I know when you do things systematically, non-stop, and repetition, that's how you make things happen in your life. It's the same thing in faith.
To be just straight up honest, Conor McGregor is a guy that fought at 145 - ever in his life. I haven't weighed 145 since my sophomore year of high school.
USADA tested me, and I came back positive for hard work and beast-like characteristics.
Why wouldn't the police officers be on edge? Why wouldn't they be alert? And why wouldn't people in the community trust police officers? Because they are consistently harassing them, and they have experience with police officers doing awful things.
A lot of people don't understand my reasoning behind wanting to fight big fights and big names. Knocking off these big names in fights really solidifies me as the best welterweight that's ever done it.
Nick Diaz is in the top five welterweights of all time in my eyes. Georges St-Pierre is the number one welterweight in my eyes.
What's on my playlist when I'm fighting is not so much hip-hop. Sometimes, it's something more inspirational. I get a chance to think about what I'm fighting for, like, my family. It takes me to that state because a lot of times, it's a spiritual warfare for me.
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.
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.
For me, it's just being wiser, finding my opportunities, and really fighting a smart fight.
Certain athletes show themselves as marketable, and the UFC gets behind them; they help push them. I'm a husband, a father of four, a gym owner, an actor, an analyst, a stuntman, a Christian - every avenue you can take it, I have those layers.
Nobody criticizes The Rock. Nobody criticizes Randy Couture when he goes over and did 'Expendables 3' or anybody who's a crossover.
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.
My strength is my unpredictablity. I can wrestle, I can strike, I can move fast, and I do a good job of covering up. And because of my experience, I'm able to put myself in good positions in the ring. The guys I fight, they have to be ready for anything.
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 love playing Rick Ross' 'Port of Miami' album. Jeezy's 'Thug Motivation 101' is a classic in my opinion, and I still listen to that album to this day. I'm a big fan of OutKast, so pretty much any album they put out is great in my opinion, but I find myself listening to 'Aquemini' a lot. Anything Kendrick Lamar does is great.
What got me into MMA first was that I was a wrestler, and I was a gangbanger getting into trouble a lot and getting into fights. I grew up in a family of 15 in a four-bedroom house. It was dysfunctional, so that alone made me want to be an MMA fighter. It's really the only sport where you gotta basically depend on yourself.
Amanda Nunes - I've been telling people that forever - she could compete with a lot of the male bantamweights in American Top Team.
I think a kid from the inner city, if I had to recruit, is the ideal person for MMA. They'd be less likely to be affected by hard work. They'd be less likely to not appreciate something when someone is helping them out, because they probably don't have a ton of stuff.
I've physically seen profiling. I've seen me walking up the street with my friends, and the police officers get out of their car and bust the hell out of my friends. And they can't do anything about it, and the cop gets back in his car and drives off.
