At the end of the day, it's a big difference to get the draw than to get the win, but I'll take either over a loss any day.
— Tyron Woodley
I gotta be able to beat good guys at any moment. I think that's what I'm taking.
Obviously, Robbie Lawler isn't called ruthless for nothing; he's really earned his keep and has a crazy comeback story, probably the best comeback story we've seen in our sport.
For me, it's about the legacy, being the best fighter and a champion who takes all comers. I'm going to make more money outside the Octagon, after my career, than I make in it. But it's making it difficult for me to achieve my goals when I have unnecessary stumbling blocks like my promoter saying damaging comments about me.
I didn't really get into the sport for fame. I didn't get into it to be this infamous guy that everybody worships. I got into this sport to make a difference.
I'm a huge fan of the Diaz boys. I'm a huge fan of what they've done for our sport. I feel like it's not about the rankings anymore. Sometimes the rankings are a little shaky.
If you get into an armbar and someone locks it down on you, it's easy for you to tap out, but sometimes dealing with certain things, fighting through certain adversities, and being that I've been in some of the toughest situations in life, it just gives me an edge on my opponent that I'm going to torture him and beat him up.
I think people that came out originally, like 2Pac, Biggie, Snoop Dogg,, and even T.I. and Ludacris, they were original with their vibe, but at the same time, they were classics.
Man, I fought since pre-K. I was small for my grade, but I was tough.
I want to leave a legacy behind. I want the chance to measure myself against the top guys and to have them bring out that champion within me in the Octagon.
The thing I hate about mixed martial arts is that it's no longer a sport. It's a big-money business, and it's an entertainment industry.
I'm a successful individual and maneuvering in a culture where there are some racists. I still find a way to get to the top, whether I go around or weave through.
I'm actually one of the sharper tools in the box that haven't been in the streets like that, but I have family members, close loved ones, that that's all they know.
The true game of mixed martial arts is putting your wrestling in there, putting your striking in there, but also being deceiving - hiding behind your punches if you're wrestling and hiding behind your wrestling if you're punching. It's just a matter of blending it all together.
One of the things I like most about Roufusport is, really, the culture. A lot of times, you're training in fight camps and running and hitting mitts and sparring. Those things get old kind of quick. I like the fact that they allow fun into the room.
Look at guys like Demetrious Johnson, who's the pound-for-pound best fighter in the world. Why isn't he on the largest pay scale? Why are there people that aren't even champions making more money?
For me, in general, I've been blessed to have hospitality from several different camps I've been able to train at and get an approval by the American Top Team guys to go anywhere.
It would be silly for me to work almost two and a half years chomping out whoever they put in front of me and for me to not capture that belt.
There's a lot of guys in my weight class that are talking - they're chirping. Everybody wants the title. Everybody wants to fight me; everybody thinks they can beat me. People are talking because they think I can't fight.
Johnny Hendricks has better credentials, but in MMA, I might be the best wrestler for the style.
I fight with a game plan, but sometimes you have an audible.
My end goal is not to break the record for cashing in the most. I want to be treated fair and what I feel is fair, but that's not my sole purpose; that's not my purpose.
You look at the top five right now and see guys like Kelvin Gastelum, who I've beaten, Carlos Condit, who I've beaten, Robbie Lawler, who I've beaten. How are those guys more notable than I am, and I'm the champion of the world?
When you fighting in New York, I feel like it would be disrespectful if I didn't walk out with some legendary East Coast hip-hop.
I want to fight at middleweight.
Growing up as a kid, in elementary and middle school, I was always getting in trouble. Always getting suspended. I got suspended for 90 days for fighting beginning my freshman year, so I missed Homecoming, and that's when I turned the page. I went on honor roll and had good grades after that. It was the changing point.
If a guy isn't in a position to fight for a world title, or if he's not in a place where I can intercept his road to the title, don't offer him to me. I'm not in this to just fight guys for the sake of fighting. I'm not in this to make friends with the people who work in the organization.
Have you seen any African American athlete that appeals to the urban market actually bring that market to the MMA?
I think that - this is my personal opinion - but sometimes African American athletes are considered overly cocky.
I hate seeing it; I hate watching it. More importantly, I hate people that don't understand the environment - how small Ferguson is, how it's really a sense of community, and, you know, it's a good place. We shouldn't have been looting and rioting, tearing up our own city.
You can't get too excited about your own medicine.
I don't say MMA fans are racist at all. What I said is that fans are opinionated, especially because we're the only professional sport to give them that access.
How do I have to continue to excessively prove myself and always be the underdog? I don't get the respect I deserve, and that leads me to believe that maybe it is a colour issue.
For me, I'm going to try to do the same thing to you no matter if I like you, no matter if I hate you, no matter if it pops up. You're not going to be able to say one thing, and now I really want to kick you.
No matter what anybody says or thinks, nobody believes that I'm not the number one welterweight in Strikeforce. I think that's not even a question.
It's a sport about risk and reward. It's a sport about becoming a legend. You look at guys that have stepped up on last minute, and it changed their lives. I don't think that I should be any different.
Wrestling is second nature: I've been doing it for so long, so if it looks like someone's leg is available, it made sense for my first three fights that I would shoot for legs.
I don't fight safe; I fight smart.
I want to be compensated. If I'm working at the post office, and I'm sorting the same mail as the person to the right, and they're making $25 an hour and I'm making $21, I need to know what is this person doing so much better that he's getting $4 more than me. That's just knowing the market and being a smart businessman.
Martin Luther King didn't know he was going to have a day named after him; Muhammad Ali didn't know he was going to be the people's champion. He was doing what he was doing because it was right.
I remember recording over my mom's cassettes and putting on 'Thuggish Ruggish Bone,' and my mom be like, 'What the hell?' Being that I was born in '82, I've been listening to all of the classics throughout my years.
I used to fight every week. Me and my friends used to fight each other, bare knuckle, but then we would be friends that same day. That was our entertainment, though.
For me, I think you can coach guys in martial artsm, and wrestling can be one aspect of it, but I have no desire to be an NCAA wrestling coach again. It was one of the worst coaching jobs I have ever had.
It's just comical how short-term people's memories are.
Rampage Jackson came to the UFC with a brain. He came to the UFC with a huge following from being in Asia with Pride. He was a personality before he came to the UFC. You don't see them putting marketing money behind him to blow him up.
I ain't Nate Diaz. Nate Diaz is not a welterweight. He did not do well at welterweight because he was undersized, and these dudes are real gorillas in this weight class.
For me, it's just being wiser, finding my opportunities, and really fighting a smart fight.
I put myself in a position where I made wrestling an option for me. I don't have to wrestle. I don't have to take another shot for the rest of my life if I don't want to. I have good enough hands, good enough boxing, good enough timing to strike with anybody in our division.
I think the fans are human, and they have their own mind. If someone doesn't like a person because of their skin color, it doesn't matter if you fight or you deliver mail; they're going to have that opinion.
I'm a person who believes that if a team that's producing a champion and producing contenders in that same division, then the coaches should be proud of that and pat themselves on the back because they're really creating a dynasty, so that's the way I take it.
