no exaggeration, that was one of the scariest moments of my life. I remember that I couldn't stop my body from shaking.

Conditioning is the most important thing in MMA.

I train six days a week for four to five hours a day. I like to keep the same schedule when I'm in camp for every fight.

You'll never see me go into a fight and struggle to get up for it. I understand first and foremost what's at stake.

To do eleven fights in four months is pretty crazy. In some shows that we do in Asia, there are three or four fights over a six-month period, so you have time to recover and gain your stamina.

I'm more vicious in sparring when I am around 160 pounds or coming down from heavier than that.

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

Training's training; boxing's boxing. Everyone does the same kind of stuff: they spar, they train, they do whatever they do to prepare for fights.

At the end of the day, when two combatants get into the ring and/or cage, it's anybody's game, especially in MMA.

I trained karate in 2001 to fight Heath Herring.

I didn't mentally prepare as well for Ngoudjo as I should have. I was a little lax in the fight.

When I'm training, I use heavier crepe for wraps, for protection - but you're not allowed to use them in competition. So when it comes to the fight, the wraps are softer.

I'm not selfish before a fight or afterwards, but for the time of the fight itself, I have to think totally of myself.

I'm very anxious. If you're going to fight the best fighters, you have to be prepared for a war, a highly-anticipated fight.

It's like a dance, to choreograph a fight is like a dance. It's very specific. You have to carefully plan it out. Because if someone gets hurt, then we didn't do our job, someone screwed up. The fight choreographers and the actors involved, we messed up somewhere.

I just want to go out and compete. Plus the main thing is, at 55 I need a good amount of time to prepare just to make the weight cut. At 70 I can just take fights as they come and just compete as much as I want.

I think Adrien Broner was at his best. If he wasn't, I would have knocked him out. He was very motivated, he changed camps and made weight with no issues.

Fighting is different than other sports because you're not competing as regularly.

It's nice that fans want to see me fight. It definitely helps and gets everyone excited. It gets the UFC excited, and they are quick to put me back in there. But I really just focus on myself and getting ready to fight.

If you want to fight in the UFC, you've got to realize that you are just an elephant in the circus. As soon as you ask for more peanuts, you have to go find a different circus.