The way you stop a takedown in wrestling is to meet force with force. You don't try to go away.

I want the biggest fights possible.

When I lose, I'll get knocked out. It won't be because I got outworked or outskilled or anything like that.

I'm trying to live until I'm at least 65 or 70, so I might as well try and stay healthy until at least that long.

My only goal ever in a fight was to go in there and create chaos. Now, I want to control the chaos that hate's created. I want to fight in the right spots.

God, it's such an unforgiving sport.

I'm not larger than life, my personality is not larger than life, I promise you. But when I fight I am larger than life, I promise you that.

I want to fight Khabib. I think I'm one of the biggest threats to his title.

What I do is not for the faint of heart, but I'm a different breed.

Melvin Guillard went to a split decision with me, he left the third round in a wheelchair. He did not walk to the back - he left in a wheelchair.

I wanted to take the short road to the top, and I think I'm doing that.

I've been saying I'm the best in the world for a long time.

I should never be trying to avoid something in a fight, especially something I'm good at.

My timing and pressure is the definition of MMA.

You will regret not seeing me fight live.

I owe it to myself to not sell myself short by taking a pay cut just to go to another organization.

When I sat down and knew I was going to go to the UFC, I thought of Edson Barboza and I almost had a panic attack. And then right away I called my manager Ali Abdel-Aziz. I said, 'Ali, that's the fight I want.' I think it's the worst fight in the lightweight division for me, the scariest.

When you win, you get to pick someone in front of you to fight.

I respect the boss.

I think Khabib is going to take him down immediately, or create some kind of scramble immediately. I don't think Poirier stops his takedowns.

I watched the UFC way back in the day, before there were time limits. I always knew it's what I wanted to do some day.

I've wanted to - and have been - testing myself against the best guys in the world.

I'm not saying I'd walk through everybody. There's some great fights for me, though, and I'd put on a hell of a show with a lot of the fighters in the top 10. My pressure is second to none, and a lot of them don't have any way to prepare for what I'm going to be bring.

I had no idea if I could fight when I first started. My first four amateur fights, I had never even been punched in the face or trained of any kind.

Natural human instinct, reaction, whatever, is if you're perfect, you're going to try to skate by and get by, get away with things the easiest way possible.

I've been telling people I need to start smiling to my opponents and shaking hands and just being nice, so then when the bell rings, I catch them off-guard, because I used to catch people off-guard, but everyone's ready now.

I know plenty of wrestlers who are 15-0 and going nowhere.

I don't get hit a ton on the button.

I watch a little bit of tape to pick up small stuff, but I don't try to pick apart my opponent's game plan. I'm going to keep coming forward. I don't ever take a step backward. I get hit, and I'm right back into range.

False confidence is false confidence.

I'm very levelheaded.

I want to be the world champion.

Twenty-five minutes is a long time to stay focused. It's really something I had to work on to go in there and not get complacent for 2 seconds or 5 seconds or 1 second. That's all it takes.

Barboza is up there. He's a scary fight, but I like being scared. And that's a fight that me, as a fan, would want to see. I know how much fans would love something like that. So I'll go out there and try to finish that dude with leg kicks.

I do think I'm the best lightweight in the world.

Do I think people are sleeping on me? Absolutely.

When you fight me, you aren't going to be able to be so careful. They better block their face and knock me out. I'm going to hit them, kick them. I'm going to come forward. They'll have to run, literally run, backwards. That's the only way to get away from me. And eventually you're going to run into the cage.

I don't fight to win or lose. I fight to entertain people.

I was always sort of a competitor.

I got into wrestling when I was four years old.

I know that the only way I'm going to advance in this sport is to be exciting and to finish fights, and I'm fine with that.

I like to take chances.

I'm an entertainer.

I'm not infallible. Never will be.

People love the fact Chael Sonnen is saying he's undefeated. It's crazy to me that people like something like that but don't give respect to the fighters that just put it on the line.

I love the sport, I'm a fan of MMA, I've been a fan of MMA since before I started it, I was a fan of Eddie Alvarez before I started fighting, so just the culmination of events that have transpired in my life through hard work, through specifically hard work, it's just, I'm happy.

Skill wise, there's nobody that's gonna outwork me.

I want to take out the best in America, then I want to take out the best in the world.

I am a Division 1 wrestler.

When I'm done, I want to be known as the fighter that everybody wishes they could've seen live.