Frank Mir
Anderson Silva I think is extraordinarily talented, but I don't think his submission game is great. We've seen him get caught in heel hooks.
Georges St. Pierre has the best takedowns and dominant wrestling ability, and he's a great athlete, but he's shown he can be knocked out. I think B.J. Penn is the better fighter. He's the great martial artist.
Brock Lesnar will never be able to beat me because he has no submission skills. What's he going to do, knock me out?
Fedor has great killer instinct, he's tough, he's strong. If I fought him I'd try to catch him in a submission, but I don't know if Fedor can be beaten.
As a martial artist you have to be truthful about yourself so you can approach your training properly and get better.
By training with Ken Hahn, who comes from that full-contact karate school where he's hitting me in the back of the head while I'm hitting the bag, I learned that pain is a temporary state.
I was having multiple surgeries after fights and not really addressing them the way I should have and having a proper off-season. So it was leading to more injuries and really making a strong influence on the way I was fighting. I was having to fight around injuries and not fight because it was the most efficient technique to use.
No one is guaranteed a spot at the top, no one is guaranteed a title shot, but all you can do is win your fight, keep training, and then maybe somewhere down the road you'll get your opportunity.
People don't usually have long careers as heavyweights because they mature into the role. Look at amateur wrestling, you don't usually see guys go to heavyweight as freshman. I was just blessed that even though I wasn't as big as some of the other guys, I was able to step in right away at heavyweight.
I'm a terrible actor.
There are two ways I would consider retirement. One is losing to guys who are not top-level competition. The other is if I started losing where it's like, 'OK man, you were knocked out viciously and staring at the rafters.' I won't endanger my health.
You could have 20 wins in a row, and if you lose your next one, you suck now, according to how the fans are.
In the UFC, you are only as good as your last fight. It's really a fight-by-fight type of career in the UFC.
The fight ahead of you is always your most important one.
It was always a goal of mine to go back to Cuba, where my paternal lineage comes from.
When it comes to wrestling, judo and boxing they are at a good level. They can compete in an international level. On the amateur level it is extremely high. Transitioning to MMA for them would be easy. I think we will see a lot more Cubans in MMA as it gets easier for them to complete.
I am one of the very few fighters who doesn't read any type of media.
I thought about 205 for awhile, particular when I was doing the Vegan diet and walking around at about 250lbs. I was counting calories and was serious about whether it was a possibility, but it's just not for me.
Having my own gym is easier because I have my family here, my kids enjoy watching my practices and I like having them around. It's hard to go to other people's gyms because not everyone if as kid-friendly as I am.
I'm not going to question Brock's legitimacy.
Even I didn't think I could beat Nogueira.
A lot of individuals are so worried about being politically correct. I'd rather go ahead and say what's on my mind than to sit there and come up with some PC 'Oh, the guy is a great fighter and I have a lot of respect for him.' If I don't mean it, why is it even coming out of my mouth?
I want to fight Lesnar. I hate who he is as a person.
I was suspended for two years and I got really fat. That was a polite way of putting it.
There's guys that wish they were you, so they hate you for being you. And if you add the fact that you're well-spoken and good-looking... man, I got a lot of people that don't like me.
Indifference is what death is for us as fighters.
You have to know how to move properly. A lot of these heavyweights go out there and they're fighting like it's a street fight. They're trying to win in the first 30 seconds.
If you fight improperly, you can be in great shape, run marathons, swim 200 meters and I can still gas you in two minutes of a fight. If you don't know how to fight, it doesn't matter.
I've been training in martial arts since I was a baby running around the school. Everything from wrestling to muay thai. I started wrestling when I was 15.
I've trained in wing chung, jeet kune do, I've indulged in many arts that people would not have thought I have trained in and incorporated.
All my kids will train in martial arts; it's a requirement. Do I want them to fight professionally? Hell no. If they ever step into a cage, I'll cry. I would rather my daughter and sons be doctors and lawyers or wear a suit to work and use their brain and after work go train at the gym and spar hard.
Different martial arts have ways of showing you how to control an opponent and put him down, but jiu-jitsu is the king of how to finish somebody. And that's what I love about it.
The sport has to be entertaining, it has to make money. CM Punk brings that.
I love leg locks and heel hooks and kneebars. They're complex and hard to avoid.
For my striking, I've learned to adapt it right off the bat for MMA. Even my jiu-jitsu, I adapt it very much for MMA.
I've finished fights from my feet, I've finished fights with my ground-and-pound, and I've finished fights from my back with a submission, from top with submission. You name it, and I've finished a fight that way.
I think it would be much easier to submit Mark Hunt than to knock him out. The guy has a pretty good chin, he's not the easiest of guys to put away.
I'm going to work on finishing Mark Hunt, but he's very hard to hold down. I feel like that's the best opportunity for victory for me.
I don't perform well when my family isn't around me.
Growing up in Vegas there is that complaint that we have no sports team. We have boxing, but no boxers are ever from Vegas, they're always from the east.
If you don't hit hard and you weigh 260 pounds, that is something to worry about.
If you break down actual techniques and knowledge of MMA, I am more knowledgeable than the head coaches of all the guys I'm fighting. Forget the guys I'm fighting. Obviously I know more than they do, nobody is going to question that. But I also know more than the guys who are teaching them about fighting. I could teach them.
Whenever I do something in life, I take it as far as I can take it. A lot of people think the easy road is to avoid adversity. But trust me, when you're an old man, you're not going to remember why you didn't do those things.
I've been able to overcome obstacles that would fold most people over.
If you look at a lot of the best kicking footwork in the sport, karate has a huge influence. You can't be effective with it if you don't apply it correctly, however. You look at Conor McGregor, who is known for his boxing, but when I watch him fight I see a lot of karate movement with how he goes in and out.
If you were to get a seminar in MMA, I think you'd want one from me over Mark Hunt. I'm more efficient and my understanding of the art is deeper, and I'm still only growing in terms of my intelligence in combat.
I have an ability to overcome adversity. I've got a toughness that helps.
For some reason I didn't have a lot of social skills, I didn't date a lot of girls. I always had the thing where I was in love with one girl.
When I was 22, I had the opportunity to work as a bouncer. I only had to work one or two nights and could make enough money to spend the rest of my time training.