Everything I want to do in my life, I want to be at the top.
— Rafael dos Anjos
In the future, I want to have super-fights.
I think to get a title shot, you need to have some expressive winnings.
We have people around the world who live in the United States, and these people don't deserve to be called traitors.
People see me because I'm winning my fights. That's how I want people seeing me.
People treat you one way when you're champion, but when you're not the champion, everything changes. People treat you different.
When I was 16 years old, I weighed 176 pounds.
Eddie Alvarez, man, he's a tough guy.
I think money comes and goes. What comes easy goes easy.
I get paid the same money if I'm fighting on pay-per-view or on Fight Pass, and Fight Pass is just getting started. It's the future. The Internet, many people watch it.
I don't want to lose what I've won.
I don't want to just be a champion, and I'm done with that. I wanna be a lightweight legend.
I'm going to show the difference between the champ and second place.
Bro, how are you going to tap on the neck, on the choke? Go to sleep, man. Be a man.
I have to take care of my family, my team, and my legacy.
I was tested against the best.
It was priceless. Being the UFC champion and having my kids in the Octagon, my wife, them holding the belt. That was like a movie.
I think Robbie Lawler is a good name and a fight that interests me.
I like to fight, and I think the fans want to see a good fight, too.
I talk the truth. I don't trash talk, I just talk the truth.
The whole world has American dreams. This country has people from all parts of the world. We have Irish who live here, we have Brazilians.
When you're a fighter, and you're not doing good in your work, that happens - you lost the fight.
I fought well at 155, but I don't think I ever came close to my best at 155. I think I'll get to my best at 170 pounds.
What made me move up to welterweight was all the effort I was doing, to look at my health and have a good life. I wanted to stop sacrificing so much.
I like my life. I like competing, but it's not just because of the money.
If I don't fight McGregor, I still have a good life.
I train to fight five rounds, but if we can end the fight in the first round, it's even better.
I train to be the champion.
I didn't get any crazy sponsors. I don't have any extra sponsors since I got the belt.
I do things right. No shortcuts.
Brazil is on my side.
Everybody talks. Anthony Pettis talked before the fight. Donald Cerrone talked before the fight. See what happened?
People say McGregor is tall and all that. He's as tall as I am, or maybe even shorter. He might have a longer reach, but I've fought Nate Diaz and Cerrone, who had reach advantage, and fought Anthony Pettis and Ben Henderson.
If I take two years off, I would want to fight as much as possible.
I miss submitting people; I have a lot of confidence in my jiu-jitsu.
I don't want to fight anybody that just wants to hold you and try and eat the time.
I'm not a trash talker. I respect my opponents.
I need talk more, call people out. It's not who I am, but I feel I need to do this more to bring more attention for me.
I think social media is good for promotion, stuff like that, but people are so negative. People are too negative. If you read the comments, it's just too negative.
It was tough to make weight against Cerrone, and I passed out three times making weight for the Eddie Alvarez fight. One day you get to the limit.
Ben Henderson, he had never been knocked out before fighting me.
I fight because I like challenges.
Coming from where I came from, I was born naked with no teeth. Now I have everything.
Now that I've achieved my goal to win the belt, I want to be the best of all times. I want to be remembered as the lightweight with most title defenses.
I think things will come once I get the respect that I deserve. Keeping my belt for a long time... Things will happen like normal. I can't force those things.
People don't believe in me very much, but I have my teammates and my family that believe in me so much; they see how hard I work.
If you look at my record, I have a clean record.
We have a lot of Brazilians in the United States. It doesn't mean we're traitors to our country.
The way I train, the way I spar, I'm out of my comfort zone every single day, and you can see the result in my fights.
Just to be fighting for the belt, I was already happy. No pressure at all.
