Martial arts, when I do martial arts, it's more of a life type of training.
— Nick Diaz
I'm not fanatical or in love with being an MMA fighter.
I like Georges. I'm a fan of Georges St-Pierre. I appreciate everything he does, and how he does everything to win, and it meets the scoring criteria that sucks.
I will always tell the truth.
Belts aren't important. It's the fights that are important. Important to the fans, important to the show.
I'm a pay-per-view without a title.
Don't tell me I'm crazy. I'm out here acting natural.
You see me. What you see is what you get. You get real martial arts, you get real fighting, you get a real warrior mentality. Some people aren't mature enough to handle it.
I don't like to hurt people for fun.
I don't recommend anybody becoming a fighter.
When someone tells you a fighter's injured and they tell you to go after an injury, it really throws you off.
If anybody wants to fight me they know where to find me. I'm not a hard guy to find. Come get some.
I didn't graduate eighth grade. I could have, but I got into too many fights in middle school.
I don't know how they judge fights sometimes.
I've been watching Frank Shamrock fight since the beginning.
I love athletics and martial-arts and competition because it gets me right and puts me in the right place.
Sometimes you win some, sometimes you lose some, sometimes you can't be at 100 percent.
I just try to be as healthy as I can, pretty much.
For me, I already fought some of the best people there are. I already did, you know, what I need to do for me.
I don't like that I'm made out to be this evil person, who needs to be shot down and conquered.
I may not be able to keep fighting for money for a living, but I will always have to fight for my dignity, because that's who I am.
You can't lie to the fans. They know what they want to see.
Once I turned pro, I was like okay, this is not fun and games now.
I'm not out here trying putting on an act like I'm crazy. In my opinion, everyone else is crazy. They're the ones who put on an act for you, doing what they're told in front of the camera.
I'm trying to live life like a normal person.
There's no reason for me to come and fight for fun. I don't do that. That's not what I do.
It's a really complicated road if you're an MMA fighter.
You know, I'm never really 100-percent in any of those fights, because it's so hard to have perfect preparation for fighting and cutting weight and making 170 pounds, and being in the best shape for training camp and to make that cut.
I'm the original Conor McGregor. I'm the original model of Conor McGregor. He wouldn't be who he is if it wasn't for me. Nothing against him. I'm the original real deal.
My mom and dad taught me nothing but ABCs.
I'm gonna talk my talk, I'm gonna walk my walk.
I just want to display my skills to the world because I can do it all.
Everybody points their finger at me and says that I'm the crazy guy and this thug.
You don't always come off the way that you want to or look the way you want to. I go out there and just act up and become the evil villain, and I'm calling guys out and stuff. It seems to have worked. I'm getting the fights I want.
For the most part, since the time I was in EliteXC fighting, maybe there were one or two fights here and there that they had me to win, but for the most part I've been an underdog. I'm not a kickboxer so I'm going to lose to a kickboxer. I'm not a wrestler, my wrestling sucks, so I'm going to lose to a wrestler.
People want to see real skill level, real Jiu Jitsu, real boxing, put together and mixed up. They want to see mixed martial arts. They don't want to see five minutes of holding. I think there should be points deducted when you do that.
I'd like to be thought of as someone who keeps it real.
In order to love fighting, I have to hate it.
Everybody wants to do a fight with me, champions at 170, champions at 185.
I don't owe nobody nothing.
I do what I've got to do to survive, to keep my teeth in my head, and my head on my shoulders. I apologize to whoever can't put that together and understand that.
I've learned from my mistakes in the past, why I thought I've lost fights before.
Sometimes I feel like I'm the only one who's in tune with what's really going on.
Fighting is not something that I enjoy doing. It's something that I do that I feel that I have to do.
I think it's rude of the UFC to try and lowball me and expect me to negotiate a deal while I'm training for a fight.
Every other fighter has a life on the side. I've never had another job.
I just never try to beat somebody on the scorecards. It's never happened. It's not in me, I think.
I'm just going to do what I always do: train. And when it's time to fight, I go fight.
I love jiu-jitsu, and I love my team.
I felt like my job is to go out there and put on a good show, amazing fights and give an amazing effort and hope that people can recognize that sort of thing, and maybe they would want to find out more.
