When I first started fighting, it wasn't the easiest thing. I didn't have all the money in the world. I was eating Subway once in a while, some packets of oatmeal here and there. It wasn't that bad, but it's because I was fortunate and had good people there to support me.
— Tony Ferguson
The torch needs to be held by somebody that's great. Because champions are made in the dark, baby. We don't need the lights and the spotlight. That stuff is for everybody else, man.
All you guys out there that ever got bullied, I'm the guy that's going to help you guys.
I've never been much for the accolades and for the trophies and for the merits because at one time in my life I kind of got bored of all those.
I'm the people's champ.
I work hard for my stuff. And even when I work hard for my stuff, it gets taken away - which is cool. It's alright. You can't take my smile. And you won't.
I don't want to be a cookie-cutter-poster-boy-bubble-gum-chewing fighter.
One day, my bike tire broke miles from home and I found a way to fix it. That's what I learned: Even if you don't have all the tools, you can improvise.
At the end of the day, does the UFC really like its fighters?
We all have to pay our bills. We all have to pay our taxes. Straight up.
My fuel for my fire is to be able to provide for my family.
I always said the 155-pound belt's been in so many grubby hands, man.
I finished Edson Barboza in a d'arce choke. What else do you want? He's very hard to take down. Spinning heel kicks, spinning kicks. I took some of his most powerful shots and I just kept coming forward. I'm the Boogeyman out there.
I speak what's real.
You can't really be one-dimensional in this fight game. If you are, you're going to get knocked out or you're going to get finished. Either that, or you're just going to take a lot of damage and you're just not going to be able to last very long.
I'm an entertaining fighter.
It would be nice to finish Khabib via liver shots, wouldn't it? I just want to see him wincing in pain on the ground where he belongs.
I never make the same mistake twice. If you catch me slipping one time, good for you, but it ain't gonna happen again.
I don't want to be close with anyone who's wishy-washy.
I don't fight for anybody else besides myself and my family, so therefore I win.
The lightweight title will be mine, but I'm looking for multiples and I am looking for that best pound for pound spot.
You dangle a little bit of change in front of somebody and what do they do? They change right up like a chameleon.
People want to call me weird, 'cringey.'
The sport I'm in allows me to use my creativity.
Starting at age 6, I was helping install the Formica table tops with that strong glue. My dad was the master. I was the apprentice. I'd be in there working until I'd be telling him, 'I feel woozy,' and he'd say, 'Go outside, son.' So I'd go organize his tools. He used the best ones made.
Don't kick me when I'm down.
I don't want to be around people that bring me down.
I can take a hit, I know I can hit back twice as hard.
This is the fight game. I'm not worried or scared about absolutely anybody who's not talking about me.
I'm not someone to joke around with.
Now if you play video games all the time and you're a real gamer, you're not going to use the Game Genie, you're not going to use the codes.
I'm a champion and I fight like a champion with or without that belt.
You can love somebody without liking them.
Wits always win, man, in the battle of brain versus brawn.
I'm just throwing a name out there, but I think Nate Diaz and myself could actually put on a good show.
Nobody wants to be trapped inside that cage me. They don't want to be cut by my elbows, they don't want to get hit by any of my kicks and they don't want their conditioning checked by me.
I don't want that title to come to my hands and be like, 'nah, I don't feel like it was deserved or it wasn't earned or whatever' - not saying that any of my accolades weren't, but I want it to be special. I want it to be super special and just super dope, and even if it's not special to everybody else, at least it is to me.
I want to keep winning.
If you don't show up, you lose.
I don't follow nobody. If people want to follow me, it's because they see talent.
Finesse is catching the baseball on the edge of your glove when you're turning two, making the one-handed grabs and shoestring tackles by running across the field in football. And finesse is what I bring to fighting.
I thought Al Iaquinta did a great job at UFC 223, but Khabib is going to say he won the Super Bowl after he faced the third string? No way, dude. So many people hold him up on a high horse, but I see his flaws. I wasn't impressed with anything he did.
That's what I signed up for in the beginning. I was 170 pounds; 155 was forced on me.
I show up. I make weight. I'm a professional.
We've never had somebody to secure the legacy for the 155-pound division.
What looks better with that 'Ultimate Fighter' plaque that's on my wall? That belt. I'll tell you what, I won't stop until I get it.
A lot of people like to trash talk, but I don't. I like to use my movements inside the cage to do my talking.
I don't like red. I like blue. That's my color.
I'm gonna be always the main event.
Go back and watch my old footage, man. Go back and watch my old fights. I knocked people out at 170 pounds.
