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I remember my first World Championships. I got zero turns, and I got turned multiple times, and I was still a World Champion.
I wanted to be amongst the greats. I wanted to be a Simone Biles, a Michael Phelps, an Ashton Eaton. I wanted to be those guys.
Wrestlers, you don't just get better from wrestling live. To improve technique, you have to learn it, then drill it. Drilling is key!
I've dreamed on numerous occasions that I've lost the biggest event in my life, and there was absolutely nothing that I could do about it.
I was an All-American at three different weight classes in college. Started off at 149, then 157, and then finished up my senior year at 165.
I'm not a big guy that watches technique from my opponents. I try to do what I do best and hope that my stuff is better than their best stuff.
The way the podium is situated in wrestling, the first place spot is the center. So if I'm in a bathroom, I'll look for the first place urinal.
Every single time I get on the mat, every tournament, I get to see what I'm made of, how tough I am, where my desire is, and how hard I've worked.
I'd definitely like to give back. I know a lot of kids watch college wrestling, and a lot of kids watch me, want to meet me and introduce themselves.
I'm not afraid to tell people what I hope to accomplish and what I believe I'm capable of. I'm ready to take the backlash if I don't accomplish my dreams.
So many kids dream about playing in the NFL. But I was 130 pounds in ninth grade. I looked around and didn't see any 130-pound wide receivers in the pros.
I didn't see my son walk for the first time. I've left my wife at home with two kids for long periods of time to go to training camps, to foreign countries.
Once you've reached the highest level, you always want to get back there. It's like, once you drive a Ferrari, you're not satisfied driving a Honda anymore.
I've won every single event there is to win as a wrestler, and I still continue to come back every single year. The hard part for me is, 'OK, how long can you do this?'
I love legends. I love reading up on the greats in their time period. I think, 'Man, what it would be like to live when they were competing and see them at their best!'
It's been a lot of responsibility to be an ambassador for U.S. wrestling and the sport. It's a tough journey. There's a lot of obligations but also a lot of opportunity.
If I do consider fighting, it won't be until after the Olympic games in 2020, and then from there I'll reevaluate, see if it's something that would be a realistic option for me.
It's easy to be selfish and focus on what you have to do and what you need to do to accomplish your goals and be like, 'I'll give back later,' but there's no better time than now.
It's a difficult place being on top because, for me, beating the Average Joe has no significance, but for the Average Joe, beating me could be the biggest match of his life, potentially.
People need to feel like their heroes are human, not on the mat but in the world. The more people can see that, the more they can understand that they're capable of doing great things as well.
Within the realm of wrestling, it's been the same every year - just continually trying to improve and evolve as a wrestler, putting myself in a position to not maintain but maximize my potential.
I have high expectations for myself - as an athlete, as a man, as an individual - and wrestling has helped me build a lot of character knowing that I have to remain humble but also fight complacency.
There weren't a lot of people who believed in my abilities. But the more I grew and developed as a man, the more I believed in myself, and the harder I worked, the better I got and the more I progressed.
I wouldn't go to pro wrestling. It's not really my thing. I'm a fan, but I think every sport could take some notes from the WWE - how they've progressed and stayed relevant for such a long period of time.
A lot of kids can't identify with the things I've done and where I'm from and who I am as an individual. That's why I've tried to be a person and live my life in a way that can be identified by all cultures.
Within a match, there's so many things that happen that could ultimately determine the outcome: You reach too much with your right hand, you step forward with your left leg, you get your head out of position.
There's a pride in representing your country on a stage like the sport of wrestling, which I've done since I was five years old. There's nothing that can deter me other than my own decision to leave the sport.
Donald Trump and I have very different views on Iranians. I am confident that if he ever visited the country, he'd learn a lot about the people and come back to the States with a newfound appreciation for the Persians.
It's one of those things: we've got guys that are very offensive and can take down anyone, and we've got guys that don't shoot at all but are very hard to take down. It's one of those things. You've got to decide what you're good at.
Every person I wrestle, it's the biggest match of their career. They're Buster Douglas. But what's the honor in being Mike Tyson and beating Buster Douglas? I win and move on. They win, and it's a game-changer for the rest of their lives.
There's just a spirit about you that it's such a beautiful art form in which you can implement strategy in order to subdue another individual. And I really feel like that's in wrestling and UFC; we're kind of - we collaborate in that way.
A lot of guys get out of wrestling immediately after winning a gold medal. Every time another Olympics comes around, it's always a bunch of fresh faces. For me, to win an Olympic gold and have a chance to win another would be huge for our sport.
I have wrestled in almost every tournament in the world. I've won the Olympics, NCAAs, and World Championships, but none of those can truly compare to the feeling I felt when I won my first and only state championship my senior year of high school.
I just want one fight. Because, like, for me, it's not about the status, not about the glory. It's not about the money. Like, I just want to throw my hands and see what I'm made of. And I think that wrestlers and fighters have that same fighting spirit.
For Americans, of course, it's football, basketball, and baseball. We live for it. In many ways, it sums up who we are. In Iran, it's all about wrestling. The patriotism toward their country comes out in the way they wrestle, so it makes sense why they're the best.
You watch Conor McGregor and Floyd Mayweather fight, Floyd can just throw a few punches, or he can do a lot of defense; he can slip a few punches, let Conor get a few shots in. You can't really do that in wrestling without getting scored on or putting yourself at risk.
There was a period of time early in my career where I was like, 'I'm gonna definitely fight. I definitely want to be a part of this lifestyle.' Then there was a period of time where I had so much success in the sport of wrestling, and I was like, 'I don't really need fighting.'
I take a lot of pride in beating guys like Kyle Dake or David Taylor or these guys who have been basically bred to do this from Day 1. The best camps, the best high schools, the best universities. I never had that. It's not necessary, but I never had any of the frills a lot of those guys had.
As wrestlers, we're not trying to hurt or damage physically our opponent. All we're trying to do is score points and get our hands raised, so I think that's where we differ from the UFC, but I think that also the way in which we could address each other could be cool from a competitive spirit.
It's always been a battle for me between personal goals and wanting to be able to share the success I've had with my family. And I guess as I've gotten older, I've kind of realized, you know, you can do all these cool things, but if you don't have people in your life to share it with, what's the point?
I've become close with Masoud Esmaeilpour and consider him a friend. We send each other messages from time to time on Instagram, checking in to see how the other is doing. Whenever I see him, he's always a gentleman, giving me tips about my next opponent. There is a tremendous amount of respect in our friendship.
It's one thing to never accomplish anything. You start from the bottom, you remain at the bottom, and all you know is the bottom. When you start at the bottom and you get to the top, and you feel the success and the notoriety and the recognition from being the champion, and you go back to losing, that's a tough place to be in.