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I've always said the thing about MMA that a lot of fighters don't understand is people care more about the story, about why a fight's happening, than the actual fight.
When I was starting out the announcers would name everyone from the boxing board at ringside and by the time they got to the fighters they were almost an afterthought.
We see fighters fight their whole career and never get a title shot. It doesn't matter if they rack up 10 wins if people think they're boring. We all know how it works.
As fighters, the stark reality is, there's times in that cage when we want out. There's times when we've had enough and we want out, and we're able to recognize defeat.
Maybe UFC and Bellator should take care of the fighters when their careers are done, as the NFL takes care of their players. Because they're making so much money off us.
Good fighters, they are so professional and quick, you can't see what's happening. It's very important: the fight is like a dialogue. Everybody has a line and an answer.
In 1968, I fought and won the world middleweight karate championship by defeating the world's top fighters. I then held that title until 1974, when I retired undefeated.
The UFC thinks they run off their brand, but that's not true. The UFC runs off the fighters, so hopefully, these fighters take notice and how I'm going about my business.
I don't like all the cheating that's going in mixed martial arts. I don't know what percentage of high-level fighters do it, but I think it would be a significant amount.
You know why I'm so confident? Because I am working so hard every day. That's why I am different than the other fighters and my opponents and the challengers. That's why.
When I fought in the amateurs and fought New York guys, they had a different swag, a different style, and maybe they didn't take a liking to Texas fighters to begin with.
If you're going to lose to somebody, losing to a guy like Brock Lesnar is not something that people will laugh at. Brock is arguably one of the top ten fighters on Earth.
Both fighters can't win in this sport, so you have to leave it in God's hands. Losing is not the end of the world. Losing is natural; the better-prepared athlete will win.
I grew up in one of the most prolific high-school-wrestling programs in the country, and MMA fighters are more successful when they have that amateur-wrestling background.
I want to go against the best fighters. That's why I'm always calling out Georges St-Pierre. I don't have anything against Georges St-Pierre. I think he's a great fighter.
I see fighters make funny videos about me and stick them on Facebook and get 20 likes. When I make a video, I sell it to Fox and make seven figures. That's the difference.
I'm so glad we have jobs after fighting. A lot of important fighters before would stop fighting and have nothing left. Today, you can fight and make money in a normal life.
Michael Watson is a part of me. It's in my head, it's in my grain. There are scars within me. Therefore, those scars are what allows me to steer and protect other fighters.
President Bush met repeatedly with human rights activists and freedom fighters from all over the world to give them encouragement and protection and to advance their cause.
Really, if you get in the ring and box with someone for real, I don't think it is a sport. As far as professional fighters, you are literally putting your life on the line.
I'd see people being really successful, whether it was my teammates or big-name fighters like Muhammad Ali and Mike Tyson, and I'd think, 'I want to be a legend like that.'
You should not do this, Comrade. We are only in the introductory stage yet, here in Western Europe. And in that stage it is better to encourage the fighters than the rulers.
You think that after becoming world champion, you're going to be a massive superstar with lots of lucrative bouts against great fighters, but that never materialised for me.
For me, I believe George Foreman was a bad example because when he became world heavyweight champion again at 42, that made a lot of fighters think they could also carry on.
It is my job to sell these fighters. I'm now a business partner of the UFC. What I do directly affects my paycheck. I try my best. I just don't want people to be indifferent.
If people are watching your fights and they care about what you do then that is success to me. As far as I'm concerned, I am one of the most successful fighters in the world.
I talk to amateurs, up-and-coming guys, fighters older than me, and we compare notes to teach each other how to leave this game on top from a legacy and financial standpoint.
A lot of people tend to glorify the role of satire and comedians. They put them up as role models, as fighters for the truth and against tyranny, and I think that's overrated.
All these other heavyweights are great challenges for me. But they have had their time - and I need to be 100 per cent ready for these fighters - but I don't fear any of them.
Give me the action. I come from a place of fighters. My father was a fighter, a boxer, and Penny loves to box. So give it to me until my body won't do it anymore. Bring it on.
With the UFC it's like, you make okay money, and only if you're the champion do you make good money. So they're keeping the fighters deliberately poor so they'll keep fighting.
I don't fight in chase of an individual. I hear this sometimes where fighters work their whole careers to reach a matchup with a certain individual. I do not think in that way.
We want Bellator to be a destination for not only the top-tier fighters in the sport, but the first-choice destination for fans to see the most entertaining fights in the sport.
This is no game. You get up in there, and you take some punches. You risk your life, and then let me see you talk then. That's why I don't respect people who criticize fighters.
Fighters are my comrades. There are a lot of them with great personalities, they're great fighters, and they should be lifted up a little bit more. I just wish MMA would do that.
I really do believe there are things passed down. Behaviour, not just DNA. Psychological make-up. You can see it in dogs. If you want to breed a calm dog, don't get two fighters.
People call us heroes, but we are nothing compared to our police force and fire fighters and everybody who protects us and makes sure our freedom is held to the highest standard.
That's what a true professional is - a true world champion, so to everybody out there listening, especially the fighters that want to fight me... they'll get knocked out, sparko.
I've won junior titles, ABA titles and boxed for England all over the world against future Olympic champions as an amateur - and then beat world-class fighters as a professional.
The active fighters can't speak up or they will be fired. Because this monopoly doesn't allow for a free market. We have to free the fighters so they can fight wherever they want.
A lot of fighters want that freedom to have their own sponsorships. When you think about it, how do you make independent contractors wear a uniform? That just seems strange to me.
I would study the best, the most flashy, the guys that had that flair, the guys that had that wow. I'd study those fighters, and I made up my mind that I'd be all of those at once.
There are things - I want to compete in a big tournament, like an eight-man tournament, like the old fighters. You're going to compete; you're going to fight this one and this one.
There are very few fighters in the ISIS organization in Iraq and Syria coming from the United States; most of them have either come from a region of the Middle East or from Europe.
Anderson Silva, Georges Saint-Pierre, and Rodrigo Nogueira are some of the top fighters in the UFC among many other great fighters. The UFC has many of the toughest fighters around.
I think sometimes the fighters aren't very clear on things, and even myself, I'm a fighter, a lot of fighters make mistakes about working their image and how they market themselves.
I would love to fight a lot more often, but of course it's the UFC, and whenever they feel that they have an opening, then they can put us in there because there's so many fighters.
In boxing, some fighters have good chins. You just have to be persistent and continue following the plan and trying to catch them nicely and, obviously, hope to be knocking him out.
We're two different people, and we're two different fighters in the ring. You can look at my tattoos and say, 'Oh that's Jermall.' Our tattoos separate and identify my brother and I.
I'm not here to judge Mike Tyson. I'm not here to judge nobody. I'm not here to monitor no other fighters. I respect him for what he did in the sport of boxing. He was an entertainer.