Dustin Poirier
This sport is a crazy thing, and what happens, it's unpredictable.
You can't just go in and say, 'I'm going to be tougher that you,' you know? Heavy bags are tough, but I've never been beat by one.
I've put it all on the line every time, win, lose, or draw, and that's what I want to be left behind in my legacy.
There's always the pressure to win. That never goes away, but being a main event, I want to go out there and put on a great show for the fans and live up to being a main event. That doesn't really stress me out or pressure me anymore. The fight is enough.
Fighting, you have to be selfish.
I don't talk bad about people who I roll with.
You can't just be only going to the gym when you sign a fight contract or you'll just be the same fighter every time, just more experienced.
No matter where I came from, I'm a fighter.
Fighting comes down to who you are as a person. With B.J. Penn, he has no problems, not a hard upbringing and came up with money or whatever and he's just a fighter, he enjoys the fight and he refined his skills so I don't think it necessarily has to be a rough upbringing for guys to be great fighters.
I'm not fighting just to fight. I'm fighting to be the world champ.
I'm proud of everything I accomplished in this sport.
I probably should have been fighting at 155 for a long time, but I was so close to the top at 145.
Cutting to featherweight took months of intense weight cutting and training. Going to lightweight, I can fight more often.
Yeah I do think featherweight is done for me. It sucks because I worked hard and fought a lot of hard fights and did a lot of things right to move up the rankings and I have to abandon all that moving to 155 starting fresh.
I think a lot of fighters are cutting way too much weight.
Every fight is like a different landscape of what you go through. But sometimes it's small injuries. Sometimes it's lessons you walk away with. Every fight is different but they all hurt, for sure.
I come from south Louisiana where everyone has a blue-collar work ethic.
People I grew up with, my family, work in the oil fields. Everyone works a labor job - construction, concrete. All we know is work. It's a physical culture.
It's not hard to look great against a guy who isn't moving a lot.
I'm not a quitter, man. Just look at my history.
I knew I had the ability to become a world champion, I knew I did. I knew I just needed the opportunity.
I feel like everybody's who fighting, young fighters and still learning and growing, that should be their goal - to be the UFC world champion.
Those deep, dog fights - I love that. That's why I fight.
I'm not the same fighter I used to be.
Now I'm with the American Top Team, I'm a better fighter, I'm a more patient fighter, I've improved in every aspect.
I want to fight for the real belt, not the interim title.
If a champ has to take a long layoff then I think that's the only time interim titles should be introduced to the division.
The cut made me hate the process of getting ready for a fight. I was focused on how to make weight instead of how to beat my opponent.
I want to fight the fights that fans want to see.
I'm not really chasing rematches.
I'm chasing gold. And whatever fight can get me closer to being a world champion, those are the fights that I want.
I'm a complete fighter and I'm not scared, I'm very willing to use every part of the game to get the win by any means necessary.
Of course every fighter, whether they admit it or not, they have aches and pains and they go into fights hurt.
If you're training for a fight, you're going to be pretty much, there's going to be days where you're hurting.
Normal pain is no problem, that just comes with the job.
I've just been in a lot of big fights, and I've been in some good spots and some bad spots.
The way I feel, I'm the best in the world.
I think I fought my first fight in Zuffa in 2010.
I'm the kind of guy that grows, and that's what I do everyday in the gym. Work on new stuff and stay relevant.
When I'm in south Florida I'm training, resting, training. I'm working on my craft out here, very tediously. That's what I come out here for.
I'm not a matchmaker, I don't know the logic behind the decisions they make.
I've said it before, I'm not a matchmaker, I don't call the shots. I just prepare and fight the guys after I sign the contract.
Seven years is a long time, and seven years of fighting the best guys in the best organization in the world, the biggest organization in the world, it hardens you. You don't stay seven years without evolving. It doesn't happen.
That grit of fighting is addictive, I'm scared of it. It's a very weird thing.
Fighting is what I do.
My whole career, the ups, the downs, the victories, the defeats, the lessons I've learned and kept rolling, that's what's made me the fighter I am today.
Any time Nate Diaz fights, I'm tuning in, I promise you.
We fall, but we get up because the ground is no place for a champion.Collection: Fall
Every day I wake up and go to sleep, I'm thinking about beating Cub SwansonCollection: Sleep