UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones. (Photo courtesy of UFC.com)

“My job is to be prepared to face the best in the world. I’d rather not deal with Anderson, but if I have to fight him, I will focus on my confidence and on my technique. I respect and look up to him (Silva) so much. For me, the ideal scenario would be having him as my mentor and learn with him after he retires. It would be great for me. That would be ideal, but the world wants to see us fighting.”
- Jones explained to Sensei SporTV what his ideal situation with Anderson Silva would be.

“Everybody on the show is a threat or a danger to me,” Rio admitted.  “That’s the way I’m going to look at it.  I don’t want to underestimate anybody.  I don’t want to go on there and think, ‘This guy is tough and this guy is weak, luckily I’m getting the weak guy.’  That’s not the attitude to have for me.  I don’t want to take anybody lightly; I’m going to take everybody serious.  Right now, everybody is the No. 1 contender to me and I’m going in there balls to wall.”
- Mike Rio is a contestant on TUF 15, and he explained his mindset going into the house to MMA DieHards.

“It’s all done with and I got the victory, so for me, really, it doesn’t matter. But, if he is going with the injury and stuff like that, ok, so I fought an injured Rampage, but I also fought a Rampage that was on testosterone also, so, it kind of goes both ways. But honestly, it was over and done with, and like I said, I got the victory so I wasn’t really worried about anything else, just surprised that he kind of came out with it and told everybody, but it is what it is I guess. He used the whole injury deal, but it kind of cancels out a little bit if you come in all testosteroned up too.”
- Ryan Bader spoke to Pro MMA Radio about Quinton “Rampage” Jackson’s injury claims before their bout, and admission of TRT use following their match.

“Everyone who sees me is like, ‘Oh, he’s so funny and he’s always goofing around and this and that. I’ve actually got really bad depression. I’ve got that smiley face on the outside and then on the inside I have this serious frown-y face. I bust my ass every day.”
- Mike Guymon admitted to MMA DieHards that he is not as cheery as he appears on the outside.

“Lavar Johnson has beyond heavy hands. He was able to knockout Joey Beltran who one, has never been knocked out. Two, has never been knocked down in his career. I kicked Joey Beltran in the head five times and he didn’t even blink his eye. I’ve never doubted myself ever, 100 kickboxing matches, 10 MMA fights, I’ve never in my life ever thought ‘maybe I don’t hit that hard’ until that fight. {Johnson] was able to punch him in the head with four of the nastiest uppercuts ever. Joey Beltran looked like he broke his neck when he fell down. He’s huge. I was there in Chicago … everybody looked right at me and said, ‘Man, he knocked Joey Beltran out and you couldn’t. He must hit harder than you do.’ Dude’s fist is the size of my head. I’m going to eventually submit somebody, someday. Lavar? I think not. Lavar and I are both allergic to jiu-jitsu. We’re also allergic to rounds two and three.”
­- Pat Barry talked about the toughness of his upcoming opponent, Lavar Johnson, at the UFC on Fox 3 press conference.

“For the record, he was never my coach. He tagged along here and there. I think I’m at a better place now. My Dethrone base camp, Fresno gyms are rocking right now and were rolling. I think that, you know, Bob Cook will always be the man over there (AKA). Bob Cook comes and trains with me a couple of times with me in Fresno when he can. It’s good to be around real coaches that care and real coaches that put time in and real coaches that put the effort to make your fighter the best that they could possibly be and I have that now. I think that on May 5th, you guys are gonna see that. He (Mendez) worked with me, but, did I learn anything? It is what it is. I’m done with that chapter of my life and I prefer not to talk about it, I prefer to talk about Dethrone Base Camp Fresno. That’s where it’s happening right now. I got a lot of good guys over there training right now and a lot of guys coming in and out.”
­- Josh Koscheck talked to mmafighting.com about his former camp, American Kickboxing Academy, and their coaching staff.

“I’m pretty sure, like, I’m not really big on fighting Frankie, you know? Frankie came down to train with me and he represents Renzo Gracie and Ricardo Almeida, I train with Cesar (Gracie) so, I really don’t want no part of that fight. I’m mostly interested in fighting people I don’t know.”
- Nate Diaz told mmafighting.com that Frankie Edgar is not somebody he aspires to fight.

“I’d love to fight Benson Henderson. I’ve been around this game a lot longer. I’m not trying to be arrogant here, but I think I can handle him, and I’d like to find out. Much respect to him, much respect to Frankie and all that stuff, but I think I can beat them both. I can beat anyone right now. I’d love a piece of him.”
- Gilbert Melendez was a guest on Inside MMA, and was not hesitant when stating who he wants to fight.

“Well, Hector remains our champion right now. We are in the midst of a pretty substantial negotiation relative to his future with the organization. I’ve said many times I think he’s the best middleweight in mixed martial arts so it’s not an easy negotiation by any stretch of the imagination. We’ve got the right to match on any deal. We’re either gonna sign him before he goes out the to marketplace or he’s going to go out to the marketplace and we’re gonna have a determination as to whether we’re gonna match or not match and we’re gonna see where it ends up. I love the guy and he’s an awesome talent. He’s been nothing but a pure pleasure for me to work with. He’s been a great guy for me to work with and he’s done everything we’ve asked him to do and every time I’ve put him in a cage, he’s knocked people silly. You can’t really ask for more than that from a guy.”
- Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney explained the contract situation with Hector Lombard to MMA Mania.

“I guess he’s pretty popular down here. I’ve been hearing all about him since I’ve been here. I hear he’s under contract though with someone else, so we’ll see. I’ll probably end up with him. If he wants to fight in the UFC, then we’ll probably end up with him.”
- Dana White said at the UFC on FX post-fight press conference that Lombard is on the UFC’s radar.

“Why hasn’t it happened? It’s a lot of political crap. The union out in Las Vegas is the reason it hasn’t happened as funny as that sounds. It has nothing to do with MMA or the UFC, it has to do with the union. My partners, the Fertitta brothers, own the fourth largest gaming company in the country and they’re non-union and the Las Vegas union has been doing some dirty stuff. They’re dirty guys. Gangsters! The culinary union in Las Vegas. The guys who run the culinary union in Las Vegas are dirty, dirty, dirty, dirty guys.”
- White explained to ESPN who is preventing MMA from taking place in The Big Apple.

“I talked to Rampage yesterday for about an hour and a half before all the tweets started and, you know, Rampage just lost and I think Rampage takes his losses hard. We’ll see what happens. I’m always on again off again with him as it is anyway. But listen, I have no beef with Rampage. I don’t dislike Rampage or anything like that. I just think he takes the losses really hard and he takes criticism really hard too.”
- White talked to mmafighting.com about “Rampage” Jackson’s threats to retire and their relationship.

