I've never been much for the accolades and for the trophies and for the merits because at one time in my life I kind of got bored of all those.
I don't want that title to come to my hands and be like, 'nah, I don't feel like it was deserved or it wasn't earned or whatever' - not saying that any of my accolades weren't, but I want it to be special. I want it to be super special and just super dope, and even if it's not special to everybody else, at least it is to me.
Starting at age 6, I was helping install the Formica table tops with that strong glue. My dad was the master. I was the apprentice. I'd be in there working until I'd be telling him, 'I feel woozy,' and he'd say, 'Go outside, son.' So I'd go organize his tools. He used the best ones made.
Everybody has their good days and their bad days, there's always two sides to a story.
I'm looking for pound-for-pound list to be the best in the world and it takes belts to get there so let's get there.
You put the pressure on this guy. You test his conditioning. You test the cardio. You test the heart, the will. That's how you beat RDA.
You dangle a little bit of change in front of somebody and what do they do? They change right up like a chameleon.
I want to be a multi-division champ.
I'm the people's champ.
A jab is established through timing and that's how I take it. Cause I have a 76-inch reach but I'm not worried about range. I'm looking to establish that timing so I can see when that chin is available or I see that the nose is available, I can pop it.
I finished Edson Barboza in a d'arce choke. What else do you want? He's very hard to take down. Spinning heel kicks, spinning kicks. I took some of his most powerful shots and I just kept coming forward. I'm the Boogeyman out there.
If I have a roof over my head and if I'm cashing checks and choking some necks I'm always happy.
This is an Olympic-level type of sport and it needs to be cleaned up.
Now if you play video games all the time and you're a real gamer, you're not going to use the Game Genie, you're not going to use the codes.
Nobody wants to be trapped inside that cage me. They don't want to be cut by my elbows, they don't want to get hit by any of my kicks and they don't want their conditioning checked by me.
I always knew and my parents always knew I was destined for greatness. I didn't know what sport it was going to be in. I played football, baseball and wrestling.
When I first started fighting, it wasn't the easiest thing. I didn't have all the money in the world. I was eating Subway once in a while, some packets of oatmeal here and there. It wasn't that bad, but it's because I was fortunate and had good people there to support me.
Well, being my type of fighter and my type of guy, you know I throw a lot of barrage of punches, kicks, knees and elbows.
I like to push my body to just extremity to get past the mental toughness barriers. So fighting at 145, that would be great. If Kenny Florian can do it, I can do it.
Finesse is catching the baseball on the edge of your glove when you're turning two, making the one-handed grabs and shoestring tackles by running across the field in football. And finesse is what I bring to fighting.
