I've been under the lights since my freshman year of high school.

The toughest fight I've ever had was T. J. Grant.

If you do what you love, you're going work your butt off every day.

I'll be the first one to tell you that I'm fat out of season. I love McDonald's, and I love Taco Bell. But, whenever it comes fight time, I'm always ready.

I know that I wouldn't be where I'm at if it wasn't for God.

Fighting lives and dies; you can't fight forever.

I drive a big F-350. It's a dually. I put Ranch Hand front bumpers on it so it sticks out about another 12 inches.

I spent a lot of my childhood growing up in Oklahoma, where I wrestled and played baseball.

I really didn't know If I wanted to pursue the Olympics for wrestling. I didn't know what to do with my life. So, I prayed about it. My manager called me a few weeks later and asked if I wanted to fight. I agreed to give it a shot, and I went out and got knocked out.

I wrestled at 165 pounds in college. I would actually cut from 205 pounds down to 165, and it wasn't really a big deal for me. With me wrestling all of the time, my body got used to it.

I've got a wife who keeps me humble.

Pride is an amazing thing.

The hardest thing is that the people who don't know anything about fighting, they label you. Once they get to know me, they're like, 'Ah, you're not anything like I thought.' That's probably the hardest thing about being a fighter - everything else is easy.

For some reason, I have a thick skull.

Pressure lets you know what kind of person you are.

You see a lot of guys who are told they will be the number one contender if they win the fight in front of them. They have fought a couple of really tough guys to get there, but when the chance is presented to them, something happens in some shape or form, and they aren't able to take it. They end up losing. That was the biggest fear for me.

But after defeating Carlos Condit, I've shown I deserve to have a title shot.

I'm going to do everything in my power and train as hard as I can to make sure that 12-pound gold buckle that says UFC on it is somewhere at my house.

I think my strength is going to be my greatest attribute and speed.

There's nobody at welterweight I didn't face that I wasn't stronger than. I didn't face anybody that I didn't feel I couldn't outpower.

I didn't enjoy fighting. All I cared about was trying to beat the scale. Once that got to a point where I couldn't compete with the scale anymore, I was like, 'I'm done.'

Check out my pictures. I'm fat. You know what I mean? But I love it. I love it. I'm a fat dude.

Word of mouth is very powerful.

That's my goal for every fight, is to hit them as hard as I can.

My wife and kids mean more than the belt or UFC or anything else to me.

Fans and reporters, they don't get that ever since I was five, all I've done is competed against something. I always had a goal. Then, whenever you hit a point, there's a point in an athlete's life where it's like, 'Is it still worth it?'

I'm done fighting at welterweight. Unless they open up a 175-pound division, I'm moving up to middleweight.

The Lord blessed me with great strength.

I still like fighting, it just got to a point in MMA where it was just another day.

I don't take anything personal.

One thing I'm very grateful for is that I know, every time I leave, my wife is going to keep my kids happy, and whenever I get home, they are going to miss me.

I can fight for my honor, but fighting for my family is the most important thing. Making sure they get what they want. That's all that matters.

I just want the belt. That's the only thing that's pushing me, the only thing that's motivating me.

If you are out there golfing, and you hit a bad shot, anyone who knows golf will tell you that you just have to forget about it. If you don't, you'll hit another bad one and another and then another. It plays with your head. It's the same way in a fight.

I'm truly excited to be a part of the Reebok family. What really comes through when working with Reebok team is that they live and breathe fitness. They have an incredible heritage in training and know exactly what it takes to help athletes be as fit as they can be.

GSP can't hide from me forever, you know.

I've got to keep my name out in the public eye. That's how you get more fans, and the more fans you get, the more want to see you fight for the title.

I've got to believe in my skills.

If I beat Carlos Condit, nobody's in my way.

I had Jake Ellenberger. I trained very hard for him; then I was able to get Carlos Condit, an excellent fighter. That's what it's all about.

You take it fight by fight, day by day. That's how I live it. That's how I train.

I have wrestling. Yes, I do; my background is wrestling. I have knockout power. Just because I don't go out there and use it all, you don't have to use it all to win fights.

The most important thing is to win fights. It doesn't matter how you do it.

I think it's a dying thing these days, taking a chance. People don't always do it because they have comfort. And, you know, there might be something else out there you can do that makes you happier than the situation you're in.

To be a world champion from Oklahoma is something that really pushes me.

The wrestling experiences I've had, the understanding I have of my body, that stuff has allowed me to excel.

Any time you get a title shot, you always try to wait for it the best you can.

The only way to beat Georges St-Pierre, there's two ways: knock him out, or do the same thing he does to everyone else, and guess what, my wrestling is good enough to make sure I can do what he does to everyone else. I promise you that.

We've all been there, where it seems like all the cards are stacked against you, and you can't seem to do anything right. But you still have to say to yourself, 'You know what? That's not going to stop me. I still have to find a way.'

I've been blessed with athleticism, and don't get me wrong, I'm thankful for it. But I'm really grateful that I learned how to, without sounding arrogant, just suck it up and realize that even though I'm not at my best in a given situation, it doesn't matter. You still have to get the job done.