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I can take a punch.
I was not released by the UFC.
I never pull out of the fights.
Boxers are absolute novices in the clinch.
Don't get me wrong, I'm very thankful for UFC.
I want to be able to take fights on short notice.
I'm a true fighter. No one will ever make me quit.
I always seek the highest challenge, the biggest challenge.
I have my reasons to fight every single guy on the UFC roster.
When I first fought in K-1, I knocked out a guy in two minutes.
I certainly will explore all avenues. K-1, boxing, all of them.
This isn't a very manly thing to do, not showing up for a fight.
I always seek the biggest challenge and MMA is the biggest challenge.
I'm able to do it a lot better outside the UFC than when I was in the UFC.
Born in Russia, forged in Ireland, they don't make them like this anymore.
Whether it's in the UFC or elsewhere, you need to be winning in this sport.
I always had an interest in MMA but I didn't start training until I was 21.
I honestly really like Ryan Hall. There's nothing bad I could say about this guy.
For me it's my biggest sporting achievement being Conor McGregor's sparring partner.
It's not just boxing I'm considering, it's K-1 too. That's something I've always liked.
I've never been a big fan of jewellery or any of the shiny stuff, I just want to fight.
I bring in the hardest sparring partners you can imagine and I'm going through the guys.
It's called the Ultimate Fighting Championship and people pay to come and see the fights.
I want to fight everyone. Weight makes no difference when it comes to who I want to fight.
I want to improve and to achieve many, many things in MMA, boxing and bare-knuckle boxing.
If no one is watching, it doesn't matter what else you are achieving, you are not successful.
With the kind of power that I have - no one hits as hard as I do in the featherweight division.
Look, I always say this, 99 percent of people in the UFC would be gone if they have made $100 million.
I just couldn't turn down the money Bare Knuckle FC were throwing at me, so I ended up signing with them.
I was absolutely honored to be invited to the Kremlin. It has been a dream of mine ever since I was a kid.
Once you're inside that Octagon, it's one-on-one. Your skill versus his skill. Your heart versus his heart.
UFC, this is the premier organization. This is where the toughest matchups are and this is what I'm always after.
If a fight happens between Conor and Khabib in Russia, the support would be divided between them. It would be 50-50.
At the end of the day, you have to get finishes. If you want to be successful in this industry that's what you need.
When I was in the UFC I challenged some of the biggest guys in the world. When I was fighting in Europe I did the same.
Honestly, I'm destroying people in sparring, but for some reason I haven't been able to show my full potential in the UFC.
More and more Russians started watching the UFC when Conor came along. The more they watched, the more they understood it.
My attitude is that I just never give up. I've been choked out twice and had my arm broken in a fight but I've never tapped.
I feel I have the necessary skills to compete with the best, I wouldn't have even aimed for the UFC if I didn't think I did.
I think there is a big difference between real people and Internet people. Real life people understand that this is a sport.
I love fighting. It gives me a cheque to pay for my food and for my accommodation and that's great but I just love to fight.
A personality like Conor's appeals to the Russian people a lot. He's always ready to go, he knocks people out and he's tough.
Any of the shows I've ever fought on, they always want to have me back because I always have the fight of the night performance.
If you look at Mayweather's fights he often likes to get into the clinch, but what is a boxer in a clinch against a wrestler, an MMA fighter?
If you truly believe that all the training you do can go out the window just because a guy is a few pounds heavier than you, that's just crazy.
To me, KSW is a huge promotion and it's on my list of one of the things I want to do as an MMA fighter. I think that goes for any European fighter.
Being able to train nothing but boxing for a full year made me a much better boxer as I brought in professional boxers helped me make a lot of gains.
Whether I like them or I don't like them, it makes no difference for me. Whoever is standing across the cage from me, that's who is going to go down.
At the end of the day, fans make the show. If there's no one watching, then there's no one paying, then we don't earn any money, then what's the point?
What do you call success in our sport? What determines success? Are you successful if you are 10-0 and no one is watching your fights? Is that success?