Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
It's an absolute honour and privilege to get out there and be an Australian headlining an Australian card. That's unreal; it really is.
I train hard; I have the best coaching staff in the world... We always do the right things. I stick to the plan, and we get things done.
I want to fight all the best. I want to be the best fighter in the world. The only way to truly attain that title is by beating everyone.
People smarter than me told me that my potential was bigger than just winning a belt. Now I believe that, and that's what I'm striving for.
My philosophy is fight anyone, anywhere. If you're going to be the best then you're going to have to beat them all, so why pick and choose?
As a fan of this sport, I am gutted to see 'Jacare' lose. To be matched up against him and to have the honor of fighting him, it blew my mind.
I watch a couple of fights to get a visual image in my head. I don't like doing a lot of research on my opponents; I leave that to my coaches.
Come fight night, there will be nerves, but it's how you react to those nerves - doing what you need to regardless - that's how you win fights.
You know those hard days you go home where you've been worked to the bone and you just want to do nothing? In fight prep, every day is that day.
I'm hugely into video games; I always have been. I started on the Sega with games like Sonic, Battletoads, and Tetris... all those old-school games.
I want to be known as one of the best fighters ever. I don't just need a shiny medallion to tell me anything. I want to beat all the top-caliber dudes.
I've never cared who I fight. And that's something I just say - 'I'll fight anyone' - it's something I've lived up to my whole career. And I'm proud of that.
Every fight, I try to get out there and set an example to show the rest of the world we have fighters from Australia, and we're for real, and we're here to stay.
Although I didn't spend much time in New Zealand at all, I feel really privileged to have that Maori blood and link to my past. I got my tattoo out of respect to that.
Fighting is fighting. Family life is family life. I need a distinct barrier between the two. Obviously, my family dictate how I'm feeling and my head space. But work's work.
Take a martial art that you enjoy. Don't worry about the end result; just enjoy getting up and going to training. And there is no right martial art to do. They are all good.
Before The Ultimate Fighter, I was appearing before a couple of hundred people at most. Now, I'm on the card of a Las Vegas blockbuster... this is every Australian fighter's dream.
It was an absolute honour to fight in Vegas. Every fighter dreams of fighting at the MGM Grand. That's where so many legends have fought before and so many legends will continue to fight.
The journey has moulded me into the person I am today. The journey of my mixed martial arts experience has been filled with ups and downs, but through that, I have come out a much better man.
If Mayweather wants to come over and fight in the UFC, then do it. It's hardcore here, though. I don't think it'll be a stroll in the park. Granted, he's the best boxer ever seen, just about.
Everyone thinks Australia and New Zealand MMA fighters don't have that wrestling base, whereas a lot of Americans and other countries have, with them being able to do wrestling at high-school levels.
I would love to have a crack at Michael Bisping - with or without the gold, I'd want to have a crack at him because I respect him as a fighter, and he's a tough dude, and I'd love to swing it out with him.
When you ask a guy, 'Are you gonna take a fight if your opponent doesn't make weight?' Is it really asking? Does he really have a choice? When you back them into a corner like that, is there really a choice to be made?
Getting back to 100 per cent is one thing, but working at 100 per cent is something else entirely. And given one of my main goals has always been improving my skill set, to do that, I need to be working out at 100 per cent.
Basically, I try to get across my striking, wrestling and grappling, and jujitsu. Every day, across the board, I try to get an equal amount of sessions throughout the week because I need to improve in all aspects of my fighting.
It is amazing to have the UFC to come here to Perth... it is great for Australian Mixed Martial Arts and great for the sport, and it is going to be great for Perth to have such a world-wide event, through pay-per-view, hosted here.
Fighter, father, husband - it's all the same person. I know the UFC stereotype is that we're all thugs. But I'd like people to know that I don't have to switch one off to try to be another. Being a father and a fighter, it's who I am.
Moving to middleweight had a massive impact on my training regime and my mental space leading into everyday training. I was training for the fight, not just trying to burn calories and get my weight down. It was a big mental relief there.
Every time I step out there in the Octagon, I aim to do Australia proud. And this isn't for popularity or a fan base; it has never been for that. It's just because I love my country, and I want to show the world what we're doing down here.
I'm very objective driven, so for me it's very important to know who I'm fighting, when I'm fighting, and roughly the direction I'm working in. It gives me that little extra push to do what I need to do to get the sessions, to work towards something.
My standard training week, there's a lot of training in there. I have a high-performance coach who manages these spreadsheets of mine, manages my sessions and my loads. It's a very complicated process, and he puts me through about 22 sessions a week.
I never expected to do what I can, but with my coaching staff and my training and coming to terms with my own ability and my own talent and realizing the potential that there is, I've decided that I want to make a run for it. I'm training, and I'm fighting for a title.
I started training with Fabricio Itte with my wrestling and high performance; I started spending a lot more time with my head coach Henry Perez and also my grappling coach Alex Prates. Those three are my core team, and they've made hugely important changes and skill enhancements with my game.
I don't have any ill will towards any of my opponents. I understand we are the highest calibre of athlete in this sport, and we will both go and give it our all. But I don't want anyone to misinterpret what I am saying: when we step into that octagon and we touch gloves, I am going to break his face.
When I made the UFC, everyone said, 'You need to go overseas.' I thought I had to go as well, and I went to Tristar Gym, and I was there for one or two years. But changes were needed. I'd come off back-to-back losses - Court McGee and Stephen Thompson - and I needed to look at my roots and go back to the drawing board.
I think the mental preparation isn't something that you can work on in one large sum. It has to be a collective collaboration of doing little things for your mental state constantly throughout the prep and managing your life outside the Octagon, managing your life in transit to the Octagon, managing your life once you get to training.