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It is difficult, but you need to be honest with yourself as an athlete, and have a team telling you the right things, being honest with you.
We are not in the playground anymore, it's not about who is the toughest, it's about my career, I want to have a long and successful career.
It's not always shine and good feelings in training. But when it comes down to it you need to have that happiness and motivation in training.
You want to be like a ticking bomb. As calm as possible before the fight, to save energy… But ready to explode the second you step into the cage.
Whenever you're training and warming up for the fights, you have your friends around you, you have friends that will compete and we push each other.
DC is smart and he's a big inspiration for me. Thirty-nine years old and two belts. I can't really trash the guy and I can't really have beef with him.
That feeling of getting your hand raised. It's hard to explain with words, you have to do it to understand the feeling of a 'W.' That's what drives me.
When it comes to a title fight, if I will fight Jon Jones one day, if he's still the champ, I will be more than ready for it. I will take home the belt.
The main thing I learned in San Diego was I can't do this and compete with the best guys in the world if I'm just doing MMA as a hobby. It has to be my job.
I'm not one to trash talk my opponents. If the talk is on, then let's go, I'll say the truth - nothing more or less. But it doesn't affect me in my competition.
I've always seen myself as a big light heavyweight fighter, I have a big frame and walk around quite heavy. So I've always had to cut around 33 lbs to make weight.
I'm an athlete, so giving a suit a casual look is important to me. Sometimes I wear sneakers with my suit or I will wear a blazer, tie and collared shirt with jeans.
It comes with it, this is my work and all the media thing is just a big bonus for me. I'm just enjoying being in the spotlight right now so it's not a big deal for me.
I didn't and still don't watch sport all that often, but I did see all the Pride fights back in the day, which is when I first saw MMA and I felt that's something I really want to do.
I've been learning a lot in my years, it's not just the fight itself, its a lot mentally fighting each other, that's something I learned later days. I realize now it's very important.
I'm never satisfied, I always want to do better. That's how it is to be an elite athlete, you're never happy. When you start getting happy and you start feeling satisfied, you're done.
DC is tough and he's such a good athlete. I think he's better at heavyweight than he is at light heavyweight. I think he's stronger, he can eat and he doesn't have to stress about the weight.
I think motocross is a much more dangerous sport than what we do. These guys are flying through the air at high speeds rising their lives. What we do in the octagon is not even close to what these guys do on the course.
I often eat a lot of food when I eat and I eat maybe three or four times a day. I eat a good breakfast I have a protein shake or something between breakfast and my workout. After working out I have a shake and then eat lunch.
I'm a fighter and I just want to fight better guys all the time, tougher guys so I just want to beat better guys and my goal is to be number one one day so if I get a chance to fight a better guy I'll do it, anytime, anywhere.
Yeah of course, it's a lot of emotions, a lot of different thoughts, it's a big thing, the biggest I've done in my life so far but still it's just a fight for me, I go in there and have fun basically. I'm doing something I love to do.
I tend to keep my suit look casual but I like a good pocket square. It can change the look of any suit and give it an 'old school' feel. My preference is to make the square unique - different from the tie and suit color, so it really pops.
I'm working hard and I think I'm where I should be at by now but I'm in no hurry at all, I'm taking one fight at a time, I want to win my fights. With the title shot I don't know yet but if I get the chance someday, I will be more than ready.
I try to understand the sport more and more as I develop, and I try to be a better fighter overall and work on everything, not just every aspect, I try to combine it too. I work on it every day, and I try to be a better fighter in every practice.
I'm based in Stockholm and I train at Nexus Fighter Centre, it's my club and my head coach Andreas Michael but for two weeks now I went to Vegas to train with Team Alliance with coach Eric Del Fierro, Phil Davis and top level guys. I had top level sparring so I'm more than ready.
As a 6'5' guy, the suit fit is extremely important. Getting a suit made for my body means it will fit in all the right places. For me, I look for a suit that fits well in the arms and shoulders and allows me to move... after all, I'm a fighter, so it needs to give me room to breathe.
My best advice for mental training is simply to create good habits, in order to build a sense of security and calm around you. Also, you could try to distance yourself emotionally from the whole situation. In my case, I just look at it objectively: We are two guys going inside a cage to work. That's it. Try to de-escalate the pressure. Take a couple of deep breaths. Don't hype things up. And stay positive, even if you're fighting for your life.