There's bad apples in every type of job, whether it's sports or normal day-to-day jobs.
Coming off all my wins I had a lot of criticism.
I really like Cain Velasquez. I like his pace that he puts on; he is mentally and physically breaking everybody he goes with. He's just tenacious and relentless. I like Anderson Silva, too. I like his style. He's very relaxed.
I've never had anything. I just wanted to one day live comfortable. Like, be able to go out to lunch with my friends without being like, crap, I don't know if I can afford this bill right now. I shouldn't be doing this. That's all I really wanted.
A lot of these players, if you listen to the Islanders or the Rangers, they get interviewed in the locker room right after the game, it's very structured answers. They're very protected.
I grew up in a decently tough neighborhood.
You want to help people and make the world a better place in whatever way you can. I've tried to share the things I've learned, and for me it really is all about being a role model.
I've been through so much damn adversity, I've had so much critiqued on me. From being the undefeated world champion to never really getting the love or the respect I feel I deserved when I was on top and then finally getting knocked down and then everybody jumping on top, trying to kick me while I was down.
To become a world champion, to defeat Anderson Silva, to accomplish my goal in one night, it was a super surreal feeling.
There's only so much you can control when you're fighting, so the things you can control - like your fight song - are pretty important. So you want to pick that wisely.
Look at the guys I've fought. Anderson Silva. Lyoto Machida. Vitor Belfort. All those guys are much quicker than Luke Rockhold and I did just fine.
Every single time I defended the belt, it was against the best guy in the world.
For me to be able fight in my home state of New York would be a dream come true.
I grew up taking the Long Island Railroad from Baldwin, New York into Penn Station and walking upstairs to Madison Square Garden. Those are some of my favorite memories.
When you're so physically and emotionally invested in something - like you have to be in MMA - there's nothing like having your friends and family there to support you on fight night.
I've been blessed enough to live some of my dreams.
You don't wanna peak too early in training camp, but you don't wanna be out of shape or not to the point where you're able to peak. It's a science to be able to find the happy medium where your body and mind are at their best.
When I've trained as hard as I possibly can through training camp and I come to the end, where my body is worn out and I'm tired, I know I'm ready to peak.
The first thing I do when I book a fight is I go to the Internet and I print out a picture of the guy and put it on my refrigerator.
For me, preparation is all about the physical, the mental and most importantly, the spiritual. If I'm not spiritually in the right place, I'm a mess.