“I have a beef with judging and refereeing. To me, I don’t think you should ever be able to judge or referee unless you have a physical background in that art. I’m a big fan of professional football, but I’m not qualified to be a judge. In MMA, it’s the flavor of the month and everyone wants to be a judge or a referee. I see a lot of referees that could use a little bit more instruction. I think it should be mandatory for these judges to go to Mauy Thai schools, go to Judo schools, go to Greco Roman schools, go to freestyle wrestling schools, Kempo, Shotokan, Taekwondo, all those schools and learn a little bit of everything. You want to know if a body slam hurts more than a left hook and how much damage can something get? You have to be on the mat or in the ring to know the difference. It’s my humble opinion.”
- Gene Lebell gave his thoughts on refereeing in MMA via The MMA Hour.

“Of course I can. Who is he? You would have never heard of him if it wasn’t for Miesha. He’s just some dude, he’s not even a legit fighter, he is just some random guy that likes fighting, but it won’t be approved by any athletic commission out there. People don’t want to see a guy and girl beating each other on TV.”
- Ronda Rousey was a guest on The MMA Hour, and she stated she would fight Miesha Tate’s boyfriend, Bryan Caraway, after his comments about “Rowdy.”

“I’m not behind this guy, but I do defend him and at some standpoint.  Now with people saying that he is white pride this and white pride that; in my opinion, there is nothing wrong with having pride in who you are, but when it comes to tattoos that mean other things; that’s different.

“Apparently what this guy did is he lied on his application to the athletic commission in Ohio and he lied on his application to the athletic commission in New Jersey. So to the best of my understanding, obviously this guy is never going to fight for us ever again, and he might not ever fight again. I know he has been suspended by both states and then all these other commissions follow a suspension from other states. And for this guy to ever get licensed again he’d have to go for a hearing for the athletic commissions. I find it hard to believe that this guy will ever be licensed again so he better go find another job.”
- White talked to mmafighting.com about the racist tattoos Brandon Saling displayed at Strikeforce: “Tate vs. Rousey.”

“I’m not going to judge him about his charges because I don’t know the details about that, but what I am going to judge him on is that I do know.  I know that 88 is a white supremacy thing and I do know that the lightning bolts are a white supremacy thing.  Those are the things I know and they are facts.  That is going to draw people away from that promotion, the fighter and maybe even the game as a whole.  We don’t want that, we want people to enjoy our fights, enjoy each promotion that is fighting and have a good time with this.”
- Daniel Straus talked to MMA DieHards about Saling’s offensive tattoos.

Former UFC lightweight champion Frankie Edgar

“I’m saying it, and I’m saying it loud: I want my rematch. I’m not going to have these antics or play these games. I’m telling you want I want. This is what I want. I think it’s fair. I think the fans want to see it. It was fight of the night. Listen, even if these guys want to see me get beat up, I do get beat up in a lot of my fights, even in the fights I win, so it’s win-win for everybody. I think the rematch makes sense on several levels. Not only can UFC be good guys, I think I earned it. Economically, they’ve been investing money in me. I’ve been at the helm of this weight class for two years now. I think it just makes sense for them and obviously for me. Let’s do it.”
- Frankie Edgar told mmafighting.com exactly what he wants.

“Fighting Georges could be a once in a lifetime opportunity, so most likely I’ll be waiting for Georges to heal up. From all reports he’s ahead of schedule and if he’s looking to come back in September to November, I’m willing to wait, but if it’s going to be longer than that I might reassess. [The Interim title] has afforded me some opportunities but Georges I feel like is still the champion and until somebody beats him, he’s still the champion.”
- Carlos Condit talked to Kimura.se about his situation as the UFC interim welterweight champion.

“The big deal was the micro-fracture surgery.  That’s what people need to know first and foremost.  Once the ACL was done, the micro-fracture took a little longer, but one of the micro-fracture sutures got infected.  I was in the hospital for 12 days to get rid of the infection in my system.  If I waited a little bit longer it could have been worse, it could’ve been life threatening.  It could’ve been leg gone or dead.  Even though I came (to the hospital) early, it could’ve been bad because the infection was still growing.”
- Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal detailed his life threatening medical issues to MMA DieHards.

“It was 16 years ago that I saw the UFC on TV, and it changed my life. Everything I have besides my little girl has come from fighting. But after my last fight, when I came home and saw the look in my little girl’s eyes and could see how upset she was at how damaged I was, that I knew I wanted to leave when I could still take care of her, and I didn’t ever want to be one of those fighters that people said “Why is he still here?” I wanted to leave when people still wanted me to fight. So, I hate to say it but, I’m going to have to exit from fighting. I’m just glad that I get the opportunity to be here and continue the love for this sport that I’ve had, that has given me everything. So, thank you Spike TV, thank you to my hosts for giving me this opportunity. Thank you to the fans, and thank you to my little girl for making it so easy for me to follow my dream.”
- Nate Quarry said farewell to his fans and retired on MMA Uncensored Live.

“Sean Shelby tweeted me and asked for my number.  Of course, that excited me when he called.  He told me what was going to happen and I was even more excited because Zuffa has never done the tournament.  That’s some old-school cool UFC (expletive); you can’t get any cooler than that.

“Also, going into the UFC and I could be champion in two fights?  You can’t get any cooler than that.  That’s a superstar in two fights.”
- Ian McCall was a guest on MMABeatdown on the MMA DieHards Radio Network and spoke about all the cool things that come with being a UFC fighter.

“I don’t care for Ronda’s personality. I’ve fought people I haven’t liked before but not to this extent. But I’m careful not to be overzealous and let tempers change my game plan. Ronda is a self-righteous person. She cares more about herself than the sport. She talked her way into a title fight. Clearly, she doesn’t deserve it. She’s not the No. 1 contender. She hasn’t even fought at this weight before. I mean, she’s 4-0 and has been moderately impressive but she hasn’t faced anyone like me.”
- Miesha Tate talked about her opponent, Ronda Rousey, at the Strikeforce pre-fight press conference.

“I wasn’t looking to make friends in this sport. I just wanted to make a living so I didn’t have to catch coins. But it doesn’t matter if people don’t like me because it’s mostly current or former champs who think everyone should throw petals at their feet. Honestly, I don’t care if a bunch of girls I don’t know don’t like me. I’m doing this to support myself and not work night shifts at the gym. I don’t have respect for Miesha’s inconsistency. One minute it’s about the sport, the next she is wearing booty shorts on her website and it’s the entertainment business.”
- Rousey spoke on her attitude and the business she is in, at the Strikeforce pre-fight press conference.

