Michael Chandler
I had so much growing up and I'm so thankful for all the people who invested in my life.Collection: Thankful
I actually have a tattoo on the left side of my chest that says 'Blessed.' It represents how blessed I've been in my life and how thankful I am for all that I have.Collection: Thankful
I've had the belt and it's great. But at the end of the day it's just 12 pounds of leather and gold.
For as long as I can remember, our family has been huge Cardinals fans. My grandpa is a personal friend of Whitey Herzog's; they were neighbors for decades. Our love and support of the Cardinals definitely runs deep.
Brandon Girtz is a tough man who can really throw the leather, but I'm on a different level.
You got to surround yourself with the strongest in the world, the strongest training partners and the best people. That's what I do.
I train my butt off every single day.
Nothing bad can happen if you train your butt off and make the right decisions and surround yourself with the right people.
I do have some unfinished business with Josh Thomson. I think that's a fight fans want to see, it's a fight Bellator wants, it's a fight I want.
When I first started fighting, it was just me. But things changed when I married, knowing that I had another person counting on me.
The people who know me, the fans who've watched my fights, they know what I'm about. They know that I'm going to give 100 percent of everything I have each and every time I get into the octagon.
Some guys, when they enjoy some success in this sport, they get complacent. Not me. It makes me work and train that much harder, helps to bring out the warrior in me.
I didn't even drink in college.
If it's an emotional chick-flick type of movie, chances are, I'm going to end up crying. I'm not afraid to admit that, because I think emotion is very healthy.
Once I'm in training camp, there's no beer, there's no soda, there's no bad food. There's no anything. It's eat, sleep and breathe training.
Benson Henderson is a professional; he's a champion. He knows how to handle himself in the cage and he knows how to win fights.
Growing up as a wrestler, especially in practice, I think you get used to competing without much of a crowd around.
The belt will grow dust and sit on the mantelpiece, but it's not about the belt. It's about how I can be as a father, as a human being that matters to me.
I think overall body awareness and knowing exactly where I need to be makes a big difference. Knowing how much weight to put on each foot or where I need to put my hands are things I'm very good at. Obviously with the wrestling background those are things that come naturally.
I was never an upper body wrestler. I am a shooter.
Training in Las Vegas at Xtreme Couture was awesome and I was there for almost two years.
There are always a ton of different people to learn from and people that are pushing me to get better.
I love collegiate wrestling but the thought of training for international stuff just didn't really appeal to me.
I knew I wanted to fight. It's a great way to continue competing and not to mention actually make money. You can make a career out of it.
For me, I want to make sure every single day I wake up and give thanks for everything that I've been given in life.
You see it from my area, from any area, really, so many who want to be great and have the drive, but don't have the resources. I'm very blessed that I have a family that was financially stable enough to get me to tournaments and camps and to practices so I could wrestle year-round.
I'm happy with the life I'm making for my wife and son. That's the most important thing.
Obviously, beating Alvarez was the first step to getting my name out there. Now people now know who I am and see, at least in some part, that I'm the real deal.
When people talk about the lightweight division they will probably mention my name a little bit. Whether they believe I don't deserve to be up there or I do, they are at least going to mention me.
There are a lot of people who don't believe I deserve to be recognized as one of the top-10 best and I don't necessarily disagree with them.
I'm trying to be the best lightweight fighter in the world. That's my main objective. I just have to keep my head up, keep training and enjoy this awesome ride that I'm on.
Somebody with a huge brand like Bellator under an even huger brand like Viacom, to have them put their faith in me, to put me in so many things, to put me in commercials, send me to all these events, and just to continue to put me in the cage with great talent, it's great.
Financial freedom is very important to me because when that kind of stuff is taken care of, I can just focus on fighting.
It's a fast-paced somewhat violent sport, but it's very much entertaining. And the greatest thing about mixed martial arts is that it transcends a lot of demographics.
I didn't have to fight. I chose to fight. I believe God put me on this Earth to be able to do this and do it at a high level.
I'm always training to be quite honest, but there are those moments when you're a little more out of shape than you should be.
I eat about every three to four hours.
I'm going to stash up my cash and invest in real estate. I want to be set up for the end of fighting.
If fighting ever got in the way of my marriage, you'd see me sacrifice my career.
I've taken fights on short notice while injured to help save shows, and in return I've been taken care of.
America was built on hard work and not complaining about stupid junk.
It's OK to have a little bit of pride in yourself.
God has always opened up doors at the right time. He's closed doors at the right time.
Life is too short and too sweet to complain about the silly things.
I'm just blessed that fighting was an option. Now I'm doing it and I love it. I thank God every day that I'm in the sport.
I never focus on my opponent - I focus more on myself: knowing what my strengths are, where I can take the fight, how I can win the fight, and the intensity that I'm going to bring to a fight.
My goal is to win and to finish fights quickly.
I like Scott Coker a lot. He built Strikeforce, turned it into what it was and he has a great reputation with fighters and other promoters.
I pretty much just train... and go to church on Sundays.
I do love the outdoor. Love love the outdoors, fishing and hunting and that kind of thing.