Zitat des Tages von Tyron Woodley:
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've had five submissions in the first round. I have 3, 4, 5 knockouts. I've had decisions. I've had grinding fights.
I guess you could say I fell into it. The main goal was to be successful and to make my family proud. Back then, MMA was just getting started, and there didn't seem to be a ton of rules. It seemed pretty brutal, and I was still pretty focused on wrestling. But I decided to give it a shot.
I don't think I'll get the credit I deserve, but I didn't get into this game for credit. I got into this game to be the greatest welterweight ever. If I keep knocking them out one by one, I think that will happen.
Fighting is the only sport where fans don't understand this is our living.
Man, I fought since pre-K. I was small for my grade, but I was tough.
I've beaten Jordan Mein. I've beaten Tarec Saffiedine. Some people might have said I beat Stephen Thompson. I beat Robbie Lawler. These are the greatest strikers in our sport, but I'm the only one out of all those guys that outstruck the best strikers, and I still don't get the credit for being the best striker in our division.
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.
There's some ignorant people in the world, and if I spend time trying to convince people to think like me, I'll be wasting valuable time I could use to be growing my business, perfecting my craft as a fighter, watching film, studying, or just enjoying time with my family. Or just sleeping.
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.
What is there not to market? I fight like hell. I'm built a certain way, never taken performance-enhancing drugs.
Amanda Nunes - I've been telling people that forever - she could compete with a lot of the male bantamweights in American Top Team.
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.
USADA tested me, and I came back positive for hard work and beast-like characteristics.
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 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.
I've really valued each area of MMA.
I'm gonna fall back, do my thing, but goddamn, I'm going to be a tough dude to deal with.
I'm just trying to get paid; I'm going to be straight up.
The second I bring up race in the sport, I'm immediately race-baiting. But I can point out clear facts, where no other champion has been treated like me.
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.
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.
You can't get too excited about your own medicine.
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.
I don't believe in ring rust. I used to believe in ring rust, but I talked to my buddy Dominic Cruz, who's a bantamweight, and he basically said it's a mindset. What you do in between in your time off determines how you're going to look when you come in there.
I fight with a game plan, but sometimes you have an audible.
Goal number one is to be the welterweight champion of the world, and I'm away from my family way too often. This is a sport where we can make cash now.
I owe my family first, but I also have others around me that I have to perform for.
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.
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.
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.
When you're working on a Marvel movie, their legal department do not play.
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.
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're watching people in non-title fights making four times the amount of money that a champion makes, it takes away the flavor of being a champion.
There's something about somebody who does something special in the UFC that they're allotted certain freedoms and wiggle room around the rules. I'm just not in that category. So if I want to fight Georges St-Pierre or Nick Diaz or Nate Diaz, then it's all the hooplah and all the talk about it.