It was really difficult being away from MMA because it's been a way of life for me for 13 years. But being on the outside and coaching helps you sharpen your skills because you have to explain what you do, why things work and why other things don't.
When people are overlooking somebody like Phil Davis, it's a dangerous thing.
I had just graduated from Michigan State and I was working at a hospital. I was a security guard, I worked at night. Part of my job was putting bodies in the morgue and doing that kind of thing. I used to put bodies in the morgue and take them out. When I got done doing that at the hospital, in the morning I would work out before I went to sleep.
I pretty much focus on all the main styles out there, karate, wrestling, boxing, jiujitsu, just pretty much anything within MMA.
I was just so rambunctious as a little kid. It started because I hung out with my older brothers and their friends. I always had to fight to prove I was tough.
Sometimes it doesn't always say Niagara Falls there, but you better believe, I represent Niagara Falls every time I step in the octagon.
And at the end of the day as an athlete you have to be coachable. And being coachable is a humbling thing.
It's good to be able to feel appreciated and to be able to know that your efforts and the impact in the sport meant something.
I went to Michigan State because a coach I was being recruited by told me if I go to Michigan State, I wouldn't start. I didn't like the boundaries he put on me. He was probably trying to look out for my best interests, but at the time I took it kind of personal. Not only did I start, but I made captain.
I've always felt that I had to go out and prove myself in every fight.
I like to have a lot of time to be able to format what I want to do, and how I'm going to do my training camp. When you're doing a camp on short notice, it makes everything else suffer.
True wealth is not measured by how much money you've got in the bank or how many toys you've got. Some of the happiest people in the world don't have a crying quarter, but they've got all the things that mean a lot to them.
I remember the first time I fought somebody with a name and that was Tito Ortiz. I didn't start fighting until like the second round because I was like, 'Oh my God, that's Tito Ortiz. That's Tito Ortiz from TV. Look how big his head is, damn.'
I was a rowdy boy growing up.
I wanted to play football, and my football coach told me if I wanted to be a football player, I should wrestle. That's why I started to wrestle.
MMA was love at fight sight. I felt like I was born to do it.
Jon has always been able to start off at a certain pace but then pick it up throughout the fight and then, at the end of the fight, his opponents are like, 'Damn, this guy is at another level.' I think that's what makes Jon Jones, Jon Jones.
You can have the best college wrestling in the world, but you can have terrible MMA wrestling.
Of course I expect to be booed. People always have to find the bad guy, and for some reason, the look on my face or something, people just want to boo me. That's fine.
The same people that boo you are the same people who will ask you for a picture an an autograph.
