I'm a wrestler, so I'm used to not being paid, and I'm used to doing five or six competitions a day and paying someone else to allow me into the event.
— Chael Sonnen
I'm a God-fearing man, go to church every Sunday, and have since I was a boy. But if I ever found out that God cared one way or another about a borderline illegal fist-fight on Saturday night, I would be so greatly disappointed that it would make rethink my entire belief system.
The UFC does not owe me a thing. Nothing. I am in debt to them.
What you don't want is for somebody to not care. Whenever they have no feeling at all, that's bad. Even if they kind of like you or they kind of don't, that's also bad. It's got to be a strong emotion one way or the other.
I've had a lot of fights, and they haven't all gone my way.
I'm a Catholic, and not because I just happened to wake up as a Catholic. I'm not going to be persuaded on any topic, especially not that.
The kind of wrestler that's going to do well in a combat style event like MMA is one that can explode through - doesn't need to spend time on the mat - hit his opponent, get him off his feet, and get on top quickly.
One element of wrestling that I know what I grew up with we put a lot of emphasis towards was the takedown. But, you could win an Olympic championship and never score a takedown, and I don't know if MMA fans are even aware of that.
Every time you win, you get another fight. Every time you get a fight, you get promotion, marketing, and media. Those things are what makes stars.
The only thing more embellished than Floyd Mayweather's pay-per-view buys is Floyd Mayweather's net worth. But his spending habits are real.
All medicine is made to make you better. If it did the opposite, it would be malpractice.
As a fighter, that's not something that ever factors in, whether you go first or last or you walk out first or you walk out second. It's not something that ever factors in or you feel slighted about. I don't think that anybody would care. The job is the same.
I had dreams in 2000 of being an Olympian for boxing. I never talk about it.
All our careers end the same: Face down and embarrassed.
Brock Lesnar made a career out of refusing to do media and not being accessible.
I've been in a position where I've been barely doing any damage, and the ref stopped it. It's just sport.
I'm not after the money or the fame. I'm after the world championship, and that's it.
I see a lot of people try to come out and copy me, duplicate me, and give it the old college try, but at the end of the day, there's only one Chael Sonnen.
I want to make the UFC money.
Whenever you can evoke a strong emotion and want somebody to tune in, whether it's to see you win or get beat up - and I've been on both sides of that - it's a win.
I'm not going to be one of the guys who hangs around if he doesn't have a road to the title.
I'm a Republican.
Wrestlers tend to do good in MMA because they tend to be just some tough guys. It's not a karate situation where they grew up their whole life punching the air; in a wrestling situation, you grab a hold of another human being every day.
Fighting is an expression. It's a form of speech, and that's why they call it martial arts. It's an art.
People bring it up to me: 'Well, you're only in your spot because you can talk well.' Okay, first off, you could be right. But second, what - am I supposed to apologize for this? No.
Very normal trajectory of a fighter's career - you start out fighting at the YMCA. You move on to the dog park. You get into a coliseum. On your way out, you go back to the YMCA, and then you finish up at the dog park.
The soreness you feel after a fight or after a good battle, it's the best feeling in the world. You might sit and complain about it, but you feel so accomplished.
I'm competitive.
The fight takes 15 minutes. The build-up takes 90 days. It takes that for a reason.
I'm a tournament guy; that's what I grew up doing.
I like Bryan Caraway a lot; I used to train with him. I consider him a friend.
There are rules that say 'If a fighter gets old, when a fighter slows down, when a fighter stops looking the same, then he can never come back.' I don't like that.
If you call a Brazilian out publicly, you're going to be fighting that Brazilian. That's in their culture.
Lance Armstrong did a number of things, and he gave himself cancer.
For me, I prefer to be the heel.
When you go, 'Listen, I didn't know. I didn't know the rules.' That works. That's a good, solid defense. One time.
If your body produces testosterone naturally, fine. Mine doesn't.
I thought if you tapped out, you lost the round. Come to find out, you actually lose the fight.
A double leg in MMA is completely different than what you would do in wrestling because the posture's different. You're standing upright as opposed to bent over; you're slipping a punch as a opposed to grabbing a guy's elbow and doing a traditional elbow pull or slide-by in wrestling.
The greatest form of expression - or, at least, the most common that we have as human beings, what separates us from the animals - is speaking: the ability to communicate.
You can never have the comeback if you don't have the retirement.
Werdum's open to being knocked out in any fight because he's so reckless, but that's also what makes him so damn dynamic.
Georges St-Pierre is the greatest fighter to have ever done it.
I've competitively boxed. It's definitely Plan B for me, but I know how to box.
Fans don't even know what they want at times.
When I was a kid, I was a big fan of the regional scene. I read 'Pro Wrestling Illustrated,' and I watched Portland Wrestling and everything I could.
Accosting somebody in public can be regrettable. Accosting a gangster can be hazardous.
There was years when my father didn't even make a hundred grand - or barely made a hundred grand - and sure, we had a maid, but she only came twice a week. What do you think happened the other five days? You think those dishes washed themselves? You think those clothes got themselves in the hamper?