“My first pro fight, we were searching everywhere and I was offered a fight against Ronda at a catch-weight of 140 (pounds).  Monte (Cox) called me and I said I would take it because I really couldn’t find an opponent.  I thought, ‘Another Olympic medalist, she’s going to step up to the plate.’  Then he called me back and said, ‘They’re really trying to talk her into it, her managers and her trainers, and she just keeps refusing the fight.’  I was really shocked by that because I’ve even seen video of her calling out Cyborg (Santos) and calling out Gina Carano and saying she wasn’t impressed woman’s MMA.  I was like, ‘What’s this girl doing?’”
- Sara McMann recited how she almost fought Rousey to MMA DieHards.

“Five years ago almost to the day, I watched my dad beat Tim Sylvia for the belt in Nation Wide Arena.  Now I get to go fight there myself, so I’m stoked about that.”
- Ryan Couture talked to MMA DieHards about the nostalgia behind his bout at Strikeforce: “Tate vs. Rousey”.

“We’ve got to make sure we’re trying to outdo the main event. There’s a lot of hype around the main event so I think [we're] two males who really want to try to prove to ourselves and to everybody else that we should have been the main event. I think that’s what we’re trying to do.”
- Josh Thomson told Sherdog that he and K.J. Noons have a duty to show and prove in their bout at Strikeforce: “Tate vs. Rousey”.

“Strikeforce does what the fans want. I’ve had a few tough losses in a row and the fans are still there supporting me, wanting to watch me fight and that’s a great feeling. A guy like Anderson Silva has been accused of having some boring fights. Even Georges St. Pierre has had some boring fights. That’s not my style, that’s not how I fight, but on the other hand, I’m not a world champion like those guys too, so they’re smart, they’re at the top. I’m out there to fight and have fun. The way I fight is fun for me so I’m gonna keep doing it. Guys like Chris Lytle and Chris Leben, those are the guys I look up to, those are the guys I wanna fight like.”
- Scott Smith explained to MMA Weekly, which fighters he holds in high regards.

“I was happy that I was able to pick him apart. That was the plan, but unfortunately in the last 48 seconds, I got caught. It’s devastating. But, it was out of my control — I know I did my best in every aspect. I was winning the fight after three rounds, I just made a mistake and paid for it. I feel now that I should have kept him standing up and [continued to beat him up]. I’m not sure about that late takedown. I don’t really know [how far this loss sets me back]. There is confusion in the weight class right now — just 48 seconds later and it could be a totally different picture. Next I’ll regroup, go back home and get better. I know I’m better than this, but unfortunately I got caught. That’s life.”
- Thiago Alves admitted on FUEL TV that the takedown attempt late in the third round against Martin Kampmann was a mistake.

“There is nobody else more surprised that (Alves) tapped out, more than Martin Kampmann. I think Martin will tell you himself, he didn’t have that choke. You have to be a real boob to get caught at the end of the fight like that.”
- Chael Sonnen talked on FUEL TV about the outcome of Alves vs. Kampmann.

“I have to talk to Carlos about this now. His thing with Ellenberger was that, ‘I just fought him. I just fought Ellenberger and I will probably fight him again if I beat GSP.’ I don’t know, we will see what happens and we got to see what the progression is with Georges. If Georges’ recovery doesn’t come along like it should, you never know with these things. It could come earlier it could come later. Maybe he (Condit) wants to fight Kampmann now so we will see what happens. He’s (Condit) earned the right. When all the drama with Georges St -Pierre and Diaz and this and that. Condit could not have been more of a professional, could not have been more of a stud. I mean, I have nothing but respect for this guy. He said anything that we need to do, things were turning on a dime and changing opponents on him, if this guy wants to sit around and wait for Georges St. Pierre, I’m cool with that, he’s earned it. ”
- At the UFC on F 2 post-fight press conference, White talked about the state of the welterweight division.

“I feel like I didn’t quite have (the first armbar), I was trying to scramble and put it together but she was aware enough to know the right way to turn to get out of it. I didn’t feel very secure with it. But with the second one, I felt like she was in such a position that she would have to give up an arm in order to get out of that position, so the second one, I was sure I was going to get. The first one (I didn’t think I had her) but the second one, I wouldn’t have given up such a dominant position unless I was positive the arm was there.”
- Rousey detailed her fifth consecutive armbar victory to in a post-fight interview.

UFC president Dana White.(photo: Hector Castro/MMADieHards.com)

“First of all, what he said I think was racist. He’s made a couple of racist comments and, yes, Floyd, you’re racist with the stuff that you’ve said.”
- Dana White slammed Floyd Mayweather on UFC Tonight for the boxer’s comments about NBA breakout star Jeremy Lin.

“I would beat the s— out of Joe Rogan – as long as he don’t get me to the ground, because his jiu-jitsu is really good. I know he’s got good jiu-jitsu because he’s so biased towards jiu-jitsu guys. Every time a guy is a jiu-jitsu fighter Rogan might as well be playing the rusty trombone.

“Joe Rogan has one of those girly high-ass voices that you can hear. I just want to tell him to shut the f— up. Let’s see you do it. Let’s see you come in here and kick this mother-f—– who wants to take you down. Shut the f— up.”
- Quinton “Rampage” Jackson gave his opinion of Joe Rogan and his commentary via Fighters Only.

“Rampage Jackson’s mad at me. I was watching and he was calling me fake ass. He was saying that all I want him to do his throw low kicks and the reason he doesn’t throw low kicks is because he was fighting a wrestler ‘you dumbass.’ Look, man, I love Rampage. I don’t mean to be rude when I assess things. I’m just trying to objectively figure out how this guy could be doing better than he’s doing. … When I’m doing commentary on a fight, all I’m trying to do is sort of objectively assess what I think someone could be doing differently to try to get themselves out of spot if they’re not winning or… I’m just trying to commentate. I’m not like critiquing the guy’s soul. I’m not like breaking down who he is as a person. I like the guy a lot. … The last thing I want to do is add more pressure or add more stress. All I’m doing is trying to just… I’m analyzing the fight, that’s all it is. I have to be objective. I can’t protect someone’s feelings at the expense of doing what I’m supposed to be doing, which is sort of analyzing what’s going on.”
- Rogan responded to Jackson’s criticism on The Joe Rogan Experience. 

­“Nick is honestly a great guy and one of the best and most loyal friends I’ve ever had.  He has a bad rap for being a punk, but he’s not.   In his mind, he said that he might be retiring, but I certainly hope that he doesn’t.  I love watching him fight, he is a good friend of mine, but from a fans’ point of view he is one of my favorite fighters to watch fight.

“I hope he decides to come back and I think that he will.  He is still going to be in the gym helping out and I think that is what is going to make him start loving it again and make him want to get back in there and fight.”
- Jake Shields talked to MMA DieHards about the return of his teammate, Nick Diaz.

