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I always go forward and try for the knockout or submission. I'm going to finish my opponent. I'm not going to try to win by decision.
A lot of fighters just go to the gym and spar or wrestle, but they forget about their conditioning. Things like that cause lots of injuries.
I just keep getting better and keep learning. Keep an open mind, and live in the moment, and love what I do. Discipline myself, and hard work.
Guys want to make a name for themselves, they look at my age and think they will run over me. It's not like that, though. I'm tougher than that.
I want to fight Anthony Johnson again, for sure. I want to fight Jon Jones again. I want to fight the guys that beat me, those who are at the top.
I want Shogun because he's a legend of the sport. I respect him very much. He has good style and it matches with mine. I want to fight him in Brazil.
Little injuries are always happening, so you've just got to train through those. You've also got to have the right training partners, people you trust.
I train with top guys like Chuck Liddell and Lyoto Machida, I have trained with Junior dos Santos and Cain Velasquez, and nobody have ever dominated me.
My jiu-jitsu style is not a beautiful style. I have very simple submissions. It works, but it's not like Demian Maia or Nick Diaz's very exciting style.
I have fought with 'Rampage' Jackson and I took him down easily. Honestly, I scored six takedowns effortlessly. I have fought Ryan Bader and I took him down too.
You look at the staff, the whole staff, from the security to the nutritionists, everybody. Everybody's happy. They want to be there. They look like they want to be in the UFC.
It's important to have the right strategy. I can't commit to things or fight like I used to. I can't just bang it out. I have to be more intelligent in training and in fighting.
I always wanted to fight Cormier. He has this fighting style, he's a warrior, I always wanted to fight someone like him, a guy like 'Rampage,' someone who moves forward and fights.
I am Sobralia's biggest idol now; people love and support me a lot there. There are always some people to criticize you, but that's okay - 99.9 percent of the people there support me.
I was always a hard worker, and that's why I got invited to come to America. My uncle actually said, 'You've to go to America. You work like this in America, you're gonna make a lot more money.'
I love to compete in Abu Dhabi. I've been there two times, in 2009 and 2011, and it was a great show. It's a great way to stay sharp because you're competing with the best grapplers in the world.
He sells, he knows how to talk, he's smart, he's no fool. McGregor doesn't fight, he just reacts, he's never first to throw a punch. He goes in there to tease, not to fight. He's like Muhammad Ali.
The guys I lost to always challenged the title, because they were, like, title eliminators. I lost to Alexander Gustafsson and Anthony Johnson and they fought for the belt. Then I won fights against really tough guys.
I used to love martial arts movies starring Bruce Lee and Jean Claude Van Damme. In one of Van Damme's movies, he would break a pine tree. I would kick banana trees because I used to live on a farm. My father would get mad at me because I would break all of the banana trees around.
When I came to the United States, I saw a lot of Mike Tyson. I would stay up and watch all of the Mike Tyson fights. A friend here said, 'You got to do Jiu-Jitsu. That's the thing.' I said, 'C'mon, Jiu-Jitsu would never beat Mike Tyson.' So, he showed me the Royce Gracie tape. I was so impressed with the thing.
I grew up in a very small town, on a farm. There was not even a TV in my house at that time. I didn't have much connection with the outside world and couldn't see martial arts. When I was 10 or 12, that's when we got our first TV. We only had maybe two channels. At 16 years old, I remember watching Marco Ruas on TV.
My favorite fight was when I fought Rampage. I always wanted to fight Rampage because of the way he fights. It's about pride. The way he comes forward. My friends in Brazil would always tell me they wanted me to fight Rampage. When I fought him, it was a big deal for me. It was the first big fight I was in. It was a great fight.
The secret is to listen, open your mind, listen to the pros. With the help of the UFC's Performance Institute, too. Listening to my coaches and listening to my body, too. Having discipline. It's not just listening, too, because sometimes people have the knowledge but don't know how to use it. You need to be able to put that to practice.