I'm not a UFC athlete. I'm a UFC fighter.
— Roy Nelson
With boxing, sometimes you'll watch the first three rounds, then you'll change the channel and turn it back in the 10th round. With MMA, you have to watch all 15 minutes. You'll want to watch every second.
You'd prefer to fight somebody that you really would rather derail their whole career.
I just like to be entertaining.
I've coached UFC champions and stuff before I ever started fighting.
I just don't want to be one of those guys that's stuck fighting the same opponents again and again.
All I know is that Stipe gave me inspiration because if Stipe can be that UFC champion, and they actually gave him a title shot, then I'm like, 'Ah, I do have a chance.'
If you go into 'The Ultimate Fighter' and you're just gonna go in there to get just one fight and win... the premise is to win the whole thing. When I went in, I wanted to win the thing or be cut.
If you're a true MMA fan, you're going to want to have Fight Pass the same way TV and movie fans have Netflix.
I definitely envision myself in politics at some point.
I'm always looking ahead, not backwards.
I think the WWE is a great place for professional athletes. Floyd Mayweather did it. Mike Tyson has done it. Even Donald Trump has appeared in the ring.
I'm always down to give the fans what they want.
We're in the entertainment business. As much as people would like to say it's sport, it's definitely entertainment.
I think I'd probably shine really well in a team sport, but as everybody knows, I don't handle politics very well. A lot of team sports has a lot of politics. Individual sports, it's all about me.
MMA is all about putting on a show and entertaining the fans, and that's the one thing I've known from the get-go.
There are athletes out there trying to get every advantage they can, including things like muscle and low-fat percentages. I feel if I'm the better fighter, I'm the better fighter.
If Dana White said he wanted to fight heavyweight, everybody would watch that fight tomorrow just because they want to watch Dana get beat up or win or whatever it is.
With MMA, there are so many ways the fight can go; that's the drama. You don't know what's going to happen next.
There's a difference between business acquaintances and friends. I consider a friend any time we eat together at the same restaurant, or he's eaten at my house, or I've eaten at his house.
You just got to remember that mine and Dana White's relationship is like we're a husband and wife. I do the man's stuff around the house. I do the fighting, all the man's stuff, and he does all the woman stuff - all the yapping.
I've never had any complaints about my coaching ability.
Some athletes can master two sports, but most are only good at one.
The one thing about working with Scott Coker - I've never heard a bad thing about Scott Coker. And that means a lot, especially in our sport.
I think what it is, is that fighters have become business people. I actually love what I'm doing. When you're a business person, sometimes you think of it as, 'Ah, it's work.' I love what I do, but then, on the other end, some guys do this as a living.
I've always looked up to Big Nog. He's a legend in the sport and has the mentality that so many fans love, and it's what got me into fighting. He's a man's man and a real fighter.
For me, having pneumonia and losing to Mir doesn't sit well.
I guess everybody is doing a movie thing, so I'm doing the 'Scorpion King 4.' My role in the movie is as one of the king's guards, with a very original name: Roykus. Apparently, back in the day, everybody's name was 'us,' so 'Roy' plus 'us,' and put a little 'k' in there: Roykus. I'm one of the royal guards, and I do my own stunts like Jackie Chan.
I stopped trying to think about how the UFC operates. It's like trying to understand a woman.
Do I want a shot at the belt? Yes, of course I do. Put it this way: I am Barry Sanders on the Detroit Lions. You love to watch me, but you'll never see me play in the Super Bowl. It's just one of those things. It's about politics. It's not about fighting.
What's wrong with being a two-sport athlete? You've got Deion Sanders. You've got Bo Jackson. You've got Michael Jordan; he wasn't a very good baseball player. There's nothing wrong with crossing over.
I really enjoyed playing rugby. I loved the camaraderie with the other athletes. It was kind of like fighting. Team fighting.
I always thought the best part about sports was the bigger, faster kids who were supposed to be more athletic than me - I always beat.
Do I have fat cells on my body? Everybody has fat cells. Do I have more than most other athletes? Probably.
I think Fedor is one of those guys who capitalizes on a lot of people's mistakes, and nobody capitalizes on his mistakes.
I probably train just as hard or harder as everybody.
I'm not surprised to be the coach on 'The Ultimate Fighter.'
I only fight clean fighters. I'll fight anybody in the UFC that's clean. Or dirty. Or clean.
We're in a very individual sport, but they like us not to be so individual. They'd rather have you look like every other cookie cutter guy and have you believe that you're replaceable when you're really not.
I have plenty of sponsors, and I'm the first American that Pretorian has sponsored.
I made more from sponsorship than I did from fighting. I did that for the longest time.
I don't care if I win or lose; I know I'm going to give 110%, and I'm going to hold my head high at the end of the day.
I'm more than a fighter and not just a pretty face.
There's some guys where I'm like, 'I won that fight and only lost because of the judges,' or I got cheated or whatever. I know I'm a better fighter.
I think WWE is a great.
It all comes down to money. If the money is right, I'll fight anybody, any time. I'll hit my grandma in the face if the price is right.
We handle it from both sides of the coin: from the sport aspect and the entertainment aspect. You gotta have both because we're if not doing solid ratings, we're not going to be on TV.
I always want to fight for the belt. I don't really care.
Conor McGregor has a beard because of me, because I'm the one who allowed it. If it wasn't for me, none of these guys would have a beard. The same thing with the belly. Fighters who don't look like bodybuilders wouldn't be in the UFC if it wasn't for me. There's a lot of things I've definitely paved the road for.
If you paid me $2 million, I'm sure I could lose my belly. But I don't get paid to look a certain way. I get paid to win fights. That's what I concentrate on.