“Right when he was first exiled, or kicked out of the UFC, whatever you want to call it, cut from the UFC, MC Hammer is in his team. He called me up and asked me if we could meet in [Los Angeles], so I met him there, we had dinner. He was lobbying to get Marquardt back in and I said, ‘Ya know, I love you man, but he’s gotta get out there and fight in other shows.’ He opted to not fight in any other shows. He wanted to sit out and he wanted to be back in the UFC. So we talked, we’re putting him back in Strikeforce and we’ll see what happens. I like Nate Marquardt, he’s a really good guy. But professionally, he needs to get his shit together. He needs to come into Strikeforce and he needs to make weight, he needs to pass all the tests and do all the other shit, so we’ll see how it goes.”
- White told Kimura.se that Nate Marquardt is back under the Zuffa umbrella.

“In the 10 losses I have in my MMA career, I haven’t rematched anyone I’ve lost to. Not once, I’ve never really cared for rematches because I felt they won, now I’ll move on. Right now, I’m at the point where this fight means something to me, I have something to prove against Joe Lauzon, so this is a rematch I’m asking for. Right now, I’m looking to watch the fights in Japan and I’m praying that he loses to (Anthony) Pettis because I want a rematch against Joe Lauzon. I don’t want to fight nobody next but Joe Lauzon. I don’t even care how it goes, I just want to see Pettis win and I want an immediate rematch with Joe Lauzon. Hopefully, I can get that rematch by fourth of July in Vegas.”
­- Melvin Guillard told MMA Weekly that he wanted Joe Lauzon to lose at UFC 144, so they could gave a rematch.

“Michael Bisping. I wouldn’t try to anything but walk straight through him with a right hand. Here’s the deal: I don’t know Michael personally, sometimes I think he gets a bum rap and I’ve learned not to judge people off the media and things of that nature. After my last fight he had a few comments about my technique and who I was as a fighter that I thought were a little odd. He called me a ‘white belt’ and said that I was ‘exposed’ so I’d love to see him put his money where his mouth is. We can fight and we can solve that. He may be a great guy, I don’t know, and maybe he is, but I would just like to compete against him since he made those comments.”
- Brian Stann told EsNewsReporting that he would like the chance to fight The Ultimate Fighter 3 winner.

“I feel like I’ve improved more in the last four months than I have in the past four years.  In that last fight I felt comfortable.  I wasn’t over trained, I felt comfortable working with my hands and that was because I had more time to focus on my stand-up.  Also, going in with a specific game plan, not just a loose game plan like, ‘Oh, I’m going to go in there and take him down.’  It’s more than that.  It’s kind of like we go round by round, minute by minute, and have plans B and C in case A isn’t working out.

“All the changes in the gym are definitely going to help me in the fight, they already have.”
- Ryan Bader talked to MMA DieHards about the changes at Power MMA and Fitness.

“You can literally hear a pin drop in between rounds. Some fighters fight off that adrenaline. I myself feed off fans. There, everything was so quiet. I could hear my elbows bust off Wanderlei Silva’s face.”
- Tito Ortiz recounted his days of competing in Japan to ESPN.

“Rich Franklin better watch his mouth before I smack him the next time I see him. He’s a fighter just like I’m a fighter. He should watch what he say. He don’t question whether a fighter is taking a fight serious or not. I take all my fights serious. I’m tired of people saying that … I’m tired of people questioning me. I haven’t backed out yet of a fight due to injuries. I fight. If I win I win, if I lose I lose. I won some fights injured and I lost some fights injured…. It’s my job to fight [injured or not].”
- Jackson voiced his displeasure to mmafighting.com about Rich Franklin’s comments regarding “Rampage” not making weight.

“Right when I landed the kick I felt what part of this shin I hit him with, then I saw his eyes roll back, and I knew it was a done fight. To set it up, I came out in the southpaw stance and was just working the jab. I thought he was going to shoot sooner, so I kind of keep my range and stay far, but he was biting on the jab. I threw up the high kick and it was just his mistake.”
- Anthony Pettis detailed the kick he knocked out Lauzon with to Kimura.se.

“He got that good slam, you know , I knew he was waiting for something because he was a little to relaxed right there with his hands and he was just waiting for me to knee the head and he caught me, he’s a strong dude, so he picked me up and slammed me right on my head and I was out of it honestly for a little bit. But, I just recovered and that’s what it’s about, just staying in there and battling and that’s what happened.”
- Bader admitted to UFC.com that “Rampage” hurt him after slamming “Darth” in the UFC 144 co-main event.

“Again, I’m not a judge and my opinion doesn’t matter but I had it even going into that last round and I gave the last round to Frankie. (Four rounds to one for Ben Henderson) is crazy. Most of the judges had (Edgar) losing the last round, I don’t know how you have him losing the last round. But I was on Twitter going into the third, fourth and last round asking people how they had it and there were some people who had it just like I had it and there were other people who had it the other way for Henderson. I said, ‘Get ready for some controversy, this is going to be a controversial decision.’”
- White told mmafighting.com he thought Edgar beat Henderson at UFC 144.

UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva (Photo courtesy of 5th Round)

“Chael has good wrestling. The first fight, I broke my ribs, I fought with broken ribs. But that’s okay, I finished the fight and I win. But this time I am ready. I am training hard, this is a different fight. My opinion for Chael is that this guy does not respect nothing. This time in this sport is very important. The people watching the UFC, the people that watch Chael Sonnen talking, they are like ‘What? What is this sport? I don’t like this sport. This guy doesn’t respect nothing.’ I understand sometimes you need to promote the fight but, I don’t know. Chael talks about my people in Brazil, about my wife, about the older fighters. It’s his problem, it’s no good, it’s no good promotion, this is a sport. I love my sport. I love it and I respect the older people and the older fighters of the sport. This is a great time for the sport. But Chael maybe does not understand this; his problem is he talks too much. It is no good.”
- Anderson Silva was a guest on ESPN Radio, and he spoke on his arch nemesis, Chael Sonen.

“All four of her MMA wins so far have arrived inside the first minute, and she has yet to face anybody that has so much as tested her, let alone come close to disfiguring her face and beating her. She’s been carefully matched, she’s been pampered and she’s been protected. The truth is, going into this world title fight with me, Ronda is still to discover whether she is even a real fighter. However, on March 3rd, the night we meet for my Strikeforce world bantamweight champion, Ronda Rousey will learn just how hard and horrible the sport of mixed martial arts can be. I will take great pleasure in dragging her into deep waters for the first time in her life and then drowning her there.”
- Miesha Tate gave her opinion on Ronda Rousey via her blog.

