I gotta respect our sport, my division, and the guys that are fighting in it. That's what I gotta do.

Who in their right mind goes into a fight they think they're going to lose?

This is what champions do: champions defend. They always say you're not a champion until you defend your title.

If I medically can't make the weight, then I'm not going to force my body to do something that it doesn't want to. I'll gladly go up to '55.

I might even be at heavyweight one day; I don't know. You guys know our eating habits is bad down in Hawaii, so your boy might get big, and we might make history.

I tell myself, 'I'm the greatest, and this is what you need to do.'

I believe I'm the best guy in the world.

I'm trying to lead the pack. I'm trying to sprint.

Conor McGregor set this bar, and I'm trying to break it. If you're not trying to break it, then why are you in the game?

I did an interview for MMA Hawaii when I was growing up, and I told them the guys I want to fight are Anthony Pettis and Jose Aldo.

Too many guys are over here begging for people and trying to chase people to fight, this and that, begging for money fights. You become your own damn money fight.

People get some success, they get some money, they get some power, and they put themselves on this pedestal above other people. They forget people and try to fit in with their new crews they think they need to be around with. I didn't believe that. I'm still human being.

A nutritionist is expensive, but it's money well spent.

I love food. I love eating. I love it a lot, man.

Aldo is a hell of a champion.

I never turned down a fight in my life.

I just love striking.

It's always, 'No matter what the outing is, you can always find a way to be a better pitcher.' No matter what you do.

Pitching is both an art and a science.

You're just trying to go out there and give seven innings. Seven innings, 105 pitches, that's a good outing.

I pitch to win.

Every single pitcher is making changes every single start. You can talk to any pitcher about this.

Sometimes you have to look at a start and say, 'Nothing is wrong.' Even when you get lit up, you still have to say 'Nothing is wrong.'

Any type of discomfort is going to alter the way I throw the ball. If I alter the way I throw the ball, I run the risk of major injury to my arm.

I beat the odds, and I beat the odds so many times.

You either get better or you get worse. Those are the only two options.

I know when I get to 0-2, 1-2, when I'm ahead in the count, that I hold a distinct advantage over every single hitter. I have so many options because I don't have to work within the strike zone anymore.

I just continue to keep getting better.

When I was 18, graduating high school, I was going to the University of Missouri.

If you look at it long-term, I think eventually there will be a DH in the National League.

I don't know what my record's going to be. I can't dictate it. I mean, obviously I have to pitch well, but it also takes the guys at the plate to show up as well.

Strikeouts are important. Anytime you can generate an out without the ball being put in play, there's nothing that can be done in those situations.

I'm not throwing a no-hitter Opening Day. It's just not going to happen.

I'm not worried about good numbers or bad numbers. You worry about the process.

Having a pitch clock, if you have ball-strike implications, that's messing with the fabric of the game. There's no clock in baseball, and there's no clock in baseball for a reason.

I've said it, I'll keep saying it, I want to be in Detroit. I've really enjoyed my time here. I really enjoy the clubhouse and everyone that's involved.

For me, I really enjoy helping out the Youth Baseball Academy. That's something that any time you're helping out the game of baseball with at risk children, that puts a smile on my face.

The advanced stats are great to look at for my long-term goals and what I'm trying to accomplish. It shows me there is an inherent failure in pitching. The luck involved, the factors you can't control. You just have to let go of those and focus on the next batter, the next game.

Perfectionist is sometimes the wrong word... It means like you're never satisfied, or you're upset by every single failure - any type of failure. And so for me, I don't look at failure as necessarily a bad thing as long as I'm able to learn from it and take something from it, so that next time I'm in that situation I know how to succeed.

Sometimes I have to try to remind myself that I don't try to strike out hitters.

I'm not trying to strike them out, but there are certain situations, when it's an 0-2 count or a 1-2 count, when I want to have a pitch where I want to strike you out.

You can't get too caught up in trying to pitch a complete game, because that's hard to do.

I understand why there is a push for an automated strike zone. However, I do think there would be some unintended consequences of having it that I think need to be addressed first before we would go down that road.

I'm not trying to throw six or seven pitches just to be able to strike you out. I'm trying to do it in three or four. It's the homework and the process between starts that I really focus on to help me do that.

Everyone wants to criticize my mechanics, but maybe I've got good mechanics that make the ball go up.

I don't get caught up in the hoopla, worry about where I'm pitching or if I'm pitching Game 1 or Game 5.

That's sometimes the hardest thing to do as a professional athlete, because when you get lit up, you wear it, especially as a starting pitcher.

That's when I'm at my best. When I can throw a fastball over in the count, just throw strikes both in and away, it just sets up all my stuff.

Any time I've put extra work in, I see results.

You have to be able to analyze yourself and critique yourself from every which way.