Urijah Faber
It's kind of a weird thing when you've been at the top of a division you've been in your entire career to kind of take a backseat because of friendship.Collection: Friendship
As a kid, I loved contact sports, especially American football and boxing.Collection: Sports
For me, fitness is a lifetime commitment; I don't remember ever being out of shape.Collection: Fitness
Fighting Raphael Assunaco isn't that exciting to me. I have nothing against him; he's a good guy and a good fighter.
The cheaters are going to find way to cheat over and over again.
This is a mean world, and everyone likes to jump in and kick people when they're down.
There's guys who train hard. There's guys who believe they're real tough. But there's only a certain amount of guys who believe - like, really believe - they should be the champion. I know I have that mentality, and I know other guys who have that mentality.
The most important thing in a fighter is his mentality. Do you really believe that you're the baddest dude on the planet?
When you're at world championship level, you're fighting other guys who are at a world championship level.
Things change when you're fighting the best guys in the world.
I was 133-pounder all through college, and that's probably my natural fighting weight, but if it isn't broken, why fix it? I've been a champion at 145.
I'd be down to go to 135. I've competed most of my life at that weight.
After a loss, you have to reassess a little bit and be realistic.
You can't make mistakes against top guys.
This sport is not very forgiving.
Dana White's awesome. He's an emotional guy, but I feel like he's a good guy. He's an emotional guy. He's like Donald Trump. He says whatever the hell he wants.
I'm a big fan of 'The Last Dragon' - Bruce Leroy and Sho'nuff - that's one of my favorite movies growing up.
When I face an opponent in the cage, it doesn't really matter who they are. Whether they're my buddy, like Scott Jorgensen, or someone I don't like, like Dominick Cruz, I'm going in there and realizing this guy is trying to hurt me, and that's what I'm going to do to him. I try to keep it real basic.
The longer you stay out of this sport, the less sharp you are, and I've been aware of that; that's why I've stayed and haven't wanted to retire and come back - because you skip a beat.
This is the one sport you don't want to be one foot in one foot out.
I know in my heart that I can compete at multiple weights.
There's only a certain amount of times in my life where I'm going to get to experience every single person directing their energy and focus on you, screaming at you.
I want to be remembered as just basically somebody who fought with a lot of passion.
I knew I was a world champion and a top contender at the highest level for over a decade, but I think I'll be remembered as somebody that was an ambassador for the sport, someone who helped build something bigger than myself, and also for the team I've been able to build.
If someone gets into the Super Bowl, should they stop trying to get back into the Super Bowl? You gotta be kidding me.
People want to see me fight all sorts of people out there.
I don't think Conor's scared of anything. He's game to fight.
I love this sport. I love what I do. I love fighting and combat, and I love to train hard. But I want to be at my best.
I enjoy competing, and I love to get out there, and I feel like I could compete with anyone in the world, and it took me a long time to get like that.
I've loved just being a part of other people's success.
Ribs are a real tricky thing: you don't really know when they're going to heal, especially when mine weren't broken. I don't know what it was, exactly - either a deep bruise or cartilage.
The rankings - they don't mean crap, to be honest.
I have to have an attitude of gratitude and not miss opportunities.
I've held the title for years and years.
I've never been knocked unconscious in my entire career.
I'm going to stay training every day. I'm going to stay sharp, because that's what I love to do.
Jens Pulver was a former UFC champion. He's a guy who I followed and looked up to. It was my first big fight in the Sacramento arena.
For me, Sakuraba was my favorite fighter when I first got into the sport.
I had a two-hour VHS tape of Sakuraba and all his crazy stuff. He was doing crazy double flying chops with both hands and undressing the Gracie family one shoulder at a time, and probably my favorite fight of all time was when he fought in Heroes and was rocked and kind of out of it, and they stopped him and kind of shook him in bounds.
When I was 23 years old, I had just finished my wrestling career. I was top 12 in the nation in the NCAA. And I was top 12 in the state in California.
The world is not equal, unfortunately.
If you want something, you gotta fight for it.
I'm a guy who has put my heart and my soul into something, into everything that I do.
I'm a very lucky guy.
I'm a passionate guy.
I'm a very hard working guy.
For me, I treat everyone like an equal.
I fight guys that no one has ever heard of; I fought guys who are legends, like Frankie Edgar.
I love this fight game. I'm passionate about it. I feel great about it.
I'm poised to take any opportunity, I'm poised to keep myself in tip-top shape because that's what I love to do.