“I get to fight in Japan for the first time in six years. It’s no secret I love Japan. Japan is where I became a MMA fighter, it is where I made a name for myself and learned how to kick ass. The fans there are so respectful; I can’t wait to perform for them again. I really, really want a sick knockout for them, and maybe even I’ll do my powerbomb if Bader is dumb enough to give me the chance. Some haters have said now that I didn’t get my belt back after three years of waiting for my shot, I’m not going to be motivated in my fighting career. That is what my English friends call ‘bollocks.’ I am very motivated to kick Bader’s ass. I was a little pissed off and disappointed that I didn’t get my belt back and I was upset with my performance [at UFC 135]. I’m going to take that out on Ryan Bader and – in front of the Japanese fight fans – put on a great fight.”
- Quinton “Rampage” Jackson spoke to Yahoo Sports about his upcoming opponent, Ryan Bader.

“I’m so excited. Like, as soon as they told me, I was coyote hunting, I couldn’t even coyote hunt and I love hunting. I was so excited I was like, ‘Hey guys, I gotta go home.’ I started watching film, doing stuff for that. Man, I just can’t wait. I thought I was excited for Jon Fitch but actually it’s this fight that I’m really excited for. … I believe I’m better than him everywhere the fight goes. Actually I just can’t wait to hit him, put this left hand on him and see what happens.”
- Johny Hendricks talked to UFC.com about fighting Josh Koscheck.

“I think I should’ve been clearer on what I want and who I want to fight. I think I can beat Carlos Condit, and that’s really the fight I want. That’s the fight I’m hoping and praying for – but it’s not my decision. It’s absolutely what I want, though. I’ve fought him before, and now I’m a completely different fighter. I know I can beat him and it’s definitely the fight I want. Carlos has said he wants to wait, and while I can understand his position, it doesn’t stop me from wanting that fight.”
- Jake Ellenberger told HeavyMMA that his most desired fight would be against Carlos Condit.

“I feel very good. I’m ahead of schedule. I feel sometimes I want to do a little bit more but even though I feel good my graft is not fused properly, 100-percent. I need to remain calm. The danger with a lot of athletes is to push through the pain and try to go to fast. If I do so, it might loosen up the graft and I might have to start the old process again and I don’t want to do that.”
- Georges St- Pierre explained on UFC Ultimate Insider that he is recovery quicker than expected.

“I think with a full camp, I’ll finish him. Obviously I’m not fighting Anderson Silva next, but if I was, that would be my prediction. I’m confident with myself; you have to be as a fighter. I have a lot of respect for Anderson Silva, I think he’s awesome. I don’t know who I’m fighting next, I don’t know when. I was hoping to fight in May, because that’s in New Jersey and it’s another FOX card. I would love to be on FOX again. But it’s wherever the UFC feels I’m at. I’m down.”
- Chris Weidman told TheGARV what he is capable of with a full training camp.

“I want to keep on getting bigger and working my way up to 290 (pounds) or something like that.  That’s the thing, at the weigh-ins I want people to look up to me and say, ‘Oh (expletive), I don’t want to fight this guy tomorrow.’ “
- Stefan Struve told MMA DieHards that he plans to be larger and more intimidating in future bouts.

“He doesn’t want to fight Machida. He doesn’t want to wait. He’s going to have to wait. Who does he want to fight? I don’t know what to do with Dan. Dan’s either going to have to wait for (Jon) Jones or wait for (Anderson) Silva. Or fight somebody else.”
- Dana White explained to mmafighting.com that his options with Dan Henderson are limited.

“I’m doing this big push, I’m trying to get back into the UFC and I think I deserve to be there. … I was in the UFC back when there was five to six shows a year. Now there are shows every three weeks, so they have to put guys in like (Christian) Morecraft, Joey Beltran, Stefan Struve; the list goes on and on. I don’t understand why any of these guys are in the UFC, and to be frankly honest, I think I knock them out in the first round. I’m ready. I can beat 80 percent of the guys in the UFC. If you don’t think I can, how about you make a push and try to get me into the UFC just to see me get my ass kicked.”
- Tim Sylvia announced via The Underground that he is vying to get back in the Octagon.

“I have no beef with Tim Sylvia whatsoever, I have nothing against the guy, but I say it all the time, that was when the division was the weakest, when he was champion. And for him to make a statement like he could come back and beat 80-percent of the fighters in the UFC? I don’t know what Tim Sylvia’s been doing. The last time I saw him, he got knocked out by a 50-year-old boxer in like 10 seconds. Who’d he beat? They guy’s just out there trying to get back into the UFC, trying to make a living, I get it, but he fought in the UFC when the UFC heavyweight division was its weakest. Him and Arlovski were knocking each other out every weekend.”
- White denounced ant rumors of Sylvia possibly returning to the UFC in the UFC on FUEL TV post-fight show.

“We trained together and we had good times, but this competition has come between our friendship, which sucks. I do miss being friends with the guy. But its business, and he’s coming after my championship. I’ve gotta do what I’ve gotta do. It might be a little awkward punching him in the face, but I’m sure the first time he swings at me, it will get reactionary. I’d like to get to a point of being cordial, but to be friends again is not necessary. There’s thousands of wonderful people in the world I can meet. After all that’s been said, we can just live our lives. Respect is all that’s necessary for me.”
- Jon Jones talked to Yahoo Sports about restoring the friendship he once had with Rashad Evans.

Cesar Gracie (Photo courtesy of BJPenn.com)

“He clearly won that fight. I’ve told him, when he lost before, that he has to let it go. But this fight was clear he won. I was shocked; we were all in disbelief, especially with the scores that they read. Every judge had Nick losing that first round. It takes two to make a dog fight and one fighter running away does not make it a dog fight. In my opinion, I don’t think the judges like Nick. He talks in the ring and Nick slapped Carlos at one point in the face and told him to quit running. The judges have never liked Nick in Vegas, they don’t like his attitude. He nearly had to kill B.J. Penn (at UFC 137) to earn that decision. I think they think he is disrespectful and they are going to find a way to go against him. I don’t know what fight they were looking at. I literally thought they had mixed up the fighters names when they read the score. Everybody was confident that Nick won that fight.

“I haven’t talked to him about it (retiring). I would hate to see that. He is not just fighting his opponent; he is fighting the judges that do not like him. The whole judging criteria is so flawed, they don’t answer to no one they are not reviewed and they will never be fired. They are making decisions that are ruining the sport and are ridiculous and no one is going to get them out of there. You have incompetent judges that do not even know anything about this sport. The criteria makes no sense and it is insane. I can understand Nick’s frustration. We can have a rematch; sure, set up a rematch, but if it is with the same judges how are we going to win? I don’t know how they had him losing that first round. After the fight, an actual official from Nevada came up to me and told me, you should have Nick box, because in boxing, they will still rob you, but he is still going to walk away with millions and millions of dollars. ”
- Cesar Gracie was a guest on The MMA Hour, and he gave his thoughts on the judges’ decision to award Carlos Condit the unanimous decision victory over Nick Diaz at UFC 143.

