I'm a champion, and I believe that if you're a champion, you can't be afraid to go out there and test yourself against the greatest challenges.

I feel like a lot of my fans hold high expectations of me when it comes to inside the Octagon - not so much outside of the Octagon - but I feel like most of my performances are pretty dominant, so I don't feel like I have the luxury to not perform in an extremely impressive fashion.

The first time I crawled into the octagon, I just felt like an animal, you know? Like a creature, like I wasn't quite human.

My opinion, football is the most dangerous sport there is. After that, I'll give it to probably boxing.

College, for me, was more about wrestling than actually going to classes.

I'm definitely very excited to see Cormier fight Brock Lesnar. I think Daniel Cormier wins the fight. He's just too fast. I feel like, when I fought him, he was quicker than me with certain combinations. I can only imagine he's going to be a lot quicker than Brock Lesnar.

A rough beginning doesn't have to mean there is a rough end.

A lot of coaches in MMA focus on MMA wrestling. My coach, his high school team is ranked 10th in the nation. Izzy Martinez is very connected to the wrestling community.

My friends and family all know me, and that's the important thing.

Glover Teixeira is a phenomenal opponent.

I'm not scared of anything.

I'm not saying Gustafsson isn't a champion. He's not the champion that I am. He's not a champion at all. I've won the belt seven times. He got tapped out by Phil Davis and lost to me fair and square. This guy gets so much praise. Having a close fight with me was the greatest thing he's ever done.

I've really tried everything in my power to get my life together.

We're all going to make mistakes; they're inevitable. It's what you do after these mistakes that matters.

I love Twitter in particular because it allows me to grow and see how people feel about the decisions I make. My followers, they're always pretty honest with me. I love the honesty I get. I also find motivation in it.

My wrestling dream was to become a Division I national champion. That was my No. 1 dream - not Olympics, not money. Just winning that tournament.

I would love to fight Brock Lesnar. He's a massive dude.

The biggest challenge is learning how to psych yourself up into believing in yourself as you walk into the Octagon.

I got in the limelight at a young age. At age 19, people were already comparing me to Anderson Silva.

It was really tough being in jail. It doesn't get much lower. You're in a filthy room. The food is terrible, and you're surrounded by people who have done all types of crazy crimes. You have nothing that belongs to you, not even your own underwear. It's just terrible.

I just keep my eyes open and focus on the things I'm not good at and what makes other people better than me - technique and things outside the Octagon.

I believe I have the attitude of a champion and a winner, and I'm not apologetic for it.

I have tons of pictures of myself as a kid with my medals, and they were never gold medals.

Muhammad Ali was such an original - his antics, his character, his charisma, his strength, his individuality.