I had so much growing up and I'm so thankful for all the people who invested in my life.

Benson Henderson is a guy that I fought before. He has two arms and two legs. He has certain patterns, mannerisms and tendencies that I know I can go out there and exploit.

If I could do this until I was 60, I would. This is a great life. All I do is train, all I do is work out, and prolong my life by the training that I'm doing, the things I have to do as professional athlete.

Not since 2011, when I stepped into the cage and fought Eddie Alvarez for the first time and was the extreme underdog - I've never quite had that feeling of a 10 since then.

It is not that hard to go out there and put on the performance of your life and beat any guy in the lightweight division on any given night.

I'm just getting better every single day and I want to be the best in the world.

For me, getting up is an inside job, but it has been hard stepping in the cage with guys who I've had to lose against and not a lot to gain.

Obviously, beating Alvarez was the first step to getting my name out there. Now people now know who I am and see, at least in some part, that I'm the real deal.

For as long as I can remember, our family has been huge Cardinals fans. My grandpa is a personal friend of Whitey Herzog's; they were neighbors for decades. Our love and support of the Cardinals definitely runs deep.

I don't want to just be a great fighter, but also a great man.

Life throws you curveballs and there are things that happen - you don't understand why they happened at the time. But then you step back and understand you're a better fighter and competitor because of the things that happened.

Bellator has taken care of me, and I've taken care of them. It's been the perfect storm of a symbiotic relationship - them having an asset they were not willing to lose, and me being in a situation where the grass isn't always greener on the other side.

I look after two people - my wife and my son.

Bellator wouldn't be who they are without my performances and Michael Chandler wouldn't be who he is without Bellator promoting him and us having a phenomenal symbiotic relationship.

I'm trying to be the best lightweight fighter in the world. That's my main objective. I just have to keep my head up, keep training and enjoy this awesome ride that I'm on.

I love Scott Coker and I love Bellator and I love what we have built together and it's a little uneasy to think that I will no longer be under contract with Bellator after I knock out Benson Henderson and get my hand raised.

I didn't have to fight. I chose to fight. I believe God put me on this Earth to be able to do this and do it at a high level.

The greatest thing about fighting a guy like Dave Rickels: He always comes to fight.

Everyone who has kids that you talk to tells you, 'Wait until you have kids. It's going to change you.' You're like, 'Nah, come on. How can it change you that much?' But it changes you so much.

I've had a phenomenal life. I have a phenomenal God that I serve. I have a phenomenal wife.

When you're wrestling, it's such an amazing sport. I love it. I loved that I came from that background.

You see it from my area, from any area, really, so many who want to be great and have the drive, but don't have the resources. I'm very blessed that I have a family that was financially stable enough to get me to tournaments and camps and to practices so I could wrestle year-round.

I'm not who I am without the organization of Bellator.

When people talk about the lightweight division they will probably mention my name a little bit. Whether they believe I don't deserve to be up there or I do, they are at least going to mention me.

Training in Las Vegas at Xtreme Couture was awesome and I was there for almost two years.

Nothing bad can happen if you train your butt off and make the right decisions and surround yourself with the right people.

I'm happy with the life I'm making for my wife and son. That's the most important thing.

I like Scott Coker a lot. He built Strikeforce, turned it into what it was and he has a great reputation with fighters and other promoters.

For me, I want to make sure every single day I wake up and give thanks for everything that I've been given in life.

I just think that with my wrestling background there's not going to be any doubt in my mind that if I have to go through a three round war that in the third round I'm gonna be more fresh, more tenacious, I'm gonna want that win more than anybody else I'm going to have to fight.

My body is durable, my body is able to withstand a lot of practices, a lot of punishment.

Somebody with a huge brand like Bellator under an even huger brand like Viacom, to have them put their faith in me, to put me in so many things, to put me in commercials, send me to all these events, and just to continue to put me in the cage with great talent, it's great.

Financial freedom is very important to me because when that kind of stuff is taken care of, I can just focus on fighting.

Henri Hooft is the greatest striking coach on planet. He's phenomenal leader - he makes me believe in me more than I will ever believe in me.

I'm just blessed that fighting was an option. Now I'm doing it and I love it. I thank God every day that I'm in the sport.

I really have a heart for children who suffer from cancer. I can't imagine having to go through that at such a young age.

I'm a guy who's been around this sport on the outside looking in, seeing, watching, scheming, plotting and planning his next big move.

America was built on hard work and not complaining about stupid junk.

I'm always training to be quite honest, but there are those moments when you're a little more out of shape than you should be.

There are a lot of people who don't believe I deserve to be recognized as one of the top-10 best and I don't necessarily disagree with them.

My wrestling's always better than most people's.

It really has been just take it one day a time, one fight at a time, one training camp at a time, one year at a time.

Nothing has really made me upset aside from the baseless, false accusations of PED use.

It's a fast-paced somewhat violent sport, but it's very much entertaining. And the greatest thing about mixed martial arts is that it transcends a lot of demographics.

I never focus on my opponent - I focus more on myself: knowing what my strengths are, where I can take the fight, how I can win the fight, and the intensity that I'm going to bring to a fight.

I had my first fight in August of 2009 and haven't looked back since.

I've been blessed so much in my own life and I want to spread that blessing to others who need it.

If fighting ever got in the way of my marriage, you'd see me sacrifice my career.

I do love the outdoor. Love love the outdoors, fishing and hunting and that kind of thing.

I pretty much just train... and go to church on Sundays.