“I’ve said it many times. In the evolution of this sport right now, one of the big problems we’re having right now is judging and reffing. It’s one of the things that drives me crazy and attention needs to be paid to scoring and reffing. First of all, it affects guys careers as far as legacies go. Jon Jones? Jon Jones should be undefeated right now but he’s not, he’s got a loss on his record and there’s tons of guys in the UFC that have those. There’s guys who’ve absolutely, clearly won fights and lost on the judges’ scorecards. Nobody’s perfect. There’s always gonna be problems. But the judging and the reffing is so bad in mixed martial arts, it drives me crazy. The fans hate it too and it hurts the sport. These athletic commissions really need to tighten up and start working on educating their refs and judges.”
- Dana White spoke about the judges and referees in MMA on UFC Tonight.

“Going back to the Diaz/Condit fight, my point about missing things, is I watched the fight at home and when I watched the fight at home, I had a slightly different opinion. When I watched it live I thought that Carlos Condit won it. In the fourth round I said that Condit was winning this fight and when I said that, I was a little bit out of school, because on the scorecards maybe necessarily he wasn’t winning, in my head even, but, there was a trend in round three and four where Condit was scoring way more than Diaz was, that’s why I was saying that Condit was winning that fight. The bottom line is when I watched it at home I gave Nick Diaz round one, round two and round five. At home when I watched it, I thought Nick Diaz won that fight.”
- Joe Rogan stated on The Rogan Experience that he believes Diaz defeated Condit.

“Japan is an important market for us, it was a place that was huge at one time. Some of the greatest fights that ever happened in MMA have happened in Japan. And I’ve always said, that huge rivalry between us and PRIDE, it was some of the funnest moments of my life. It was actually fun. If you look back throughout history, there’s only one show that I have ever said was a competitor to the UFC and it was PRIDE. It was the only show that I would ever put on the same level and put on a pedestal, that was the same as the UFC.”
- White talked to Telegraph.co.uk about the humorous rival between the UFC and Pride that took place prior to Zuffa buying the Japanese organization.

“To retire as UFC champion and to have defended the belt in Japan? Oh man, that would have been perfect. Believe me, I still want to retire as champion. I want to hold the belt once more. I guess if I had won that Jon Jones fight and if the Japan show wasn’t next then there would have been a very good chance I would have retired already. It would have been a great time to bow out. But I almost certainly would have stayed around to fight in Japan anyway, to defend the belt. Then if I would have successfully defended it on this [UFC 144] show, I definitely would be retiring – and retiring a very happy man too!”
- Quinton “Rampage” Jackson talked to Fighter’s Only about his ideal exit from the sport.

“Good question. See, part of me wants to say I don’t think he will win, but honestly, I think I’m rootin’ for Rashad. I pretty much have to, because I lost to him. So, at this point, I’m gonna say he’s gonna win.”
- Phil Davis predicted on Inside MMA that Rashad Evans will defeat Jon Jones in their light heavyweight championship bout at UFC 145.

“I’ve got to sit down and make my decision and see what I feel is best for the team. Not for me, because I have my own personal feelings where I never want to ever do that,” Jackson said. “I’m going back and forth now because I have to think about what it means to be on a team. Are we just a collection of friends that train together? For me, it’s much more than that. It means something to be on this team and it means something to have teammates.

“Rashad kind of left that. I don’t know, I’m leaning toward cornering Jon right now. Just because, am I selfish, am I going to make this about me? Or am I gonna make this about the team? I can’t be self-centered. Even though it’s something that I don’t want to do, it might end up that way.”
- Greg Jackson told 5thround that he will most likely corner Jones against former Jackson’s MMA teammate Evans.

“I’m gonna knock him out. I’m gonna knock him out or submit him but this fight ain’t going to a decision. All due respect to Martin Kampmann, but it’s my time baby.”
- Thiago Silva intends to finish Martin Kampmann, he said in this video.

“Chael talks too much. It’s not working. … Chael needs to train. No more talking, train. Go to Brazil. Big problem. Man, I don’t like to talk too much about Chael. This is bad for the UFC, this is no good for the UFC, it’s bad.”
- Anderson Silva warned Chael Sonnen on UFC Tonight that he better get to the gym.

“I think it’s funny that she says that because it’s really because she has no footage to study of me. She doens’t know anything that I do. She’s only seen one of my tricks. And what she doens’t realize is with a lot of those matches I did a different takedown, almost every single time, I did a different entry into the armbar a different time, and I did it from a different position every single time. So it might look like one trick to somebody else but there’s a lot of knowledge and training that goes into being able to (do that). If you only see the finish, then you’re not seeing the whole thing. I think that her saying that kind of speaks to what she doesn’t know.”
- Ronda Rousey commented on her opponent, Miesha Tate, to mmafighting.com.

“I hope I can fight in June in Brazil. I get there on Monday to be part of TUF (Wanderlei Silva Team), but I won’t stop training, even because the whole team will be together there. God bless me, UFC will give me the chance to bring this joy to people in Brazil. Anybody, I’m prepared to fight anybody. I’ve never picked out opponents my entire life. If it’s Frank Mir, excellent. If it’s not, it’s okay. I just wanna show I’m in the top 10 of the division.”
- Fabricio Werdum expressed to Tatame that he wishes to fight in his native country of Brazil, possibly against Frank Mir.

“It wasn’t really much of anything. Other than his coach, who used to be his manager, felt like he didn’t need our services. It pretty much was one of those things. It was really strange the way it all went down. His coach sent us an e-mail and that was it.”
- Ed Soares spoke to mmafighting.com about Jose Aldo relieving him of his managerial duties.

“Yeah, I said that (there will be no rematch). But that’s all I can say. I can’t say anything else. I can’t do anything. Quote that if you want to. There is not going to be a rematch. Other than that, that’s all I can say.”
- Gracie told ESPN that Diaz and Condit will not have a rematch.

“As far as Diaz, of course I would like to fight him because he thinks he’s better than me. I think I’m better than him. But I think he should not retire. He did all of the sacrifice in his life to be where he’s at right now. He’s at the highest point of his career, and if he retires now, he’s left a lot of money on the table that could pay for all of the sacrifices he has made during all those years. I think the sport of mixed martial arts needs a guy like him.”
- Georges St-Pierre gave his thoughts on Diaz retiring while “Rush” was a guest on It’s Time Radio with Bruce Buffer.

