If you watch fights cage-side, sometimes different punches look better than others. It's like camera angles. Sometimes some punches look a lot better than they were, and sometimes a solid punch doesn't look good. So it just depends on your angle.
A lot of people are blowing Shogun's fight with Mark Coleman out of proportion. He was coming off an injury, and he gassed early on in his first fight back.
Everyone is on a fair playing field. It's safer for athletes, it's safer for the fighters - it's just a safer thing for fighters. So I think the USADA thing is good.
That's one of the reasons I retired. To stick around, the way I was fighting, I would have to start playing it safe. I went out on my shield. That's the way I liked it. I fought that way my whole career. I don't want to bore people my last three or four fights.
I'm probably not going to be popular with the fighters with this one, but my biggest problem is guys playing it safe. I understand it from a coach's standpoint and a manager's standpoint. I understand why you'd want to play it safe and want to win the fight, win every fight. I get it.
My first contract I was offered by the UFC, or my second contract, it was 1-and-1, 2-and-2, 3-and-3. That's $12,000 for the year. Don't complain to me about fighter pay. It was $12,000 for a year, and it was exclusive.
People got to understand, the fighters at the top are the fighters that are supposed to get paid because they're the guys that are bringing people in, bringing eyes to the TV, getting pay-per-views buys, and putting people in the seats. I mean, that's what it comes down to.
Everybody doesn't want to hurt to lower guys from getting paid, but it comes down to, it's a performance-based business. You get good, you win, then you get paid.
I don't think the itch to fight has ever left me, ever. I mean, I got paid to do what I love for a living, and I got paid very well to do it. So that's going to always be there. That's always going to be like, 'Man, I wouldn't mind getting out there again.'
I have had people that I was doing some promotion stuff with go, 'You know, we had an idea. We should have, like, a legends fight.' It's always that. That conversation always comes up when we're talking about doing some promotion for a company or helping them promote their league.
I think the reasons I retired stay the same. I don't want to change my style. I can't take a punch like I used to for whatever reason. I've heard all sorts of theories as to why that would happen, but I can't do it.
My style of fighting is to go down and trying to finish the guy and trying to end fights, not laying up because I'm winning the fight, just keep going after it.
Having 'The Ultimate Fighter' was the thing that did it for us, live fighting on TV. That's what we had to do, was get a live fight on TV. It couldn't have worked out better.
Several nutrition companies have approached me over the years to endorse a number of different products. Some worked; some didn't - so I decided to create my own brand.