In combat sports, you should retire on top. That is very hard to do. I'm glad I had the discipline to do it.
— Georges St-Pierre
When you're champion, you feel you're the center of the world.
If you lose a race or game in hockey, you lose a game. That's it. If you lose a fight you might lose part of your brain because of the damage.
I still eat my ice cream if I want to. I like dessert, of course.
There's no such thing as the greatest of all time. It doesn't exist. It's an illusion.
The moment I'm most proud of my career is when I got dropped by the headkick by Carlos Condit. I fell down and I was able to stand up.
I'm pretty bad at video games.
I like hip-hop music.
I don't depend on fighting or the UFC to live my life.
I am a public person and I have my private life. It's important for me that my private life stay private, that what I share with the people is my public personality.
There is a difference between a fighter and a martial artist. A fighter is training for a purpose: He has a fight. I'm a martial artist. I don't train for a fight. I train for myself. I'm training all the time. My goal is perfection. But I will never reach perfection.
A lot of time I fight guys and after a few rounds, they accept my dominance. They aren't fighting to win anymore. They're fighting to not lose. I've seen it many times. It's very hard for me to finish a guy like this. He doesn't want to get hurt. It's normal. It's human nature.
I retire from competition with great pride at having had a positive impact on my sport. I intend to keep training and practicing martial arts for as long as I live, and I look forward to watching the new generation of champions carry our sport into the future.
I'm not boring. I used to be the guy that sells the most pay-per-view before Conor McGregor, so I don't think I'm boring. If I would be boring people would not buy my pay-per-view.
When people tell me I can't do something, that's what excites me. It makes me perform better.
There's only one Anderson Silva. I think he's a specialist and a generalist.
I do not believe Michael Bisping is a good trash talker.
I would say Scarlett Johansson and Jessica Biel are very attractive. I think I would put Jessica Biel as No. 1. She's very beautiful.
My strategy is simple. I fight at what I'm good at. I am not good at trash talking, so I don't fight with trash talking. It is not my thing.
I am very honored and excited to be part of UFC 100; it's going to be the hardest challenge of my career so far and it's going to be pretty tough - I can't wait.
For me, personally, when I'm afraid of something - when you're afraid of something, normally you try to go away, you try to avoid it. Instead of avoiding it, to overcome your fear, I believe you need to embrace it.
I'm a martial artist, and I don't train because I have a fight; I train because it's my lifestyle, and I'll train every day if I'm not hurt.
People don't understand fighting. They think you just go there and stand in the middle and swing for the fence. People who fight like this are idiots.
It takes a lot of discipline to become and stay champion. It also takes a lot of discipline to stop while still feeling that you're in the best physical and mental shape of your life, but I've always planned to leave the sport when I'm at the top and in good health.
I'm at my best when I'm nervous, scared. I feel like I'm on the edge, that's when I perform better.
Even though you're the best, it doesn't mean you're not going to lose. And it doesn't mean nobody's going to beat you.
If you fear and you don't admit it, that's when you're lying to yourself.
I'm not a good talker, I'm a good fighter.
I'm not the kind of guy that really buys clothing. I'm lucky. Most of the time, if I want something, I can get it from my sponsors.
I was at an ESPN event in the United States, the awards ceremony, and I got approached by the WWE. I had just retired, and, it's a form of competition, but of course, it's also scripted, so I don't know if I'd be willing to relive that. Perhaps for a special event, so I could taste it.
I try to protect my loved ones, the people I share my life with, because they don't have a public life like me. I want to keep their lives private out of respect for them.
The more knowledge you get, the more questions you ask. The smarter you get, the more you realize that everything can be possible.
I was a big fan of Jean-Claude Van-Damme growing up, and I always wanted to be a martial artist 'cause of him.