UFC president Dana White. (photo: Hector Castro/MMADieHards.com)

“All these hackers and all these guys that want to act f*****g cool and think they’re f*****g funny, you guys just flipped the switch and believe me I have a lot more information on what’s going on than you do.  This bill that was looking like it was going to be dead; you may have brought it back to life.

“I’m not afraid of you, you don’t f*****g scare me, you come in and do your thing, you don’t scare me.”
- UFC president Dana White had harsh words via mmafighting.com for the group that hacked UFC.com.

I think that fighters that just try to win by points and come away with a win are actually bad for the sport. If you never saw MMA before, and you walked in and you saw GSP and Koscheck, and all this jabbing out the whole time, it looks like a boring boxing match. And I don’t think you gain any fans with a fight like that.

And so I really hope that Nick Diaz beats the crap out of him, because Nick Diaz is entertaining, and he’s an entertaining character in general. He might not be popular but I mean I can’t but watch every video he puts out Youtube. I think it’s funny as Hell. And every single one of his fights is a brawl. It’s not like a pitter pat match where afterwards he goes “Were friends, were all friends” and then okay let’s go home. I think that’s boring.

GSP was good for the sport for a while. He brought in some big sponsors like Gatorade and UnderArmor. But I think he’s done everything he can in a positive way and he needs to step aside and let Nick Diaz kick his ass.
- Ronda Rousey gave her opinion of UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre to mixedmartialarts.com.

“For me, I’m injured too, I understand. I’m like, ‘Hey, I’m injured.’ You know, I was injured all those fights, I wasn’t 100-percent or anything, so I understand. People put a lot of pressure on him to come out and do better than he did the last time. It’s hard enough to come out there and keep himself going the way he’s doing. So I can understand what it must be like being injured for real and everybody’s like, ‘Oh, hey, you’re scared.’ It’s not what it seems.”
- Nick Diaz spoke to MMA Heat about St-Pierre’s injury that cancelled their bout.

“I’m with a lot of ethnic people right now.  A couple of Mexicans and Phil, so we’re legally a gang.  Rashad (Evans) has the Blackzilians, we’re the Blaxicans right now.”
- Joey Beltran talked to MMA DieHards about his new crew.

“This will be the final fight ever for Antonio McKee at the Maximum Fighting Championship. He will never fight ever again in our show. When you’re a champion of an organization of our magnitude and you weigh [in] over seven pounds, you’re basically telling people you don’t want to fight anymore.”
- MFC president Mark Pavelich discussed the future of Antonio McKee after missing weight for MFC 32 on Bloody Elbow Radio.

“After the MFC, I’m heading to the UFC.  My brother is at Bellator, I won’t be going there.  With Bellator, they like me, I’ve met their president (Bjorn Rebney) and he is a really cool guy, but Bellator is my brothers.  He is going to win the championship so there is no reason for me to go over there.”
- Dhiego Lima spoke about the future for him and his brother to MMA DieHards.

“(Johnson) needs to go fight somewhere else, get some wins, come in on weight.  He needs to prove to me that he can be a professional, show up on weight and do the things he needs to do. If he does, we can talk.”
- White explained to mmafighting.com the course of action Anthony Johnson will have to take in order to return to the UFC.

“I started out in 1997 with them. I was the post-fight interviewer. That was when we were in little places like Dothan, Alabama, and Augusta, Georgia. We would have to fly in these little propeller planes and it was weird, we would do it in like high school auditoriums, it would be half-filled. It was very strange. I did it for a couple years and then I won the… I got the job. They just needed someone to do post-fight interviews. It just so happens that my manager knew the guy who was the producer and they were, ‘Hey, we need someone to interview fighters after they fight.” And I was like, ‘I’ll do it.’ Not only did they not talk to me about what to do, no one even told me what was going to happen. This is what they did: they brought me there, they gave me a microphone, they put an ear-piece in me and they go, ‘Okay, ready, Joe? We’re going to come to you in three seconds.’ Or, you know, whatever it was. And they just said, ‘Just start talking about the event.’ So I just started talking. Nobody explained to me what I was going to do, how to interview people; it was a weird organization back then.”
- Joe Rogan described his early days with the UFC to Rosie O’Donnell.

We have talked a few times. I think he’s very intelligent, he knows what to say. I think he sometimes pushes the envelope, but he’s good in attracting the media to himself. He’s a very tough fighter, and deserves to fight for the title. I have nothing against him, and it’s obvious that you don’t need more than two brain cells to see that he’s joking. I told him that he should become a comedian. There’s a lot of passion in the sport, and there are people that don’t like him. He has his style; he’s more conservative, different than myself. But I think Sonnen is a very intelligent guy.
- Damian Maia, a Brazilian, yes, a Brazilian, told SporTV that the country’s most-hated man, Chael Sonnen, isn’t so bad after all.

“Okay. One. Let’s start with the obvious. He’s not the middleweight champion. He’s been beaten many, many times. He’s been submitted more times than I care to mention. Not to mention, the last time he lost a fight by submission, there were some issues involving performance enhancing drugs. I don’t know what the deal is. Apparently, he has one testicle. One testicle! This is why he uses performance enhancing drugs. He’s gonna need more than one little ball to fight me next weekend!”
- Michael Bisping was a guest on Inside MMA and spoke of Sonnen’s testosterone replacement therapy incidents.

“I don’t walk around looking into cameras and telling people I’m the best fighter in the world to hear myself talk. I say it for the same reason they put warnings on packages of cigarettes. And fighting Chael Sonnen may be hazardous to one’s health.”
- Sonnen praised himself in an interview with Ariel Helwani on Fox.

“Yeah, that’s probably why he walks around with a fake middleweight world title belt. I’m not interested in fake belts; I’m interested in the real belt. I’m in a fight with Chael Sonnen but unfortunately just lately he’s starting to look like a court jester as opposed to a fighter and Saturday night I’m going to make him look like the fool that he’s become.”
- Bisping voiced his displeasure of Sonnen’s antics in an interview with Ariel Helwani on Fox.

“You’re looking at the reflection of perfection, the one that gets all your attention.  You’re looking at the man with the biggest arms, the man with the greatest charm, and the man who came to Chicago to do a lot of harm to the guy three doors down.”
- Sonnen recited at the UFC on Fox 2 pre-fight press conference.

“Cocaine’s a hell of a drug, it’s crazy what the kids do nowadays.  I encourage imagination, but no, he can’t beat me at wrestling. He couldn’t beat me at thumb-wrestling.”
- Phil Davis joked after Rashad Evans claimed he is a better wrestler than “Mr. Wonderful” at the UFC on Fox 2 pre-fight press conference.

