I love being the underdog. I'm cool in my dog house.Collection: Cool
Sometimes, the best response is no response.Collection: Best
The weight of the world on my shoulders was something that I had to let go.
The people around me saved my life, not MMA. It was people who said, 'You're better than this,' who told me, 'You don't belong in this world.' MMA and jiu-jitsu and training gave me an escape.
All glory to God. I'm nothing.
As much as I dream, I have nightmares.
I've proven I can hang in there, go through adversity, and pull tricks out of the bag.
To bring out the best in someone, you really have to push them.
Sometimes when you get eager, you get sloppy. Sometimes when you get sloppy, you get knocked out.
The Harbor Area is everything - Carson, Wilmington, San Pedro, Long Beach, that whole little bubble that I grew up in. I always throw it up after I finish fighting, I always throw up the Harbor Area. Out of pride. It made me who I am. It brought me my goods; it brought me my bads. It molded me into who I am.
Sometimes I wish I could just fight at 155 pounds.
Ultimately, I'm here to fight the best. I'm not here to stay in and get a couple paychecks. I'm here to do my best while I can and while I'm fresh and make a name for myself.
Sometimes it takes me a little longer to kick into my gears.
I'm the kind of guy who, if you tell me you can't do something, like, 'Brian, you can't do a backflip off that two-floor building,' and I'm going to give it a shot.
I got to share the Octagon with Clay Guida. I got to share the Octagon with Cub Swanson. Now I'm going to share the Octagon with Frankie Edgar. These are things that, as a fighter, you always dream of.
I come from a city where we really didn't have too many role models.
I like super fights. I want super fights. I want guys that I can match up well where people don't know what going to happen.
Pretty much, I was a hometown fighter, and everyone was pulling for me. Now I'm a hometown fighter again. It's a lot of pressure because you don't want to let people down. They're yelling your name and chanting for you.
Two good, large fights a year is good enough for me.
Training full-on year round is great, and I love to stay in shape and always being ready, but I feel sometimes I don't have a life.
All I do is just live in the gym.
When I go in to fight week, I go, 'Maybe I'm going to be that guy on the highlight reel that gets knocked out.' I'm always thinking, 'How am I going to react? Am I going to be a sore loser?' I'm almost checking myself in case something bad happens.
I always try not to look too far ahead. I just look far enough to know where I'm going next.
A lot of people have these fancy facilities, these fancy training atmospheres, high-tech this and that... I believe it's about the fighter and how much work is he willing to put. I'm trying to show the world that I can make it happen from a garage. People don't believe it, but I know how to work with what I've got to get to the top.
I keep training hard, keep working out, keep looking at my fights, and I wonder, 'If I was to fight me, how would I beat me?' It's like having a boat with a bunch of holes. I'm trying to patch up all the holes. If I was to fight myself, I'd take advantage of certain things. I've got to know my opponent is thinking the same thing.
I dropped out or got kicked out of four high schools.
I knew what I wanted to do with my life: I wanted to fight.
As a pro, in the beginning, I had to sell tickets to get paid. So you gotta be a hustler, and you gotta worry about fighting.
My fifth pro fight, I got my first title fight.
Fighting is great, but I can't do it forever.
There's little windows that open up during the fight, to finish your opponent. Whenever those windows open, I'm jumping right through them without hesitation.
I have my parents to keep me in check, a team that loves me, and I have the ability to go out there, dream, and chase it.
You know how it is: you're a kid, and you see your parents do something, you tend not to want to follow that and do your own thing.
I was sitting around, moping and feeling badly for myself. I went to the hospital to visit a child, and it hit me: helping people is what I'm meant to do.
I want to go out and help people and share love where love is needed.
I'm human, and we all make mistakes. But just because you're knocked down, you don't have to stay down. Get up and fight.
I've never met a fighter who said, 'I love cutting weight.'
Fighting was a problem for me in high school.
For me, I love doing what is said can't be done.
Ultimately, I feel like I'm doing everything right. I'm slowly but surely climbing up the ladder. I'm taking out bigger names with every fight. Not just beating them on a point level - I'm finishing every single one of my opponents.
My whole thing is I don't want to break mentally. I want to find comfort in uncomfortable situations.
I think I'm pretty marketable when it comes to marketing fighters 'cause I've met a lot of 'em, and they're not that interesting. They don't do too many things, or their days are not like my days.
I am who I am. I'm a cool person, and I don't think I need to sell myself. I'm just going to let the fights keep talking.
I saw my first UFC fight when I was 15 and figured, 'This is what I want to do when I grow up.'
When I get in there, I try to really make sure there's no quit in me and that whoever I fight is going to have a long night.
Cub Swanson's a guy you either get through or you don't, and I fought him when he was on a nice winning streak.
I'll do things that a lot of people think is very risky.
I really love to help kids that are struggling and going through a tough time, and I want to be a positive light on them.
Obviously it's great to train at home and not have to travel and stay in the same time zone. That's always great.
I believe we all have a responsibility to try to help other people in this world. To me, my ability to help and to do good for others will only increase if I'm more known and get to that really super elite level. That would be the huge benefit for me. It would put me in a position where I could just help more people.