MMA is a sport. We go out here and we do battle. Everybody has family, friends, they train really hard.
I'm an entertainer. I love to fight.
I want everybody on Fox to see my fighting style, to really become a fan of the sport.
It's interesting because my Mixed Martial Arts upbringing is less Brazilian jiu-jitsu, which is the traditional thing that people study.
I think, as a fighter, I kept improving. My movements improved, my accuracy improved.
Jackie Chan, Jet Li and Bruce Lee are my masters; they're the inspiration for my work. Bruce Lee was a heavy fighter who threw hard punches. Jackie moves very fast and uses a lot of comedy, and Jet Li is very fluid. I've tried to combine all of their styles and added some things of my own.
Fighting is endurance, knocking a guy out in 10 seconds is not fighting, its beating him to the punch. But when you put in that time, that is fighting because you are thinking
During the fight you really don't feel much; you've got so much adrenaline going. Luckily I've mostly been on the winning side, so I haven't felt much pain inside the octagon.
I was about 10 years old. I just remember the film Enter the Dragon with Bruce Lee blowing my mind on the screen and I thought to myself, "That's what I want to do for a living when I'm older." Bruce Lee was so magnetic and charismatic and held the screen so well. It's just a very powerful performance in that film. That's the first memory I have - him in that movie.
If you can hit a guy once, you can hit him twice.
You don't get points for leaving the chin open.
Everybody wants to be a good fighter.
When you fight, if it is a real fight, use every tool that you have, use your whole body. Use your fists, your legs, your fingers, your head if you have to, and hit them in every vulnerable spot, the balls, the eyes etc. to win.
There's a teacher at the Renzo Gracie Academy in New York named John Danaher. He's leading this whole group of fighters named the Danaher Death Squad, and they're revolutionizing how that world works. I actually went and signed up for classes mostly because, man, if there's innovation like that happening in New York, I want to be around it.
MMA has evolved. When you look at an MMA fighter's skill set, boxing has to be a big piece of it. All of them have a boxing coach now and strive to have a good stand-up game, knowing that to be a complete fighter, you have to tend to your striking skills.
I'm hooked on martial arts.
I got in MMA for one reason: to see if I could be the best in the world.
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've fought tactical fights in a gym, but never in a fight before.
I love striking, but MMA and Muay Thai are different.
I'm the best fighter in the world. No one can beat me....My objective is to inflict as much pain as possible, to win and win spectacularly...Ever since I was 12 years old, I was groomed to be the heavyweight champion of the world. I've been prepared to handle the pressure, the dealing with the press, everything.
It's only boxing, don't worry about it. Let's get it on!
There's always going to be some phenom fighter coming up. If they're special athletes and highly trained, they'll do big things.
Every action is seen to fall into one of three main categories, guarding, hitting, or moving. Here, then, are the elements of combat, whether in war or pugilism.
MMA was love at fight sight. I felt like I was born to do it.