“Phil can’t punch nobody hard. Phil can’t hit. Phil punch with his hands open and everything. He don’t hit hard. He couldn’t bust a grape. Phil lookin’ like Arsenio Hall and John Salley had a baby.”
- Evans compared Davis to some 80’s icons at the UFC on Fox 2 pre-fight press conference.

“I actually threw up backstage tonight before the fight.”
- Lavar Johnson explained his first time UFC nervousness to mmafighting.com.

“I was so dry that when I weighed-in there was so much static electricity the towel was sticking to the bottom of my leg.  It was a miserable experience, but I’m proud of myself that I was able to do it.”
- Chris Weidman described his weight cut to mmafighting.com for UFC on Fox 2.

“Joe Rogan tonight is not about questions for me. I want to know how you feel about being inches away from greatness. I want you to tell everybody how it feels — are you not mesmerized? Do you not have chills for the first time on FOX for you to be here, holding Chael’s microphone, interviewing Chael? While you’re thinking about that, remember this: When you’re the greatest fighter in the world today, they have a name for you. They don’t call you a great fighter, they call you Chael Sonnen. Beat me if you can.”
- Sonnen said to Joe Rogan in his post-fight victory interview at UFC on Fox 2.

“It’s real simple. I want the title. I want to be champion. I don’t want it just because I want a belt; I want to be the best. I want to look in the mirror and know I’m the best in the world. If I can’t beat Mark Munoz, then I’m not. Munoz and I aren’t fighting because this is the match that made sense. We’re fighting because Anderson doesn’t want to fight me. Anderson trained with Munoz, he got destroyed by Munoz, he doesn’t want to fight Mark. Ed Soares, Anderson’s manager, worked diligently behind the scenes to make Mark and I fight each other. So I don’t have a big problem fighting Mark. My resentment is that Anderson got his way.”
­- Chael Sonnen claimed on UFC Tonight that Anderson Silva avoided fighting him or Mark Munoz.

“I’ll be turning 40 this year so this will be my last year doing this.  You can only do this for so long and I’m extremely grateful to God, Zuffa and everyone at the UFC that I’ve been able to do it this long.  I’m grateful for it, I’ve enjoyed my time, had a lot of fun, but this is going to be the last year I’m doing this.”
- Jorge Rivera announced his retirement on MMA Beatdown Radio on the MMA DieHards Network.

“I do miss it and I’m actually very proud to be from the sport of MMA,” Carano stated.  “I am more of a fan now than I have ever been because I’m able to watch fights.  When I was fighting I would get so nervous to the point where I couldn’t even watch.

“It’s not something I can do for the rest of my life so it would be nice to start another career and have other opportunities open.  At the same time I’m trying to get on the other side of January 20th so I can give a straight answer on what I plan to do.  It’s kind of all up in the air right now.”
- Gina Carano spoke to MMA DieHards about returning to MMA.

“Both camps are great, both sets of coaches are awesome. It’s just a decision I had to make for myself professionally. Did I want to split the time? Yeah, I did, but it’s kind of like trying to work for Exxon and work for Shell. You won’t be able to split your time between both. Cause both of those companies wouldn’t allow it. So it came to one of those points in my life where I had to make a grown-up decision. Kind of an executive decision, and this is the decision I made. I didn’t leave Jackson’s in a bad way. I love those coaches to death, love that team, and if anything every occurs and I have to go back to Jackson’s, I hope I’m still welcome, because I didn’t leave in the wrong way. As fighters we have to make the decision who’s going to get us ready to take us to that next level. At the end of the day, all this hype about which coach is better than who, at the end of the day we’re the ones in there doing the job. We’re the ones that have to get in there and bust our butts. All they can do is give direction and make things go from there.”
- Melvin Guillard explained leaving Greg Jackson’s for the Blackzilians to MMA Weekly.

“I do actually care. There are two guys that are fighting, Nick Diaz and Carlos Condit — Carlos Condit is a very nice guy. I never trained with him but I have trained in Albuquerque along with some of his teammates, and he’s a very nice guy. I like him a lot. But, the reason why I wish Nick Diaz to win this fight is that I want to fight Nick Diaz. I don’t wanna fight Carlos Condit. I wanna fight Nick Diaz. But, in another way, I just hope the best man will win. But if the best man is Nick Diaz, I will appreciate it more, because it will be a better build up for a fight.

“That’s really the fight that I wanted to have and the fight was going to happen in the beginning. And it didn’t happen, because he (Diaz) didn’t show up for the promotion. Then after I got hurt and this whole thing happened and — that’s really the fight that I wanted to have happen. Even though I like Carlos Condit better as a person, I would rather fight Nick Diaz.”
- Georges St-Pierre, on Inside MMA named who he would like to win the UFC welterweight interim belt.

“These guys that are just starting off in the UFC and they’re starting off with whatever number they’re starting off with, they have a good night and the next thing you know they’re getting a sick pay day. And that opportunity is for a guy that’s been with them, like myself, for ten years or a guy that’s green and it’s his first time in there.”
- Matt Serra touched on fighters’ opportunities in the UFC on ESPN.

“The UFC has guys that technically they lose money on; that they’re paying $10-$15,000 to fight that nobody’s really watching. Nobody bought the PPV to see that guy, maybe like 300 people in his hometown if he’s lucky. But they’re paying that guy to get better, to keep fighting, because maybe he’ll catch on and be that next thing.

“They’re putting an investment in all their guys, all of us. The UFC wants you to succeed. The more any fighter succeeds, they succeed. I mean even guys that aren’t making a fortune are making enough to where they don’t have another job and they can concentrate on getting better as a fighter so they can put themselves in a position to make good money.”
- Forrest Griffin explained to ESPN how UFC contracted athletes can make a great living.

“A wrestler won’t be able to take me down and give me a hard time. I came from jiu-jitsu.  I had seven trainers working with me during the last three months. I spent around $100,000 with them.”
- Vitor Belfort revealed the cost of his UFC on FUEL training camp for Anthony Johnson to Sherdog.

“I think Alistair, everything he does is one single shot because he knows he’s got that glass jaw as well. He’s been knocked out quite a few times in the past, even by Chuck Liddell as well. Every time when he punches, one hand is up. He throws single shots; he doesn’t throw combinations. You saw that when he fought [Fabricio] Werdum. Werdum was actually tagging him more than he did to Werdum. I think that Junior dos Santos, with his combinations, his reach, I think he’s going to tag him and he’s going to throw combos and I think that yeah, he’s going to take this fight.”
- Bas Rutten told the “It’s Time!” show with Bruce Buffer who he thinks will win the UFC heavyweight championship match between Junior dos Santos and Alistair Overeem.