Everyone wants respect from your peers and from fans. No better way to do it than beat Miguel Torres.
Cruces is like my town, where I grew up, where my heart is... All the teachers and coaches and people who have really influenced my life are from there.
Being the first flyweight champion would be history. I'd be immortal. No matter what I do, that's always there.
I bought a house after the Loveland fight. I wanted something grown up like an elephant or some flowers to put on the mantel. I decided I need a UFC belt.
Actually, when I don't have a fight I'm training the hardest because I'm not worried about getting hurt.
I like to say I eat black belts for breakfast. They're just great match-ups for me.
I was rocking everyone at 135 and putting them down.
You want to be respected by your bosses and peers.
I've trained different places with different people my whole career. I'm going to continue to do so. It's always been a journey.
I'm in a small percentage of people that get to do what they love to do for a living. I'm lucky.
Fans are going to give you crap no matter what sexual orientation you are.
For me, I've been a part of a super-team in Team Alpha Male for so much of my career.
Fighting was the only way I felt self-worth, with people thinking I was the best.
I was sitting in the nosebleeds eating hot dogs and watching Georges St. Pierre win the world title from Matt Hughes. Like never in my wildest dreams if someone would have tapped me on the shoulder and said, 'Hey, seven years from now you're going to be down there doing the same thing' would I have believed them.
The destination is the belt, but you never arrive at just the belt. You're always on the way to something else. You never truly arrive anywhere. But winning the belt, it's a nice pit stop.
It would mean a lot, but it's weird, because what's the title? It's an extra line on your Wikipedia page and a medal that says you won on that particular night. It obviously symbolizes more than that, but those are the things people think about.
I'm going to be world champion and have a belt, and people will correctly be able to say I was the best instead of I was very good.
I wasn't fighting in this sport from the beginning for any other reason than being the best.
I've been lucky. I've been in that top two or three for 11 years at two weight classes. It's been a crazy journey. It's been awesome.
I've died freaking 100 times. What's another death?
